My child was in a private school that also housed an LD academy that offered great differentiation and accomodations. The teachers in the LD academy were specially trained in alternative teaching methods. All of the children were on individualized plans so noone was held back due to non-academic concerns.
As I said in my earlier post, there exist private schools that make it work beautifully. (They are very uncommon.)
I will note, though, that the private schools that cater to LD students in our area do not routinely accept students with autism; they remediate dyslexia, ADHD, and LDs only. Gifted ASD students do fall through the cracks, especially if their behaviors are problematic enough to make inclusion difficult.
There is actually a whole book about this called Gifted Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The book essentially says, "Many gifted kids with ASD will not be able to participate in gifted programs." So even though the public school can't outright discriminate, they can (and do) leave a lot of ASD kids without the supports needed to be successful in certain "extras" like G/T. Most G/T teachers have absolutely no training in special ed or autism. So they get these kids in their classes and don't know what to do with them.
Our DS was the first diagnosed autistic kid in our school's GT program within the long memory of the staff, but the G/T teacher has been wonderful; she is used to "quirky" and has been a huge asset to DS. This is a case where supportive school staff and a well written IEP can make all the difference.
DeeDee
