I missed this thread last week. Hopefully the OP will check back.
Here's where the sticky part comes in about being below grade level for gifted kids. The IDEA law the governs special education has this requirement for identification:
"Must not require the use of a severe discrepancy between intellectual ability and achievement for determining whether a child has a specific learning disability, as defined in 34 CFR 300.8(c)(10);"
http://idea.ed.gov/explore/view/p/%2Croot%2Cdynamic%2CTopicalBrief%2C23%2C
Schools now apply this as "Don't use a severe discrepancy between intellectual ability and achievement." So this is put in place so that a child with dyslexia performing 1.5 sigma below the mean is denied services because that child has an IQ in the lower end of the average range. As it's written, however, there's nothing to preclude the district from qualifying a child who has a significantly above average IQ, which might otherwise predict above level performance, who is performing at or near grade level.
We happened to "luck out" in that our school is now looking to get themselves out of hot water for under identifying kids. DD was identified for grade level performance in spelling and writing because it was << 2 sigma below her verbal IQ. Had we gone into this process a year earlier, we would have been ignored and cast off as pushy parents with entitled kids.
