bina, my first thought is that I don't have enough information from what you've given to really know what advise to give. The things that I would use to weigh in my decision:
1) What are the fundamental differences in curriculum between the two schools, and in the way classes are taught? Not all gifted magnet schools are the same, and some "non-gifted" school actually work quite well for gifted students - it all depends so much on each individual program.
2) What admissions requirements exist for the gifted school? Does your ds meet all the requirements, or are they a stretch?
3) What have you heard about the other school in terms of curriculum content, how material is taught, how much homework is there (and what type - creative, though-provoking or repetitive and mind-numbing).
I would also want to know a few things about your ds:
1) Do you feel you have a good understanding of his challenges?
2) Have you seen success with remediating and setting up appropriate accommodations? Does your ds use his accommodations?
3) Why did he get a D in language arts. You mentioned he hates to write - do you think this is related to his visual and auditory challenges, or do you think there is another yet unrecognized challenge?
4) What are his social relationships like at his current school? Is he the personality-type that could leave and start all over again easily, or will he miss his friends? If he has a tough time making new friends, are you willing to put him into the position of being at a new school two years in a row?
I'd consider moving him *if* he wanted to make the move, and if you feel confident that you have a clear understanding of his 2e challenges and he's making appropriate progress and using his accommodations. If you really haven't gotten the challenge part of the equation figured out, or if he's balking at using accommodations, I would consider *not* moving - I wouldn't rule it out, but I'd want to be sure my absolute main focus at this age is in understanding whatever challenges he might have and moving forward with remediation and getting appropriate accommodations in place.
You might also want to ask around about how 2e children are treated at the gifted school - are they welcomed there or are they generally declined admission? If they are happily accepted at the school, how many 2e kids are attending the school? I do think it's entirely possible that after you check into things, you might find that the gifted magnet is more open to recognizing and accommodating/remediating 2e challenges than a regular public school that just doesn't "get it" - but this is the type of information that you have to get through your local contacts.
Like Howler, I'd strongly urge you to focus on following up with the potential disability issues. I'm the parent of two 2e kiddos - and parenting them through school has been challenging. Remediation has also been time-consuming and costly. One thing that I've found with both of my 2e kiddos is that they made *quicker* progress when the skill they were working on was treated separately from the academics in class that were essentially unrelated - and for those subjects that my kids are strong in - they learned how to work through their challenges much more quickly when they are given appropriately intellectually challenging material. Trying to remediate with material that was too easy for them didn't work well at all.
Good luck with figuring out what to do -
polarbear
