Faculty and Staff

Upon graduating from ISU in 1980, I worked for 10 years as a special education teacher and a transition counselor in Illinois. These years of professional experience have greatly influenced my views regarding the education of children with special needs and I owe a great debt to the students with whom I had the pleasure of working. They were the best teachers I ever had. Although I enjoyed my career in the public schools, I wanted to learn more about how to provide the best instruction and services to persons with disabilities and I wanted to have to an opportunity to share what I had learned about the field of special education with others. Therefore, I left the public schools in 1990 to pursue a doctoral degree at the University of Minnesota. In 1994 I received my Ph.D. in Educational Psychology and returned to ISU as a faculty member the following year. In 2000, I was privileged to be appointed chair of the Department of Special Education and have served in this role ever since.

If you are interested in reading more about my background and my passion for the field of special education, please read a reprint of an article that appeared in the College of Education’s newsletter in 1996, "Summer camp experience leads to career in special education."

I have served as president of Education Division of the American Association on Mental Retardation and I also have served as the Midwest Representative on the Board of the Division for Developmental Disabilities of the Council for Exceptional Children.

My research interests include:

·         support needs assessment and planning that promotes the community integration of persons with mental retardation and related developmental disabilities;

·         evaluation of educational and human service programs;

·         the school to adult life transition of students with disabilities;

·         the provision of assistive technology services to persons with disabilities.

I have recently published articles in Education and Training in Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, Peabody Journal of Education, Exceptionality, Career Development for Exceptional Individuals, Journal of Special Education Leadership, Journal of Special Education Technology, Special Education Technology Practice, Journal of Augmentative and Alternative Communication, and Mental Retardation.

Download the curriculum vita of Dr. Jim Thompson (pdf).