Sue,
Just wanted to say I understand your cynicism; I have seen all of the things you mention, from the inside. But I'll add that the primary reason schools seem quick to dismiss 2e and gifted kids is probably lack of funding. Title I funding won't go to grade-level kids. Javits is largely unfunded. NCLB has never been fully-funded. Special ed funds are basically distributed based on triage.
And I have worked in systems that identify and serve 2e kiddos; they DO exist.
Amilynn,
Evaluations can be informative in children as young as two, but you have to be realistic about what you can gain from early childhood assessment. Every test result obtained from a 4 year old has to be taken with helpings of salt. It is more of a snapshot of this moment in time, useful as baseline and a working hypothesis.
School personnel tend to trust school-based evaluations more, and they do have the specific advantage that they are in the natural educational context of the child. Also, many evaluators are able to spread the testing out over multiple short sessions. Yes, some school systems are motivated to find no disability.
Private evaluations are more likely to have a single person who pulls the results together at the end (in a school eval, this may happen at the IEP eligibility meeting, but probably not before), and presents it to you in a neat package. All the advantages of someone who works for you. One disadvantage is that nearly every outside eval will result in a diagnosis, as otherwise they will be challenged to bill insurance for it. And since one can come up with a diagnosis for anyone, if the evaluator is sufficiently motivated, this occasionally results in rather soft Dxs.
