I was wondering if an IEP is an appropriate thing to ask for for a child who needs to have his curriculum compacted. In the case of DS, he has no known disabilities and since our state's standard form begins with:

• Enter student’s Disability Code:___
10 Intellectual Disability
43 Deafblindness
70 Orthopedic Impairment
82 Autism Spectrum Disorder
20 Hearing Impairment
50 Communication Disorder
74 Traumatic Brain Injury
90 Specific Learning Disability
40 Visual Impairment
60 Emotional Disturbance
80 Other Health Impairment

I'm confused about what to put down for his "code". 10? (How is his learning fast a disability in the eyes of a school?) 80? (Is boredom a health impairment?) 90? (This seems closest to his situation, although "Specific Learning Ability Challenge" is more accurate.)

I've heard about GIEP's but when I Googled it I only got something about Hoagie's Page: Pennsylvania's GIEP's. Does this mean they don't exist in all states?

The reason I am asking is I'm wondering if having an IEP will require the school DS attends to compact his curriculum, assuming coming right out and asking doesn't accomplish that or something similar that may work to solve our current problem with his rate of learning vs. school pace.

Yes, GIEPs only exist in some states. Many states have no funding at all, and negligible programming for GT services. If your state has no code for it, then it is fairly safe to say that there is no GIEP. That does not mean that there are no avenues for GT services, though. Search your state's DOE site for GT key words, like: gifted, talented, academically-advanced, highly-capable.

Which state are you in?

In FL, there is legislation called the ACCEL law.

It helps to know what state.

OP, sadly very few states have gifted IEPs. In most states, kids are legally entitled to FAPE (free appropriate public education). The legal definition of what constitutes FAPE in most states is very low--if your child makes some progress that year then the district has met its burden. Most states give no protection to gifted kids and in those states your child does not have a legal right to make a year's worth of learning progress for a year's worth of class time. It is kind of a dismal situation (at least in the worst districts) and drives many families with gifted kids to homeschool.

Sorry to be a downer. It's definitely the major reason why we homeschool.

In Florida the plan for gifted students is called an EP (education plan) and not an IEP. They are similar but different and the state laws are different for each group but the state ESE department is in charge of both programs ESE and gifted are both considered exceptionalities.

Not to speak for the OP, but just as an exemplar, here is information for the State of Arizona (AZ).

The State links are found by looking at the "Links" column on the left hand side of the forum (or visiting the Davidson Database), and clicking on "How gifted-friendly is your state?"

In the example of this randomly chosen State, the question "Does gifted education legislation exist?" is answered "Yes", and a link to that State's legislation is provided (15-779 definitions, 15-779.01, 15-779.02, 15-779.03, 15-779.04).

In preparation for advocacy, it is important to become familiar with State laws, and school/district policies.

There are several articles about successful advocacy on the Davidson Database, including the Guidebook.