Displaced, much will depend. Public or private? What does state law say about gifted programming? In some states it's mandated, in many it's not.
Special education is covered by Federal law (IDEA).
I can't just tell the school to "accommodate" him. A lot of the stuff doesn't seem to be practical in his school. For instance, I don't even approve of how they're teaching reading, but can I force them to teach a phonics-based program? I doubt it. Will they allow him to just listen to books on CD or the computer? Will they scribe all his answers? Will they read aloud all instructions to him? Will they not force him to belabor all the repetitive worksheets in math? Will they "encourage" him to keep reading and writing at inappropriate (for him) levels when not directly supervised?
All that is fully up for negotiation, based on your particular child's educational needs (as identified in the diagnostic workup and in observations at school).
The team (including you) identifies needs, and decides how to address them. Addressing giftedness has been an important part of my very 2E DS12's IEP since he was in 3rd.
Once you have the diagnostic report in hand, you can share it with the school and district, and ask them to evaluate him for an IEP. The book From Emotions to Advocacy is a good guide.
I feel like I'm already "teaching" him by remediating his struggles in reading and writing.
Technically, that's their job. If you want to keep doing it, that works too.
I'm wondering how much of his 6 hour school day is wasted and will continue to be wasted by just scribbling on their papers or ingraining bad habits of reading by guessing, etc.
It sounds like you're generally unhappy with how the school does things, even apart from the question of accommodations for the disabilities and giftedness. If that's the case, it may make the most sense to look at other settings and see if there's a better choice.
Our 2Es are in public school. That's where they have the most legal protection, and therefore where we feel they can be best accommodated. Has it been a lot of work for me to get the school to understand their needs? You bet. However, many teachers have gone many extra miles for us, and I do think they are getting a better than reasonable education.
I know last year a child who needed handwriting OT only received about 15 min a week after waiting for months for OT to be staffed at the school.
Services are not supposed to be determined by availability-- they're supposed to be determined by the need of this particular child. That is, if the team determines that your child needs a full-time scribe, or assistive tech, or five hours a week of reading remediation, or some combination of things, that's what has to happen. If the district stalls, you can go to the state office of compliance with documentation.
I'm also concerned we won't qualify for services at all because DS isn't behind in all subjects.
If you go to Wrightslaw.com and type "functional" into their search box, you'll see that being academically behind isn't the only reason. If the child is having trouble with functional skills, like handwriting, that is supposed to qualify for remediation.
If the child is dyslexic, it is very likely that he will qualify for some sort of remediation, probably Orton Gillingham or one of the other widely respected programs.
DeeDee
