Reagan, I am very happy you are talking about this. At my elementary school we had a woman who specialized in reading disabilities and we were constantly tested with dibels (https://dibels.org/dibels.html) to ensure no one was falling behind. If you were, you either had sessions with her or you just had to take a book home and read it to your parents, where they then signed off on it. I had to take books home for a couple of years (they were the worst books. There was this one where this girls family rejected her and kicked her out because she liked birds. Then there was the mole book, which I never finished because I openly reused to read it). Despite hating them and feeling bad for having to read them, they really did help me. My test results improved -even while I added snide remarks. Early testing is important along with the right social atmosphere to allow kids to accept the needed help.

Reagan,
Your post was very interesting and well-written. I liked how you didn’t present learning disabilities in a negative way like many other people, which like you said has detrimental effects on those with LDs. I didn’t know there was such a significant percentage of Americans with LDs and that they can be more apparent in different times of life. Those statistics just make it that much more important that we create an education system that can suit their unique needs throughout all of their time in school. It is saddening that kids would feel stupid and have low self-esteem or struggle in school without help for something they cannot control because those around them may not realize when a they are suffering from an LD. I hope we continue to improve our schools to better help kids with LDs. I also found this article on strategies for teaching kids with learning disabilities: https://ldaamerica.org/successful-strategies-for-teaching-students-with-learning-disabilities/
Thank you for your post, it was very informative.