Great Readings
This curated bibliography brings together field-defining books, landmark empirical papers, foundational clinical essays, and paradigm-shifting monographs in Special Education. Rather than introductory survey textbooks, these works represent milestone intellectual breakthroughs that have shaped the legal, behavioral, cognitive, and socio-cultural dimensions of the discipline.
Historical Foundations & Clinical Paradigms
| Title | Author(s) |
|---|---|
| An Historical Account of the Discovery and Education of a Savage Man | Jean-Marc Gaspard Itard |
| The Fundamentals of Defectology | Lev S. Vygotsky |
| Autistic Disturbances of Affective Contact | Leo Kanner |
| Christmas in Purgatory: A Photographic Essay on Mental Retardation | Burton Blatt and Fred Kaplan |
| Educating the Retarded Child | Samuel A. Kirk and G. Orville Johnson |
Behavioral, Cognitive & Instructional Science
| Title | Author(s) |
|---|---|
| Some Current Dimensions of Applied Behavior Analysis | Donald M. Baer, Montrose M. Wolf, and Todd R. Risley |
| Theory of Instruction: Principles and Applications | Siegfried Engelmann and Douglas Carnine |
| Behavioral Treatment and Normal Educational and Intellectual Functioning in Young Autistic Children | O. Ivar Lovaas |
| Curriculum-Based Measurement: The Emerging Alternative | Stanley L. Deno |
The Inclusion Debate, Placement & Disproportionality
| Title | Author(s) |
|---|---|
| Special Education for the Mentally Retarded—Is Much of It Justifiable? | Lloyd M. Dunn |
| The Illusion of Full Inclusion: A Comprehensive Critique of a Current Special Education Bandwagon | James M. Kauffman and Daniel P. Hallahan (eds.) |
| Why Are So Many Minority Students in Special Education? Understanding Race and Disability in Public Schools | Beth Harry and Janette Klingner |
| Reading Resistance: Discourses of Exclusion in Desegregation and Inclusion | Beth A. Ferri and David J. Connor |
Universal Design, Ableism & Critical Disability Studies
| Title | Author(s) |
|---|---|
| New Directions in Special Education: Eliminating Ableism in Policy and Practice | Thomas Hehir |
| Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age: Universal Design for Learning | David H. Rose and Anne Meyer |
| Disability Studies in Education: Readings in Theory and Method | Susan L. Gabel (ed.) |
| DisCrit: Disability Studies and Critical Race Theory in Education | David J. Connor, Beth A. Ferri, and Subini A. Annamma (eds.) |