Well................... I will say that Travis did find quite a lot of help via an excellent school psychologist fighting on his behalf. Of course the next year the guy was in private practice of his own because he couldn't tolerate the SD attitude anymore.
This is why I armed myself with evaluations and reports from outside specialist, as well as any medical tests to back it up. Still I ran into brick walls, I just refused to back down. They couldn't possibly accuse us of being uninvolved parents, not when we showed up at every single IEP meeting.......a couple they attempted to not even tell us about (I had inside sources who leaked the info to me).......and forced them to reschedule others when they attempted to hold IEP meetings without us. I also made them call emergency IEP meetings if I felt there were new issues that needed to be addressed or Travis' IEP was not being followed. (this one drove them nuts lol )
I had a war going on with the head of our Special Education for the county for years. She would try to override and intimidate only to find out I don't intimidate and I don't back down or give up. I fought her with detailed doctor reports on various dxes and what they meant for Travis specifically, as in neuro cases there can be a broad spectrum of severity depending on the individual case/underlying cause. Travis' neuro in cincy used to chuckle because I'd not only have him spell it out in detail but in layman terms to the point where anyone could understand it. Unfortunately he had experience with our SD before and knew already what he was dealing with. ugh When that didn't work.......I pulled in the state board of education. Now
that was helpful to the nth degree!
I will admit though, that when I first ran in to how utterly ignorant those who are supposed to be working with children with special needs can be despite their supposed extra education.......I had trouble believing it. The teacher who abused Travis happened to be a man with Special Education qualifications and was supposed to be one of their "best". (when in fact he ruined many a child's life....documented) So it's not just the school psychologists by any means. Thankfully we also ran into really good ones who knew their stuff, really cared for the kids they helped, and fought tooth and nail for them. But they never seemed to last long.
This is why there is no better advocate for a child than their parents. No one will fight for your child like you will, no one can understand them like you do. Well........unless it's maybe a grandma who's already been there done that. There is a reason I attend Alex's IEP meetings. lol