My 2E DS13 has had a better year in 7th than 6th but school is still very difficult. I was unsuccessful in getting an eval for IEP and his 504 works "kinda" but it's a huge burden on...me.

The biggest issue is that he is on academic probation and so there is this constant pressure not to let any grade slip below a C. He has pretty much lost interest in learning, but will do his work.

Here are some of his strange issues:

--he loves to write and is very creative but will NOT share his "real" writing with his CA teacher, even though it is much better than the crud he turns in to her.
--he still has a lot of trouble turning in completed assignments.
--he is very difficult to communicate with in any sort of useful way, and responds to most personal conversations with...song lyrics.

So, I found a really really cool private school with very low class sizes (as in he would have perhaps 5-6 age/grade-mates), project-based learning. Very low stress and personalized. They even have a digital composition music lab, which is one of his personal hobbies.

They put a lot of emphasis on putting high school students into internships in interest areas and during junior/senior year taking dual-credit on campus of small lib arts university. They also emphasize service-learning, which would be right up his alley as he has said that he wants to "go around helping people" in his free time.

I think this would be a fantastic fit for him. The problem? He is freaking out at the very idea of something different. I refuse to "allow him to fail" in his current program but am trying to make him understand that learning does not have to be stressful.

He has stated that school makes him hate himself, and threatened suicide on several occasions this year over things like homework.

Anyhew. Any advice? He has agreed to do one shadow day in a week, but they really want him to do two in a row to help him really get the feel for it.

He is autistic but is not severely disabled. His anxiety and executive function are the biggest challenges for him. They don't play well together.