Tammy: Why child has a 504 plan for food allergies and a now a GIEP for gifted services. Should the documents now be considered an IEP or should they remain a 504 plan with the GIEP inside of it?
Gifted: CAN 504 PLAN FOR ALLERGIES AND GIFTED IEP (GIEP) BE COMBINED AS AN IEP?
Elizabeth is correct about Pennsylvania. (I don’t know if there are other states where a GIEP (Gifted IEP) also exists.)
The GIEP should subsume (absorb) the allergy 504. All the allergy accommodations should be copied straight over to the GIEP. “If a student is eligible under IDEA, he or she must have an IEP. Under the Section 504 regulations, one way to meet Section 504 requirements for a free appropriate public education is to implement an IEP.” http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/504faq.html
There are some states (Pennsylvania, I think) that have IEPs for gifted children, as well as for children with disabilities. I don’t know the answer to this question, though.
I’m not sure what you mean by a gifted IEP. IEPs are developed when students meet criteria for having a disability and as a result require special education. Does your district just informally refer to individual plans for gifted students as “GIEPs”? If so, your child does not have an IEP in the special education realm, so there is nothing to combine the 504 plan with. It sounds as if your child is a student with a learning plan to address giftedness, who also just happens to have a 504 plan to address allergies. Unless your child’s allergies rise to the level of impacting educational progress to the point where they are considered disabling and require special education, you can always refer them for an evaluation. Otherwise there is nothing else you need to do at this time.