Need advice regarding academically advanced kid....

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I don't disagree with your reasoning, but that isn't how it is interpreted. Wrightslaw is referring to ESE students who are delayed when they state that, and looking deeper at some of their links, they reinforce my point that the right ESE students have is to not be discriminated against from gifted programs, but there isn't a right for advanced academics.

http://www.wrightslaw.com/info/2e.index.htm

While a child may not have a right to "advanced academics" (not exactly sure what that means) the law clearly says disabled children have a right to achieve academic progress. The law doesn't say "only kids who are delayed need to make progress" or that "a child who is above grade level in a subject, doesn't have to make progress". It says that in order for a child to be receiving a FAPE, the child needs to show progress. All of the people on my son's IEP team have agreed to this principle anyway so I do believe that is how it is interpreted. So for my son who is well above grade level in reading, they need to provide additional challenges. We are still hammering out goals and accommodations to describe what that is going to look like but in the end it will be that he is given instruction that is above the 1st grade level where he is chronologically because he has already mastered that curriculum.

IDEA refers to access to the general education curriculum and equal access to programs already offered, but they don't have a right to some specialized advanced curriculum. I understand 'progress', but the courts don't appear to be supporting your conclusion. They don't have a right to a more advanced curriculum than would be provided to non ESE students. Their right is to equal access to programs only. In my previous school district, they were clear that advanced academics at his level was not a right. I also has meetings with the the director of special education, director of early elementary education, superintendent, chair of school board, and school board in session as well. Again, the laws on giften education vary a lot, state to state, and some school districts are more flexible than others.

http://www.ncld.org/parents-child-disab ... n-my-child

So, I ask, how does a school show that a child is making academic progress if that child starts the school year having mastered the grade level curriculum but all the school does is give the child the same grade level instruction that is being given to the other kids? By definition they must provide something else just like they do with kids that are below grade level.

"So, I ask, how does a school show that a child is making academic progress if that child starts the school year having mastered the grade level curriculum but all the school does is give the child the same grade level instruction that is being given to the other kids? By definition they must provide something else just like they do with kids that are below grade level."

The standard for progress is grade level academics, so they would show that the child has learned the material for the grade. I fully agree that the child hasn't made real progress, but that right only applies to children who are behind academically. The focus of the IEP in regards to progress would be the areas in which they have weaknesses. There is no federal right for any child to receive advanced or gifted academics, but the federal laws require that handicapped children have equal access to programs if they are provided. Additionally, the criteria for having an IEP is both a handicap and that it adversely affects their educational performance, so to demand educational curriculum beyond what non-IEP students would receive is a stretch. There is no federal (yes many states do, but not the fed) right for any child to receive gifted or advanced academics, and unless laws are passed providing that right, I don't think the courts would infer it from IDEA. Feel free to find a link stating that 2E kids have this right. I think my last one was clear that they don't.