Looking through other lenses and listening to other voices: stretching the boundaries of learning disabilities.

The articles in this special series have drawn on publications and research outside the traditional special education literature in order to take a fresh look at learning disabilities. The authors have sought to use these different lenses and to listen to different voices, including student voices, to examine our current assumptions--theoretical, practical, and legal. Some of the authors have stood back and asked difficult questions about what purposes are served by the field of learning disabilities in the larger context of schooling and society. On the other hand, many of the authors have sought to get closer to children and youth who are labeled learning disabled and to get a better view from the tiny, yet critical, moments that make up a life and a classroom. Together these telescopic and microscopic views offer us ways to challenge our assumptions and practices, and ways to create new ones.