I am honoured to have been asked to deliver the Des English Memorial Lecture. While I never met Des English, I have long been aware of his signal contributions to the field of Special Education and have learned much in conversations with those who knew him well. It is thus a considerable challenge to respond to the invitation by the Conference Committee.

In the last decade, the 1980s, we have witnessed the consolidation and maturing of Special Education, a far cry from the post-Karmel era which saw a frantic rush to expand Australian Special Education, particularly in the area of teacher preparation. It is an appropriate time to review some of the key topics and issues which have shaped Special Education in Australia in the last decade and it should be a useful exercise, on the basis of mat review, to make recommendations for the next decade.

Much of the international debate about reading and the acquisition of literacy skills has divided into support for psycholinguistic or phonemic approaches. Proponents of each have argued with evangelistic fervour.

More recently some researchers are suggesting an interactive model, which includes elements of both psycholinguistic and phonemic approaches. However, while recognising the need for cognitive strategies, the interactive model still fails to utilise fully the vast wealth of knowledge available from over two decades of cognitive research, and in particular, research into cognitive strategy training.

This article suggest that there is no one reading model to suit all learners, but that a reading program must consider the unique needs of each individual learner, and cater for the student by applying knowledge gained from a variety of relevant areas of research.

The desire of Nigeria as an independent country is to give to its citizens a free, just and democratic society where no one is oppressed. This humane philosophy guarantees maximum self realization to all citizens including children with special needs.

Nigeria was not always one country as it is today. The territory according to Iloeje (1981) was formerly made up of various states, empires and small territories. The largest and most influential of these was the Fulani Empire which extended over most of northern Nigeria in the nineteenth century.

As a result of British annexation of territory, Nigeria as a country came into being in 1914 when the then Northern and Southern Nigeria were amalgamated. Britain administered the country as one political unit for forty-six years. In 1960, Nigeria became independent as a federation of three regions - Eastern, Western and Northern, with Lagos as the federal capital. Nigeria now has twenty-one states, each with some degree of autonomy, and an estimated population of 120 million.