thousands of kids over the years, I know one thing -- when the mom's gut is telling her there is something off, 99.9% of the time there is. So when you see your kid clinging to the side of the Curriculum Ship and about to fall off try and take an action even if the school does not seem inclined to do anything. This action can take the form of finding an outside assessment or a screening with a trusted professional who can identify the areas of concern.  Typically some form of outside remediation needs to occur.  With Meghan's mom, she didn't want to wait around any longer.  She sensed things were getting more challenging and her sense of confidence was declining.  Meghan was then evaluated and found to have mild to moderate issues with reading, spelling and writing.  These issues were probably not severe enough for the school to take an official action, like classifying her for special education, but they were enough to be taking their toll on her. Takeaway Point Trust your intuition and listen to your gut.  Try and take action if you can in the form of some type of assessment and follow up remedial tutoring once issues have been identified. Richard Selznick, Ph.D Richard Selznick, Ph.D is a Psychologist, Nationally Certified School Psychologist, Graduate School Professor, University Professor of Pediatrics and School Consultant. The author of two books, The Shut-Down Learner: Helping Your Academically Discouraged Child and the recently published School Struggles: A Guide