Most children will learn to read, no matter what method is used to teach them. But unless they receive special help, at least 20 percent of them cannot master this simple task that the rest of us take for granted. Their difficulty is painfully obvious when they try to read out loud. Children with reading difficulties stop and start frequently, mispronouncing some words and skipping others entirely. The first casualty is self-esteem: children with reading disability soon grow ashamed as they struggle with a skill their classmates master easily. In the later grades, when children switch from learning to read to reading to learn, reading-impaired children are kept from exploring science, history, literature, mathematics and the wealth of information that is presented in print.