Any Success Stories out there?

I think my niece counts as a success story. She came into our family at 17 months old as a foster child and my sister adopted her at age 3. She had no diagnosis and seemed to be a fairly "normal" child; however, once she started school she had a terrible time. She couldn't seem to learn her abc's or simple phonetics like other children. Even counting and learning simple addition/subtraction gave her a hard time. She was held back in kindergarten, but the extra year didn't seem to help. My sister worked with her endlessly at home, but that didn't seem to help either. By the time she was in 2nd grade, the school had all but given up on her. They told my sister they thought she was MR and would be lucky to ever advance past 3rd or 4th grade. Back then, the public schools were not allowed to do IQ tests on African American children (I'm not sure if that's changed). They could test white children, but not black children. Something to do with discrimination in the past. It seems like discrimination now to me. Since they didn't have a number, all they could do is guess, and they chose to guess she was MR. My sister didn't believe it. I didn't believe it. I don't think anyone who ever spent more than a few hours with this kid would believe she was MR! All her problems centered around school work. At home, she was a normal kid and, if anything, seemed to have an above average memory, common sense, and reasoning ability.Finally, after wearing herself out arguing with the school over the MR diagnosis, she had her independently evaluated. The evaluator did all kinds of tests (still no IQ test) and came up with that she was dyslexic. After reading about dyslexia, it all fit so perfectly! She seemed so smart in everyday life, but when it came to learning reading and math, it was like hitting a brick wall. After getting the diagnosis, my sister began working with her on specialized learning programs designed for dyslexics and it was like the wall started to crumble!Fast forward 8 years to the 10th grade. My niece is now an A/B and sometimes C student who frequently makes the honor roll. She takes only one special ed class a day (which is useless to her but necessary to keep her IEP). Her other classes are all regular high school classes with just a few accommodations (i.e. more time on tests, use of spell checker and calculator, etc.) and she is on track to graduate on time.I'm not going to say it's been easy for them. My sister and niece spend many hours every single day working on her schoolwork (including summer break and school holidays). She does and always will read at a very low level (currently about 4th grade level), so they have to find other ways for her to get the information. Her spelling is atrocious and always will be, but you would never know it thanks to the invention of spell checkers (massive fight to get spell checkers into the IEP). Like many dyslexics, she is very good at understanding mathematical concepts (algebra, geometry, etc.), but has a very difficult time with simple math like addition and subtraction. The times table really throws her for a loop! This is remedied through the use of a calculator (another massive fight for the IEP). If it were up to the school, she would still be drilling in the times tables, rather than having successfully passed algebra and now getting an A in geometry (both classes necessary for high school graduation in our district). If it were up to the school, she would also never graduate from high school. Their plan at the end of 8th grade was for her to take all remedial special ed classes which would lead to a "certificate of participation" instead of a real high school diploma. My sister fought them on it and won.To this day, the school still refuses to believe the dyslexia diagnosis even though she meets all the criteria of a textbook case. In her IEP, they have listed only an "unidentified learning disability". I think its because if they ever admitted she had dyslexia, then they would have had to put some effort into trying one of the many proven methods of teaching dyslexics. By keeping it "unidentified", they can continue to do nothing just as they've always done.My niece plans on going to a community college after high school and then slowly transitioning to a 4 year university. I have no doubt that she can get a college degree and become whatever she wants to be; she will just have to work 5 times harder than anyone else to do it. But she has already proven that she is willing and able to put in the extra time and effort, so I know she will succeed.Sorry this is so long. I am just so very proud of both my niece and my sister for never giving up and proving everyone wrong. I love to tell their story in the hopes that it will encourage others who have children that are suffering from learning challenges.ETA: I wouldn't be too discouraged by the MR diagnosis or 70 IQ if it's not matching what you are seeing in his everyday life. My niece has never been IQ tested and I now realize that is a good thing. One thing I've learned through my niece is that many learning disabled children have problems performing on standardized tests. My niece has "failed" every standardized test she has ever taken, I think due to a combination of the reading disability and the built-up test anxiety caused by being constantly labeled a "failure". From my everyday interactions with her, I have no doubt that she has a normal IQ (actually I would guess it to be above average); however, I also have no doubt that an IQ test would not reflect favorably on her.