ABSTRACT
This volume was conceived and written to honor the memory and to celebrate the life and contributions of Bill Cruickshank, a visionary thinker, well ahead of his time, and a fearless spokesperson on behalf of individuals with learning disabilities (LD). Bill was interested early on in the contributions of medicine to our understanding of learning disabilities (e.g., neurology, psychiatry, neonatology, and genetics, to mention only a few), in teacher preparation (Cruickshank, 1966, 1981), in the creation of facilitative educational settings (Cruickshank, 1966, 1981, 1985), in screening and assessment especially in the early childhood years, and in the transition to adulthood and the factors that contributed to successful outcomes. But perhaps the area in which Bill painted with the broadest brush strokes was his endeavors to raise awareness of learning disabilities among a wide array of professionals not only in North and South America, but also in Western Europe, the then Eastern bloc countries, and Africa and Asia. In his worldwide travels and consultations, he became aware of the need to facilitate interchange of ideas and share knowledge about LD. The awareness of this need resulted in his founding the International Academy for Research in Learning Disabilities (IARLD) in 1976. As a result of the publication of Bill’s writings in translation, formal IARLD conferences and congresses in North America, the
United Kingdom, and Europe, and informal meetings, there was a significant increase in awareness of learning disabilities globally.
