A Legacy of Impact: The Continuing Influence of Exceptional Children
Over Nine Decades of Exceptional Children
For more than nine decades, Exceptional Children (EC) has helped document and shape the evolution of special education.
Established in 1934, Exceptional Children is one of the longest-running peer-reviewed scholarly journals dedicated to the field of special education. Across generations of educators, researchers, policymakers, and advocates, its pages have captured the questions, challenges, discoveries, and ideas that have moved the field forward.
Over the years, special education has experienced profound transformation. Our understanding of disability, teaching and learning, educational access, and the rights of children and youth with disabilities has evolved, and Exceptional Children has been a constant presence throughout that journey. The journal has published research and scholarship reflecting many significant developments in the field while also providing a platform for new ideas and evidence that help shape the future.
Exceptional Children is more than a collection of scholarly articles. It is a historical record of the field and a catalyst for change. Its archives offer a window into where special education has been, while each new issue contributes to the ongoing conversations that will define its future.
As the journal enters its next chapter, its legacy continues to grow, not only through the research it has preserved but also through the ideas, evidence, and scholarship that continue to influence special education today.
Research Questions to Classroom Impact
The field of special education is broad and constantly evolving, and the scholarship published in EC reflects that complexity. The journal provides a space for researchers to explore critical questions across a wide range of topics, including learning disabilities, autism, behavioral and emotional disorders, gifted education, transition, equity and access, and teacher preparation.
Just as importantly, Exceptional Children recognizes that meaningful progress in the field requires different forms of scholarship. The journal publishes original research, as well as systematic reviews and meta-analyses that synthesize what we know. Position papers, commentaries, and conceptual papers further contribute to important conversations, challenge existing assumptions, and identify new directions for research and practice.
From emerging research questions to evidence that informs practice, Exceptional Children provides a place for the field to examine where it is, consider what it has learned, and explore where it needs to go next.
Looking Toward the Future
As special education continues to evolve, Exceptional Children remains committed to advancing the evidence, ideas, and conversations that shape the field. Every submission, review, and published article contributes to a larger mission: ensuring that children and youth with exceptionalities receive the support and opportunities they deserve.
For more than 90 years, the journal has helped define the field. Its next chapter promises to be just as influential.