There has been a growing interest in recent years in the Portage model, a system which helps parents to identify skills their pre-school children with learning difficulties could usefully learn, clarify these skills and break them down into steps small enough to teach these skills to their child. The service has successfully been used to attain individual goals with a wide range of children with disabilities, including those who are very severely disabled. Following research in Wessex and Wales, many services have been set up based on the Portage model and there is considerable demand for further information from those interested in establishing such a service. In March and October 1981, the King's Fund organised two meetings of those already involved in running services based on the Portage model. These provided a forum for discussion of the current state of Portage in the UK.