Welcome to the forums Jeanette - you'll find lots of wonderful advice here.
As a mom to a 2e student, my recommendation is going to come from a bit of a sideways origin to what you're asking. Rather than think only about school and how you can help your ds have access to gifted services now, I think it's important to look at how a child with a 2e challenge is going to navigate life inside and outside of school, looking at the long term. If the school is offering an eval, I'd definitely let them do the eval - personally I feel like you can never have enough "data" when trying to understand what's going on with children who have challenges - whether or not they are 2e. As long as the evaluation isn't going to stress out your ds, and there's no potential that it might stand in the way of your being able to work with the district to get services (this can happen in some school districts in some situations)... then absolutely, agree to the school's eval.
And...
1) Be sure to ask everything that's going to be included in the eval. In most districts there's a form with a checklist of all possible things that are routinely included (cognitive, speech-language, OT etc) - and if there's anything that you think needs to be included and is left off, request (in writing) that it be included. (email is ok for "in writing").
2) Get full copies of all of your ds' previous testing. Specifically ask for the reports with subtest scores - this is where you'll be able to see if averaging has impacted test scores... i.e., is one particular area of a test impacted by a challenge, whereas other areas are scoring significantly higher than, for instance, predicted by the 126 score.
3) Consider a private eval as well. You have to be careful about some tests that can't be repeated within certain time intervals, and you also might want to wait until after the school has done their eval if you have reasonable expectations that the district will do a thorough eval. OTOH, it wouldn't hurt to network a bit now to find out what other people's experience has been with school evals: are they thorough, and are parents generally satisfied with them. Places you might be able to find info such as this are family pediatrician, local parent advocates group, parents you know etc.
In my family's situation, the private evals were extremely helpful and really important in getting an accurate diagnosis, as well as putting together a plan for remediation and accommodation not only in the short term but the long term. We found three key differences between school evals and private evals: 1) the school is evaluating for academic function - what the child needs to be successful with school, whereas a private evaluator is looking at what a child needs to be successful in *life* - and there are differences here, even with a child as young as 8 years old. 2) the school is looking at how to set and reach goals now, whereas a good private eval will give you a long-term look at what you as parents and your child will need over a longer span of time. 3) A private evaluator will be able to help you navigate understanding what services you can reasonably expect school to provide vs what services your child might need that the school district won't provide, and for those a private evaluator can usually give recommendations for local providers.
Wherever you get the evaluation, having a global evaluation - that looks at the totality of how your child is functioning, and doesn't start with an end-goal in mind (i.e.: we think the child has ADHD, therefore we will look only at ADHD) is really important (note - I'm just a parent, so take what I say with that in mind). Our ds also exhibited some signs that were thought to look like ASD and ADHD when he was around the same age as your ds - and at other ages too
His 2nd grade teacher was convinced he had ADHD, but his first neuropsych eval revealed something *none* of the adults in his life expected (teachers, parents, previous counselor)... DCD and dysgraphia. After initial remediation, we also discovered an expressive language disorder. Our neuropsych has a chart that shows how quite a few of the symptoms and behaviors associated with DCD, ADHD and ASD overlap - and it's only through an experienced professional and a thorough eval that you can really conclude what's up with any particular child.
Last piece of advice - when a child has a challenge, one set of testing at one point in time isn't going to be a defining test that will give you everything you'll ever need to know. Understanding of how best to remediate/accommodate can and most likely will change as your child grows - and that's ok! Don't let that stop you from an evaluation now, though. The results you get may seem confusing, but having data is a good thing. Moving forward is a good thing. Getting an evaluation and not being afraid of getting a diagnosis is a good thing.
I have more to say, particularly re advocating, but no time to write more at the moment - good luck as you move forward and let us know if you have more questions. Also let us know how things go!
Best wishes,
polarbear
