The Day I Told a School Expert They Were Full Of Sh*t

*this one will be a bit ranty. Is that a word? Oh well it is now. Seriously this really happened and yes I told the woman she was full of shit*

Every year I go to a special education conference for parents, teachers, and other community members.  Every year it is great. It is a all day event with tons of info.  They are even kind enough to put the power points from all presentations online because well you can't attend them all.  That being said its a given that you may choose something that is boring or just not what you thought it was going to be.  Once I got stuck in a two hour lecture on laws.  Yeah it was boring, but I also learned a lot.  I also must say I have had personal Experience with this school district and it has been great.

Well great until I met the head of advanced placement.  Who is also supposed to be the expert on twice exceptional students.  She has some impressive degrees I'll give her that and she should be proud of her hard work to earn them, but degrees don't mean you have a clue.  They don't save you from using bad or outdated information.  

The season got started ok, a few minutes in my Facebook status was: "So twice exceptional speaker needs to go back to school. Must have got her doctorate from a cereal box. Special Ed dose not mean failing, why am I stuck at the back of the room and can't leave." Yep the only way out was the front of the room so I was stuck. Lucky for me though someone in the room had a cell they were using as a Internet hotspot so I had Internet.

So the session continues for about a hour. At the end she opened for questions and really didn't answer anything and anything she did it was wrong.  Someone asked about autism and advanced placement and her response was "oh that doesn't happen unless its Aspergers." umm wrong lady. I keep my mouth shut. Then they started on IEPs and 504s she didn't know the difference.  OK a little scary that the twice exceptional expert doesn't know what a 504 is.  Still stayed quite.  Then someone asking about how to get a IEP she says "well you don't want that in high school it will effect the child's ability to get into college."  OK that did it.  I said bullshit.  Didn't realize I said it out loud until the dad next to me looked at me and the speaker asked if I had anything to say to her?  OK she had been rude to the parents during the questions and pretty much holding the line that no one really needs a IEP because accommodations can be made without it. Ha Ha we all know how that goes.

Well my response was "with all do respect you are full of shit.  Everything you just said about autism and IEPs are lies". I then went on to say a IEP not only guarantees my child gets the accommodations he needs and is traceable but the IEP gives him the supports he needs to reach his potential and get into college not stop him.  Without it he will fail.  Scaring parents with falsehoods that if you push for this Johnny won't get into college is crazy.  Oh and by the way my child has tested into the advanced placement high school, has a IEP, and he is moderate functioning autism.  I then shut up and she moved on.  As soon as it was over I left nothing more said.  Maybe I shouldn't have but really the smirks from the parents who have been through the fight made it all worth it.