I can tell you what that special ed attorney colleague thinks is the best path for a kid like DS - i.e., a kid who is very bright or gifted with a learning disability like dyslexia or dysgraphia. He says the best result that he sees with these sort of kids is that they got to elementary school to a place like here:
http://www.aimpa.org/New/index.shtml (he seems to highly recommend this particular school). He says after a few years in this type of school these type of children go on to fabulously in a regular school say for middle school/ high school. I know of one case where my particular school district had to pay for OOD placement at this school for a child with dyslexia that they failed but from reading the case that poor family went through hell.
I've communicated with a few other families who advocated their way to OOD placements, but it took a huge toll in terms of time, energy and $ - I've often wondered if the saving through the tuition paid by the district as well as the value of the school really was substantial enough to warrant the battle for placement. The school you've linked above looks wonderful.. fwiw, at quick glance, the general things they do with their students in middle school (all I had time to look at) are very similar to the things that are in place as part of the curriculum at my ds' school. It's not a school that is set up for students with disabilities but because they are structured the way they are (integration of technology, curriculum includes specific structure for building organizational skills etc) ds has benefited from the same types of help he might have had at a school for kids with LDs (which we don't have in our area at the moment). It's worked out well - so sometimes it's possible to find solutions that are in-between.
Hang in there!
polar
