Described is the development and revision over a 3-year period of the Developmental Indicators for the Assessment of Learning (DIAL), a screening test to identify pre-kindergarten children with learning disabilities. The DIAL is said to provide for gross motor, fine motor, cognitive, and communications assessment of large groups of children. Among the three years of DIAL research efforts discussed are a longitudinal study of 520 children, establishment of male and female norms for a population of 3100 children, and comparison of achievement and readiness scores with DIAL scores for 249 children. Among conclusions cited are high interrater reliability on the DIAL, significant correlation between DIAL scores and achievement and readiness test scores, and the feasibility of identifying pre-kindergarten children who need further evaluation. (CL)