The fic in question is Learning Curve by Jack of a Few Trades.
It's a Slice of Life, Cherilee fic about problems that regular teacher faces with somewhat less regular student.

This is my first review, so I'll be doing it in a manner I'm more-or-less used to, and if I did it wrong, tell me.

Grammar:
Good. Really, truly is. I may have spotted one or two minor imperfections (in a 44k text), like using "Farther" when I think "Further" was better suited, but really this is greatly written and edited.
Have yourself a 30/30 on this category, and well-deserved one at that.

Style
Here, I think fic suffers the most. Overall things flow pretty well, but there is to a text an overabundance of detail, and ofttimes details not really relevant to what is important to the plot, and that makes text heavy, slow and on occasion downright depressing. The first two or three chapters suffer for it especially - though the text does not say (or imply, or require) for Cheerily to be depressed, it reads as if it is told by a character in the throes of deep melancholy, if not outright depressive. Even a short Pinkie cameo comes off less adoracute and energetic and more like creepy-OCD-stalker-y and has that weird "trying to cheer-up terminally ill" vibe.
It gets better after chapter three, but it's sort of still there, making text much more somber than is required - and that makes the parts that do have to be somber and sad have less contrast and therefore less impact.

There is a lot of effort and description put into ponificating everyday actions, showing how earth ponies handle things without hands or telekinesis. On one hand I do like it - it is creative, it is thought-provoking, it shows that author cares deeply about details. But on the other hand, coupled with heavy style, it sort brings to mind more of a description how a person with disabilities handles things, making everyday simple things a challenge for them. So... yeah, I don't think that was the intended effect here.

Also, use of word "godforsaken". I mean, come-on, if you ponify everything don't slip up here.

All in all, factoring the improvement after chapter three, I'd say it's a solid 22/30.

Plot
The plot itself is pretty engaging - you have Cheerilee returning to her childhood town, her new job as a teacher (that thread could use a bit of expansion, I feel), your general problems of being a primary class teacher and, of course, the main plot of a special student. It is engaging, worthwhile read, and the subject at matter is handled very well.
But no movie is without sin, and no fic is without problem. There are several within this fic:
First of all, a minor problem - the shoehorned Mane cast cameos are shoehorned. While everypony knows Pinkie, and probably at least has heard of Apples, there is no reason for Cheerilee to really know Rarity, or to think of her parent's friends as "Rarity's parents" or to think of Apple Bloom as "Applejack's sister". There's little indication in canon that these mares know each other or care to.
Second minor problem is naming - there are few OC names I to stick out, like Davenport (which is indeed a name for a sofa, but the sofa itself was named for a person, so it's still not a great pony name) and the second protagonist - Aura. Nothing objectively wrong with it, but kinda like Alula (only more egregious) it somehow, in my opinion, does not fit with the nomenclature convention of the show.
Thirdly, there are a few loose threads here and there in the story - like in the beginning we see Cherilee writing in her diary, but there is precisely one instance of that, and it is never mentioned again. Or the whole thing with her father and the stuff he makes for her - I think that might start going somewhere, but there are a few things that never actually get resolved in any way. Minor ones, sure, but it does bug me somewhat.

The bigger problem is pacing. 44k words is a lot. It's a book's worth, in essence, the plot has barely started by the chapter 11 out of 12 written so far. Granted, given it's a slice of life story, I don't expect grand adventures or anything, but really, something should've reached some sort of conflict, if not even a conflict resolution stage by that point, and it hasn't. I generally don't mind longer stories, but this I think could benefit from either tightening of the pace, or introductions of some subplots that could've been resolved to keep up the feeling that something is indeed going on.

This section gets 25/30

Personal preference
I like this fic, I really do. Dyslexia is one of those things you want to discard as the First World problem, much like imagined up "depressions" or faux "migraines" that a lot of people like to use as an excuse for things, but it does exist, it is real, and it is a problem. Here it is leveraged into a story in an excellent way, discussing the surrounding issues, while still keeping at least some of the cheerful and positive outlook of the main show. The canon characters used retain their character (with the exception of Pinkie, but that's clearly not a conscious decision, merely something not quite working in the text), the OCs are well-fleshed out and feel real and the story is quite engaging, and makes you sympathies with both protagonists.
That being said, I am slightly ambivalent about the very special sad little OC foal as a secondary protagonist. It can be, at times, borderline Sad Sue, especially with nearly-savant drawing skills, but it is, for the most part, on the right side of this particular line.
Overall the fic is good, but I think the problems with style and pacing do bring it down to a personal preference of 7/10.

