Sounds good! I remember hearing that same toughen them up for Middle School concept last year for my son (who seems very like your child :))
This year DS (11) is in 6th grade and in his first year of Middle School. We dropped his special ed IEP last Spring but picked up the critical support needs under his Gifted IEP and it is working well. The Gifted Teacher has been a better advocate for our son's needs than the Special Ed department anyway! They were good, but given DS's gifted nature, their suggestions and action plans sometimes felt a bit off target. Plus, since he did not have poor grades,
As a note, DS is doing very well overall with the locker and class change schedule. We've hit a few rough spots but they seem to be worked out reasonably easily.
