The state's enthusiastic, bipartisan support for legislation funding accessible textbooks and learning strategies for students with learning disabilities in New Jersey's special needs districts is to be commended. The allocation of $300,000 is the largest ever received for the purpose of providing textbooks on tape to students with learning differences who attend schools in New Brunswick, Paterson, Trenton, and Camden.

The innovative Learning Through Listening (LTL) program, pioneered in the state last year in New Brunswick by Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic's (RFB&D) New Jersey Unit, has emerged as a model strategy for accommodating learning differences in the classroom. Parents of children who are part of RFB&D's LTL program cite improved comprehension, language skills and self-esteem.

To understand the impact this grant affords, we quote a mother whose daughter was in the program last year: "What a difference one year makes. My daughter has more self-confidence, enjoys school more and has even go better grades."

It assists teachers as well. The health administrator for New Brunswick Schools elaborates: "I started seeing hope on the faces of teachersthat were able to offer a new strategy to students struggling so hard to learn."

RFB&D, a 50-year-old national nonprofit organization headquartered in Princeton, provides textbooks on tape for individuals who cannot read standard print effectively because of a disability such as visual impairments or learning disabilities. More than 5,500 volunteers record books in 32 studios in 17 states.

We applaud Governor Christine Whitman, Assemblyman Joseph V. Doria, Jr., D-Bayonne, and the state Legislature fro helping us to make this important program available to the many students who need it. LTL has emerged as a state model as well. A 12-year-old student in New Brunswick's program sums it up best: "The thing I like about the program is that you can read and then actually understand what you are reading."