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Infographic on a Decade of Special Education Technology: Trends, Tools, and Research Gaps (2014–2024).

A Decade Behind: What Ten Years of Special Education Technology Research Tells Us About the Gap Between Innovation and Evidence

K-12 education technology spending reached $14.8 billion in recent years and is projected to climb to $132.4 billion by 2032 (Merod, 2023). Artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and virtual reality tools are now common in many classrooms. Yet the research base supporting their use with students with disabilities has not kept pace. A ten-year review of the Journal of Special Education Technology (JSET) makes the gap concrete and points toward what the field needs to do next (Carreon et al., 2026).

Building AI Literacy in Teacher Education

Generative artificial intelligence has rapidly entered higher education and K-12 settings, yet teacher candidates and faculty may have limited guidance for using AI professionally, ethically, and instructionally. Dr. Michelle Kelley and Dr. Taylar Wenzel identified gaps in AI literacy and in how teacher education programs prepare candidates for a dual role: using AI for their own professional practice while also learning how to guide K-12 students in responsible AI use. Their work addresses this challenge through professional inquiry, assignment redesign, transparent expectations for AI use, and discipline-specific approaches to AI literacy.

person looking at their cell phone at their desk with a laptop

Before the Phone Call: Using AI Simulation to Practice Family Engagement Conversations

Strong family-professional partnerships depend on communication, equality, trust, and respect (Blue-Banning et al., 2004), yet educators may have limited opportunities to rehearse these practices. Simulation in teacher preparation offers one way to practice, receive feedback, and reflect before higher-stakes interactions.

Virtual Classrooms, Real Skills: Utilizing Mixed-Reality Simulations in Special Education Teacher Prep

Many teacher preparation programs are constantly seeking innovative methods to equip preservice teachers with the real-world skills they need before stepping into a physical classroom. One of the most promising emerging technologies doing just that is Mixed-Reality Simulation (MRS).

Virtual Reality for Career Exploration: Expanding Transition Opportunities for Students with Disabilities

The start of a new academic year gives faculty an opportunity to revisit how they prepare future educators for meaningful practice. Back-to-school planning often focuses on syllabi, course routines, assignments, and expectations. Faculty in special education and leadership preparation programs can also use this season to ask a broader question: How are we preparing future professionals to use technology to support student independence beyond the classroom?

Signal or Noise? Sorting Through AI at ISTELive and ASCD Annual 2026

I went into ISTELive and ASCD Annual 26 expecting AI to show up often. I did not expect it to show up everywhere I turned, in the session catalog and on the expo floor alike. As a Graduate Research Assistant supporting CIDDL, the Center on Inclusive Design and Innovation in Learning, I work on AI and assistive technology research daily. I am not AI averse. Even so, the sheer volume at this conference gave me pause. This post is not an argument for or against AI in schools. It is simply a look at the numbers, drawn from the conference’s own program search, with a few observations as an attendee.

Vibe Coding for Special Educators: Building Custom Classroom Tools Without Code

What if the most powerful assistive technology tool for your classroom was not something you ordered from a catalog but something you built yourself, in an afternoon, without writing a single line of code?

CIDDL Research and Practice Brief: Digital Accessibility and Accessible Educational Materials

This brief explores what digital accessibility means in practice, why it matters for students with disabilities, and what teacher preparation programs and school leaders can do to build educator capacity in this area. Drawing on Cynthia Curry’s decades of experience and her current leadership of NCADEMI, the brief highlights the most pressing challenges schools face, and the opportunity to embed. accessibility into existing instructional initiatives, and practical resources educators and preparation programs can use to get started.

From Blank Page to Literature Review: How AI Can Support Early-Stage Research and Writing Over the Summer

Conversations about AI in education often fall into two camps: advocates who emphasize its potential and skeptics who warn about its risks. Yet both perspectives tend to ask the same central question: Should students use AI? While this question is important, it may not be the most meaningful one for understanding what is actually happening in classrooms. A more productive question might be: What happens to students’ thinking when they use AI, and under what circumstances does AI become more beneficial or risky? This shift moves the conversation away from simple approval or rejection of AI and toward a deeper examination of how learning itself is changing. In our recent paper by Seung and Dr. Basham (2026), Cognitive Offloading in the Age of Generative AI: What Does It Mean for Students With Learning Disabilities? (published in Learning Disability Quarterly), we explore this question through the lens of cognitive offloading, a concept that helps explain how students redistribute their mental effort when using AI.