William F. Morrison

Uncovering stereotypes and identifying characteristics of gifted students and students with emotional/behavioral disabilities

The recognition, understanding, and identification of gifted and talented behaviors in students with exceptionalities has become an increasingly important issue in the management of classrooms, yet, for the most part, the literature continues to ignore this important aspect of teacher education. The present study reports on the results of an instrument that asked preservice and in‐service teachers to categorize a set of characteristics and behaviors according to whether each described a student identified with an Emotional/Behavior Disability (EBD), who is gifted, both, or neither. Results of this survey revealed stereotypical thinking in the identification of characteristics of the student labeled EBD. The degree of teachers’ training and experience also played a role in the understanding and categorization of the characteristics/behaviors used on the survey in this project.

Creating a Toolkit for Identifying Twice-Exceptional Students

Best practices in the identification of the twice-exceptional point to the use of multidimensional assessment that outlines specific areas of strength and concern. Students who are twice-exceptional remain a misunderstood population in schools, thus making identification that much more difficult. The purpose of this study was to review the extant literature in the field of twice-exceptional studies and to design a plan for identification to be used by school districts. This article reports on Project O2E, a state-funded collaboration program that resulted in a toolkit for identifying students who are twice-exceptional. Also included in this article is a discussion of issues raised during the implementation of the toolkit.

A Retrospective Analysis of Technological Advancements in Special Education

Abstract This article investigates the impact that technology and computers have had over the past 20 years in the field of special education. A review of the literature on technology and computers was conducted in the flagship journals in the areas of learning disabilities, mental retardation, deaf/hard of hearing, and gifted/talented. The analysis yielded a variety of trends that were specific to each subfield. Findings were compared to the general literature in technology and revealed that the literature in each field reflected the general advances in, and availability of, technology over time.

Special Education Technology Addressing Diversity: A Synthesis of the Literature

With the increasing complexity of schools and society, there is great need for expanded understanding of the many dimensions of diversity within the field of assistive technology (AT). The question that lies before us is how has diversity been examined in AT research and literature? Following a research synthesis method similar to Summers (1985) and Edyburn (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004) the purpose of this study was threefold: (a) first, to conduct a literature review of scholarly publications in the area of AT that focused on the diversity dimensions of family, rural, culture, race, or gender between the years of 2000 and 2004, (b) second, to identify to what extent literature scatter was present or absent in this literature review, and (c) third, to answer the question ‘What have we learned?’ Using study criteria, 19 articles scattered across 12 peer-reviewed journals were identified and classified under five categories: family, rural, culture, race, and gender. Implications for practitioners and the field of AT are discussed.