School makes recommendations, you make decisions. Not the other way around.

He is great for the group, the therapist says. But is the group good for him? Your child needs to grow in terms of her social skills. That means she needs to be in a group with those who can be role models for her. Make sure the majority of the kids there are more proficient socially than she is. It is up to you to keep an eye on that. It is not fair to ask your child to learn social skills from those who have more to learn than she does.

Trust your child. If she says, “I don’t want to go to the social skills group, I would rather go to the Rubik’s cube club”, that may be a cue that he has outgrown the group and will get better practice socially at the club.

Many special services take the child away from the social situation where she would have role models - her peers - and opportunities to learn appropriate behavior. For example, a social skills group meets during lunch time, removing the child from the social interactions at the lunchroom. 

The academic curriculum in the special education classroom is supposed to be the same as in the mainstream classroom. It is not always the case. If there is a strong reason for your child to be in the special education classroom, make sure to insist that her talents and curiosity is adequately stimulated. Perhaps some additional educational materials can be brought to her there.