Faculty and Staff

Howard P. Parette, Department of Special Education. Dr. Parette arrived at ISU in 2003 having been appointed Kara Peters Endowed Chair in Assistive Technology and Director of the Special Education Assistive Technology (SEAT) Center in the Department of Special Education. Completing his EdD in 1982 from the University of Alabama, Dr. Parette has held appointments at Louisiana Tech University, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and Southeast Missouri State University. Over the past 20 years, his research has focused on assistive technology (AT) service delivery issues for persons with disabilities, with an emphasis on assistive technology (AT) decision-making and cultural and family issues. He has co-authored two textbooks, and served as an editor or co-author for many monographs and training materials that have been nationally distributed. Dr. Parette was the Founding Editor of Assistive Technology Outcomes and Benefits, a free, peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary, Web-based journal that is the only outcomes-based AT journal in the field, and he is currently facilitating the development and publication of series of companion monographs presenting research-based practices and recommendations. His vita reflects breadth of scholarship across more than 280 scholarly works, including two edited textbooks, 45 chapters and article reprints, 25 peer-reviewed curricula and training materials, 189 peer-reviewed articles, and 15 invited articles. He actively reviews manuscripts for textbook publishers and a range of journals, including Augmentative and Alternative Communication, Remedial and Special Education, Journal of Special Education Technology, Psychological Reports, Focus on Autism and Developmental Disabilities, and Disability and Rehabilitation. Dr. Parette has also vigorously disseminated his scholarship through presentations at 82 international meetings, 16 national conferences, 48 regional/state meetings, and 44 workshops. He is proud that his productivity has been enhanced through collaboration with ISU colleagues and through creation of opportunities for others to engage in collegial scholarly activities. Dr. Dave Edyburn, a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and national expert in the field of AT, observed that Dr. Parette is “nationally and internationally known for his scholarship in the area of culture, family issues, and assistive technology.” Content and development work in the areas of culture and augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) decision-making, culminated in a professional development CD distributed nationally and which garnered seven national or international media awards. Echoing his contributions to the AT knowledge base, Dr. Marcia Scherer, President of the Institute for Matching Person and Technology, observed that Dr. Parette’s “early scholarly work…identified facets of the AT decision-making process (i.e., child, technology, and service system issues) that are commonly accepted components in existing AT decision-making models now used in the U.S.” As a co-author of approximately $3.8 million in funded proposals, Dr. Parette’s most recent grant activities have involved SEAT Center team members’ involvement in research investigations examining emergent literacy outcomes subsequent to technology-supported instructional strategies among more than 300 children in a local preschool setting, and development of professional development materials for national distribution to practicing school psychologists. During his tenure at ISU, he has also been a Co-PI on several U.S.D.E. grants, including the National Assistive Technology Coalition (NATC) project, and The Effectiveness of the SOLO Software Upon the Writing Outcomes of Students with Learning and Academic Disabilities Across the Curriculum. He has also been PI or Co-PI on several foundation grants involving multiple team members.