If yoru child needs services, (such as speech therapy or OT), specialized instruction, or modifications to the cirriculum, he will need to have an IEP, since these things are not included in a 504 plan. IEPs also include measurable goals and a documented method to monitor progress.
The child and the parent(s) have more rights under an IEP, including procedural safegaurds, the right to "stay put" during school/parent disputes, the right to a Behavioral Intervention Plan, certain protections for a student facing suspension, and parent participation in educational planning.
I don't see how an IEP would be stigmatizing at the Kindergaten level.
Gena
DS, age 11 and always amazing
“Autistics are the ultimate square pegs, and the problem with pounding a square peg into a round hole is not that the hammering is hard work. It's that you're destroying the peg." - Paul Collins, Not Even Wrong