Hi az1. I agree with 'Neato that you should listen to what the teacher proposes. Try to gauge what the school thinks and see what they are offering. I don't think that means that you shouldn't be advocating your little heart out. Quite the contrary. I just think that it is best to know what the school has in mind as the possible options in order to know how hard to push. If you start the conversation by pushing very hard, then schools often clamp on the brakes and digs in their heels. The best approach seems to be, IMHO, asking enough questions that you steer the school down whatever path you think is necessary, but in such a way that the school thinks it is their idea to begin with.
So start the conversation with a question like, 'How is my son doing in school?' or 'What do you feel my son needs in order to be challenged at school?' Let them make a few suggestions.
We were in the same boat just one year ago, although it was my DS(then 7)'s teacher that initiated the process. She sat down at the p/t conference in Oct. with all of her data supporting the opinion that DS should not be in 2nd grade. Her approach was to give him the end of the year 2nd grade tests in all subjects. (math, science, reading, writing, social studies, spelling... ) That was the best was to see that there was really nothing for him to learn in the 3/4 of 2nd grade left in the year.
So if your son's teacher is wishy-washy on the subject of what your child knows, you might ask in a sweet voice, "Would it be possible for you to give DS the end of the year tests for 2nd grade in order to determine what he knows?" This is something that she can do on the spot, so to speak, without a lot of additional work. The slowest part of this process is waiting for the school to give an IQ test like the WISC-IV, and then waiting for the results, and then waiting for the school to decide what the results mean. (you get the picture!) But she has those end of the year test already, and they take very little time to do a couple pages of math or reading. It will at least give you some ammunition for the ensuing salvo.
The only other thing that I can add is that getting the school to move on these things takes forever. At least it did with us. Good luck. Let us know how the p/t conference goes.
