Alan Balter was born in Chicago and attended the Chicago Public Schools. He entered the University of Illinois in Urbana in 1956. Upon competing requirements for his Master’s Degree in 1962, he taught adolescents with developmental delays at the Niles West High School in Skokie, Illinois. He returned to the University of Illinois after two years and earned a doctorate in Special Education in 1967. He worked as the Director of the Niles Township High Schools Department of Special Education before taking a position with Chicago State University in 1969. There, he prepared teachers for children and adolescents with developmental delays, learning disabilities and emotional disorders. After 31 years, he retired in 2000. He and his wife Barbara, also a retired teacher, enjoy extensive travel and fourteen grandchildren.