Breaking through the siloed educational system: Identification of barriers and strategies to optimize outcomes for students with learning disabilities

Students with a specific learning disability (SLD) such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, or dyscalculia often interact with a large number of care providers in school and community settings, including speech-language pathologists, special educators, reading specialists, and athletic coaches. A streamlined approach to care that informs the coordination of these professionals is frequently absent, hindering the design of preventive approaches, identification strategies, and service implementation. In the present narrative review, we discuss the barriers to team collaboration across the micro-, mesa-, and macro-levels. Focusing on one particular team member in the learner ecosystem, the speech-language pathologist, we then describe models and solutions at the service and system levels that aim to streamline coordination and collaboration between team members. Finally, we identify gaps in the literature and propose new solutions for streamlined care, with the ultimate goal of mitigating the impact of SLDs on mental health and academic, social, and economic success.