Hi Polarbear-
Nice GATE office lady actually gave me advice about appealing, but I don't know how much of it is lip service (although she seemed sincere). She said that it's not a done deal that they never allow retests, but DS's teacher and the principal have to get behind the appeal. I can also use his other results from the WISC IV as the basis for an appeal. I also have to check and see if our GATE coordinator passed along any of the information I gave to her regarding DS (re: slow processing, inattentive and anxiety) - this information should have been passed on to the psychologist by the GATE coordinator even if he doesn't have an actual 504 or IEP.
With regard to the private assessor, she had no real advice about appealing, instead she suggested that GATE wasn't all it was cracked up to be (a lot of their funds have been cut, for instance), and that I should look elsewhere. Specifically I should try and get him through public school for elementary then check into private schools that would be a good fit in middle and HS and she suggested some schools.
