My latest research:

Thanks to postings on local boards, I've now managed to hear back from one parent at Cozy Middle with Aspie child, one teacher at Cozy, and three parents at G&T Middle, who all asked their kids about school.

They all love their schools!

One parent of a G&T Middle student said her child had already covered topics in 6th grade science that the parent didn't get until high school. DOK! She raved about the science "talent" teacher.

One child said there was incessant teasing at G&T Middle, the other two said there was practically none,and that teachers did not tolerate bullying.

The parent of a child at Cozy said it had been a great experience for her child and he really thrived. Her child had been appropriately challenged in the accelerated math offered (concludes with algebra in 8th). Challenge for a HG child was hit or miss in some classes. Her dc had day in, day out, lessons on social skills issues that helped her child tremendously. The school's specific pull-out on writing for the AS kids had been especially helpful and made a big difference. The teachers were in general very dedicated.

I also spoke to the placement social worker for Cozy, who said there would be a lot of kids just as smart as my child there. I tend not to believe those sorts of statements when made about any DYS kid, and that puts up warning flags for me. HOWEVER, she does not actually run the program or teach or counsel there.

The director of the Aspie program at Cozy returned my call, but it went to my voicemail and didn't pop up in messages until around 5:30. Curses on my horrible cell phone coverage!

I also spoke to the counselor at G&T Middle who said..... "the key thing is to be flexible and do what the kids need." I kid you not. She said she teaches a social skills pull out for two kids at the school. An OT visits the school once or twice weekly, with schedule varing by needs of kids that year.
Most lunch periods, kids who want a quieter lunch will come eat with her in her office. They also can receive a "permanent library pass" so that they can go to the library for lunch or before school. At lunch, kids can go to the room of the cluster teacher who has signed up to do lunch-time tutoring. Kids who need help with handwriting as stated in IEP get to use assistive technology and the school-board approved technology is the alphasmart keyboard. Many teachers post assignments on-line. Some don't, but there would be work-arounds. (This is where she talked about flexibility.) I was least satisfied with her answers on writing skills. Those would be worked on in-class, andin the twice-weekly intervention that each kid gets, where kids are pulled out and placed in a class with kids who scored similarly on reading or math exams, and given remediation or supplementation as needed. Few specifics and no guarantees, other than, they try to give the child what's needed. Cluster teachers conference at least once a week to discuss the kids in their cluster and what's needed. Both parents and kids may come to the meeting to discuss what they need and parents will come and make requests.