I just wanted to chime in with a comment on the idea that
"The worry is that if these issues are not dealt with, it could become more serious later on as other habits become ingrained. "
I live in NYC and face a different and opposite problem.
One of my kids is 8 and is a "late bloomer" on motor and related tasks (eye tracking, handwriting,...) just like older sibs, who grew out of those problems. Here in NYC we have to work like crazy to avoid having our children needlessly assigned certain LD labels (for things they will grow out of anyway).
My 8 yo was at a private, mainstream school last year where at least half of all boys were recommended for testing for purported attention problems and/or LDs, between grades 1 and 3. The kids had all been extensively screened before acceptance to K or pre-K there (kids with problems evident in preschool were never admitted). I found it remarkable the school thought so many kids could have attention or learning problems. I also found it interesting the school was not looking for neurological workups, but wanted us rather to take them to some nearby OT provider who endorses sensory based treatments. Several kids were referred for "upper body weakness" which basically means the teacher did not like the way these boys sat in the chair. Incidentally, there was no scheduled break for the kids other than a twenty minute lunch break at around noon (in chairs) and then a running-around recess at 1:30.
Quite a few gullible parents went in for these OT evals and then their kids were slapped with "special needs" designations which subsequently prevented the children from being accepted at other private schools later. One child was interviewed and allowed to spend THREE DAYS at a private Waldorf school in a new city where the family planned to move. The new school loved the kid (and the boy loved the school), and the school told the parents informally their child was accepted, but then upon receiving a school report describing "special needs" this child was then rejected by the Waldorf school. I also saw when kids applied out for high school, the consistent pattern was that the kids who had managed to navigate without getting labels attached, were accepted and had choices for high school. The labeled children were left with no options but to continue at the current school (not well respected for its high school) or to attend generally even less desirable public high schools. In NYC virtually everyone has to apply for middle and high school, EVEN if the intention is to attend public. The kids who "don't get in anywhere" can be stuck attending public high schools with graduation rates hovering around 50 percent. The special needs designations are not supposed to be a factor in public or private school placement, but it sure looks to observant parents that they are a very big factor.
Anyway, in NYC we parents of bright young boys (especially) worry about our children getting bogus "special needs" labels assigned to their school records, and subsequently being denied opportunities to attend appropriately challenging schools (in the future).
In this context especially, I personally am very, very uncomfortable with the culture of encouraging labels and seeking of new forms of LD, as I think despite good intentions on the part of parents these labels can so easily come back and haunt the children later. Maybe where the rest of you live it is not a problem, but in NYC I can tell you it certainly seems to be.