Total Tally 84
This is a really good fic, if a bit slow and heavy, but it is not great. It is done to a very high level, so in a sense I'm glad that this in not in a constructive criticism section, as it does not have any one thing that could be improved to push it to the "great" category.

5705873 That was quick! Nice work.
Add a comment over to his fic with a link, so he'll be notified.

5705873 Thank you for the review! That really is quite a nice Christmas present to come online for today!

Reading through the review, I noted a couple of points you raise that I feel need to be addressed. First and foremost, your assertion that the plot of the story had barely gotten moving by the time Chapter Eleven rolls around feels misplaced. I feel like you were looking ahead towards the portion of the story that deals with actually solving Aura's problem, but didn't see that there indeed was a plot up to that point. The first portion of the story is devoted to Cheerilee discovering that there is a problem and facing issues with bringing it into the light. The story is mainly structured in two main arcs. The first deals with the aforementioned plot thread, and the second will be more what you were looking for.

Also, there will be something to come of those scenes with Cheerilee's father! It's a subplot, no doubt. That diary entry was a red herring, though, so that is something I should probably see about remedying soon.

I disagree with your appraisal of the Mane 6 interactions as shoehorned in. We know from a flashback in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" that Rarity and Cheerilee were in the same class when they were fillies, and so it would make perfect sense for them to know each other. Pinkie Pie is canonically a pony who knows literally everyone, and Applejack's family is pretty prominent in the town, so thinking of Apple Bloom by her familial relation is not out of left field.

And finally there's the nitpick you gave over the naming of OC ponies. Well, you didn't mention Cheerilee's parents in here, and they're the only pure OC's in the story. All of the names you've raised a beef about are background characters from the show, and I used the fandom-accepted or canon names for all of them.

I'll have to give my work another look for that persistent melancholy tone that you mentioned. I never got the feeling that I was often writing in such a dreary way, but maybe that's just how my horsewords like to come out? I'll be checking on that.

Again, thank you for the review, and I'm glad you enjoyed the story!

5707952
Just a little clarification: A sequence of events does not make a plot.
"Cheerilee suspects something is wrong -> She checks it -> and it is indeed wrong" is not a full-on plot. There is no challenge for character, no transformation and no resolution of a conflict. It is a good beginnig of a plot, as it sets up the challenge and the conflict, but it is not a conflict in itself. Whether it is worth doing in 40k words or should be done with a bit tighter pacing is for the author and each reader to decide. My personal opinion on that I made clear - I think the fic would be made better if either this arc was shorter or if discovery phase was indeed a plot in itsef, with a challenge and conflict and resolution.

I disagree with your appraisal of the Mane 6 interactions as shoehorned in.

Fair enough. But consider Pinkie cameo: it is of course entirely possible they would know each other and meet, but the scene is entirely irrelevant to the plot or character development, or in fact anything prior or later in the fic. This is the very definition of shoehorned.
That being said, I rescind my comment on Rarity. I missed the fact that they attended school together.

As to fanon names - well, fanon does invent silly names. As I mentioned I equally dislike "Alula" introduced by the Winningverse. So it's up to you to decide whether you like those names or not. I don't

5705873
Thank you for reviewing this. This has been on my "to-read" list for a while. Glad to see it still is worth reading.

One thing: How could you not know who Davenport is? He's this sexy stallion right here:

Oh now look what you did. You made him sad

5716731
I know who it is. I dislike that (fanon) name, because it does not, in my mind, fit with the series nomenclature.

5716934
Ah.

Well, he may have not been named in the show, but he got his official name in the chapter books.

5716951
Hm. That I did not know. Well, then I do rescind the criticism. I still dislike the name, but I can't blame the author given that it is a semi-canon name.

5716957
I didn't know that either until I looked it up since your criticism got me really curious about what his official name was.

Anyway, we agree to have our own opinions - I think Davenport is the sexiest stallion alive and is better than Luna, Fluttershy, and Trixie combined (but still not as great as Princess Flurry Heart), and you don't like his name.

Still, thanks for the review