The history, job description, funding base, and effectiveness of modulators (advocate type individuals who provide direct services to learning disabled (LD) children as well as coordinate services by others) are reviewed. (CL)

In the interview, the president of the Association for Children with Learning Disabilities (ACLD) discusses the organization's present activities and future directions. (CL)

Current advocacy efforts in learning disabilities (LD) are critiqued and alternatives to traditional special education such as implementing the effective schools research are reviewed. Five objectives of an advocacy blueprint for a pluralist school include increasing public awareness of the LD experience and making integration the centerpiece of…

An attorney involved in Individualized Education Program (IEP) hearings and placement decisions for children with special needs proposes specific measures to ensure that the learning disabled child's strengths as well as deficits are diagnosed, communicated at IEP hearings, and productively used in subsequent educational planning. (JW)

This overview offers a perspective on the distinguishing characteristics, past and present, of the learning disabilities field in the United States. The discussion focuses on why an advocacy movement has been necessary and emphasizes the need to establish clinical and scientific validation of learning disabilities, to preserve the hard-won…