I didn't see the question on 2e, but here's my take as a mom of a 2e kid who went to a gifted middle program:
Our county has both middle school autism programs and gifted magnets. Both have their positives and negatives. That having been said, for my own daughter, it was more helpful to send her to the gifted magnet with a few other probably-Aspies than to be the only gifted kid in an autism program. Socially, she fit right in with the gifted kids, albeit the slightly odder kids rather than the Super Achieving Uber-Academic King of the School ones. This may have as much to do with her general personality as her exceptionality, since she's kind of a blue-haired anime fan anyway. Academically, her big challenge was executive functioning/organization, and that was a huge one. If the school has a set-up whereby grades can be followed online, it helps.
Ultimately, in the spirit of full disclosure, she's back homeschooling this year. Not because of the demands of the program, but because the gifted magnet is a program within a larger, very low-functioning school, and she ended up having daily panic attacks after about her fourth week of daily fights and student arrests. :o(
Last edited by eldertree; 03/17/10 08:06 AM.
