Two thoughts:
1) Regarding OOD... it is often recommended, when advocating, to have or cultivate a backup plan or "Plan B", which would typically involve a graceful exit to another learning environment, whether another school/district, or homeschooling. If you see no alternatives, then by default you may need to escalate, in a step-wise approach, to get your son's needs met. This is not to say that one strategy is better than another, it is just a high level summary. There are posters on the forum who've used either approach... and even a combination of both approaches, over the span of their child's educational journey.
2) Regarding the use of words like lunatic to describe others... the posters attempting to assist you would tend to understand the rant/frustration expressed in this word choice (and therefore some may consider the forums to be a "safe place" to vent), however a much larger audience reads the forums and:
- may be able to identify you, your son, the teacher from posts
- may tend to form an impression of parents of gifted kids, as a whole, based on what is read in the forums
Some may say the teacher was "old school", having entered the profession before much was known about LD, 2e, school psychology, etc. Others may say he was "ignorant" of facts about LD, 2e, psychology, etc. Unfortunately, training in these areas may not be part of professional development of all teachers across disciplines, it may be reserved to specialists in these areas. Likewise, many of the posters on the forums, despite various credentials, did not have depth of understanding in these areas... but increased their knowledge once it affected them in a personal way, such as through a family member.
