About the Journal

Focus and Scope

Focus on Exceptional Children (FOEC) represents a unique opportunity for professionals concerned with the education of infants, toddlers, children, and youth with dis/abilities to publish on topics that warrant extensive discussion in the literature and are of critical importance to advancing the field.  FOEC has filled this need with distinction for over forty years. Many faculty members and graduates of the Department of Special Education have published in Focus on Exceptional Children and have served on the national advisory board established by Stan Love of the Love Publishing Company to guide FOEC throughout its history. The Department of Special Education at the University of Kansas recognizes the leadership that Love Publishing Company provided over decades, championing the role of special education in addressing the difficult challenges that faced students with disabilities, their families, and the profession that served them. 

To continue the work of Focus on Exceptional Children, the University of Kansas and the Department of Special Education continue to honor Stan Love’s legacy by continuing to publish invited manuscripts from top leaders in the field of special education and by making available internationally thoughtful, expansive articles that deal with the critical topics in our field. We pursue this opportunity with the consent and endorsement of the Love family to incorporate Focus on Exceptional Children as a central component of the department’s mission to communicate evidence-based practices and to inform research, policies, and ideas that impact the future.

The goals for the journal include the following:

  • To publish under the title of Focus on Exceptional Children using an open-source electronic platform to maximize access to the journal by people with exceptionalities, their families, practitioners, policymakers, and scholars.
  • To reflect the values and spirit that characterize Stan Love and the Love Publishing Company’s commitment to FOEC through language that communicates effectively to all target audiences.
  • To publish annually one to nine comprehensive reviews of a specific topic area. Each issue shall be devoted to a single article. 
  • To challenge the field of Special Education through thoughtful analysis of its accomplishments, blind spots, and relevance to contemporary and projected critical issues in education.

Purpose of Focus on Exceptional Children

Focus on Exceptional Children publishes original manuscripts that offer (1) analysis and reflection on contemporary issues in the field of special education; (2) synthesis of research and its implications; or (3) advancements through innovative agendas for the education and development of infants, toddlers, children, youth, and adults with dis/abilities. Descriptions of research, research reviews, methodological reviews of the literature, data-based position papers, and policy analyses are considered for publication by the editorial board. While research studies are considered, we look to them to advance a synthesized perspective that may guide or challenge the field.  Focus on Exceptional Children encourages rigorous scholarship that draws on quantitative, qualitative, and single-subject design studies. Articles published in Focus on Exceptional Children must address implications for research, practice, or policy in special or gifted education.

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open-access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global knowledge exchange.  All articles are available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license.  Copyright is held by the journal.

Sponsors

Department of Special Education
School of Education
University of Kansas

University of Kansas Libraries