We were in this very same situation about 2 years ago with my older dd. She hasn't tested as gifted but she does have high average cognitive abilities, close to being gifted but not quite. We fought the school for 2 years trying to get her help and they were less than helpful. We had a horrible team where the psych even rolled her eyes when I tried to point out the areas of the test results that showed my dd needed help and had a LD. Even with a diagnosis from Children's they wouldn't even give her a 504. Meanwhile dd continued to fall further and further behind in class. I won't go into a lot of details but in the end the school dropped the ball in regards to getting her help, thinking we were switching schools when we weren't. The second to last day of school we were able to get her an IEP, mostly thanks to her current teacher and a much better IEP team. A team that actually knew what they were doing. They looked at the very same tests the previous team had and were able to see what I had been trying to tell them for nearly two years. It was a relief that somebody finally got it and understood how my dd was struggling to 'access the curriculum' in the classroom.... that's the phrase they would stick to for eligibility determination.
Last year was the first school year she had an IEP but the special ed teacher was useless and didn't accomplish much with her. The only progress dd made was thanks to the outside tutoring we did/do. At the end of last year dd ended up qualifying for more services and it seems crazy that a child with an IEP continues to fall further behind....
It's a constant battle it seems... even with an IEP.
Luckily this year seems to be going better. They fired the old special ed teacher and the new one is awesome and dd loves her. So I'm trying to stay optimistic.
The point I'm trying to make is that be prepared to be in a constant battle. You need to follow through and get your child the help he deserves. And imo even with a 504 or an IEP you are always gonna have to be aware and fight for what your child needs. The documentation isn't a given that they will get what they need.
