The Fred and Eleanor Schonell Special Education Research Centre is the pre-eminent centre for research related to individuals with diverse needs including those with disabilities. Established by The University of Queensland in 1952 as the Remedial Education Centre, the Centre was the first to offer diagnostic assessment and teaching services for children in Queensland schools.

Since then, the Centre has grown to offer a multitude of opportunities for research in the areas of individuals with diverse needs, special and inclusive education, and disability. In 1950, Fred Joyce Schonell, the founder of the Centre, was appointed as The University of Queensland's Foundation Chair of Education. In 1951 he initiated discussions with the University's Vice Chancellor to establish a remedial education centre.

On 1 April 1952 his vision became a reality when the Remedial Education Centre opened in Queensland's Old Government House, George Street, Brisbane. The Centre moved from the city to the St Lucia campus of The University of Queensland in 1969. The Centre began its innovative work with a staff of two lecturers and a clerk-typist. The first course offered by the Centre in 1952 was a certificate course in Diagnostic Testing and Remedial Teaching. A Certificate in the Teaching and Training of Subnormal Children was introduced later in the 1950s.

Throughout the 1950s, the Centre's staff also taught in two existing diploma courses within The University of Queensland, in particular the Diploma in Educational Psychology. In 1957 Fred Schonell was the Director of the Centre and the teaching and research team had grown to nine full-time staff members. Throughout the 1960s the Centre continued to offer certificate courses. Teaching responsibilities during the 1960s and 1970s expanded to embrace a Bachelor of Education degree course and, throughout that time, the staff introduced graduate studies in educational guidance and remedial education.

The Centre's research profile also grew to include areas such as dyslexia, the development of predictive schedules for children with intellectual disabilities, and neurological processing studies. By the end of the 1970s the Centre was recognised throughout Australia for its research and teaching excellence in special education, intellectual disability, and Aboriginal education. From the beginning, the Centre's research projects took up a major proportion of staff time.

Throughout 1953 to 1957, the Centre's first major research project  'The Causes of Reading Retardation in Primary School' concentrated on children failing in the basic school subjects. In the first two years of operation, the Centre's diagnostic clinic saw over 170 clients, and by 1956 over 400 children had attended the clinic. From 1953 to 1955 more than 1,000 children were tested using Fred Schonell's reading, spelling, and arithmetic tests and an ACER nonverbal intelligence test.

In the 1970s the Centre became known as the Fred and Eleanor Schonell Educational Research Centre and in 1983 was renamed the Fred and Eleanor Schonell Special Education Research Centre. The name honours the Centre's founder and Eleanor Schonell, an educational psychologist acclaimed for her work in special education and for founding a centre for children with physical disabilities in Birmingham, UK. Eleanor and Fred Schonell began their careers as teachers in Western Australia's state schools, having both graduated from the Claremont Teachers College in 1920. They were married in 1926 and travelled to the United Kingdom in 1927 to continue their higher education. Fred was awarded a PhD from the University of London in 1932 and Eleanor was awarded a PhD from the University of Birmingham in 1950. Throughout their careers Fred and Eleanor, between them, authored or co-authored approximately 150 publications in the field of special education.

The Centre's publications profile has always been significant. From 1953 to 1957 the Centre produced 14 publications and this number increased during the 1960s. Throughout the 1970s the Centre's staff produced more than 150 research publications. During the 1980s staff continued publishing - major research reports, edited books, book chapters and articles in major journals. In the period from 1990 to 2002 nearly 400 staff and student publications have appeared. From the beginning, publication topics have ranged over a wide field including: Aboriginal education and ethnic minorities, early development and early intervention, evaluation of services, general education, language and psycholinguistics, learning difficulties, literacy, mathematics, intellectual disabilities, physical disabilities, psycho-social aspects of development, remedial teaching, special education, and testing. More recently, publications have been in the areas of literacy, numeracy, Down syndrome, autism, cooperative learning, at-risk youth, deinstitutionalisation and community living, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, learning difficulties, families, siblings, self-regulation, recreation and leisure education, differentiated instruction, and inclusive education.

In 1954 the Centre's journal, The Slow Learning Child: The Australian Journal on the Education of Backward Children, was launched. By 1969 the journal had a world-wide circulation of 1500 copies per issue. In 1976 the journal's name was changed to The Exceptional Child and in 1989 the current title International Journal of Disability, Development and Education was adopted. The journal is published four times per year and distributed to subscribers in over 20 countries. Aspects of theory, research and practice in the areas of disability, human development and education are presented by the journal. In recent years the journal has become more international in its focus and there has been an increase in publications from researchers from non-English-speaking backgrounds as well as research concerned with developing countries. From time to time the journal also publishes special issues. In recent years these have been on the topics of special education in different countries, cognitive teaching, risk and early intervention, Down syndrome, play, literacy, and changes in the field of disability over the past 25 years.

In 1973, in memory of Fred Schonell who died in 1969, the tradition of the Schonell Memorial Lecture began. Since 1973 the Centre has invited prominent Australian and international scholars to deliver the Schonell Memorial Lecture. Among those who have delivered the prestigious lecture are Sam Kirk (1973), Marie Neale (1974), Peter Mittler (1975), James Ward (1977), Ted Glynn (1980), John McLeod (1982), Margaret Clark (1985), T. Berry Brazelton (1988), Kevin Wheldall (1990), Scott Paris (1991), Ann Gath (1992), Brian Stratford (1993), Brian Burdekin (1994), Michael Giangreco (1996), Jennifer Wishart (1997), Luanna Meyer (2000), and William Tunmer (2001). The Schonell Memorial Lectures offer colleagues and members of the wider community the opportunity to explore contemporary issues and current research in the field of disability and individuals with diverse needs.

In 1996 the Schonell Special Education Research Centre entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with the Korea Institute for Special Education, Ansan City, Korea. The purpose of the Agreement is to participate in staff exchanges and visits and to conduct research. The Schonell Research Centre has undertaken several studies under the title 'The Study of Support Services for Students with Special Needs in Inclusive Classroom Settings in Korea' (1999-2001). Publications that have emanated from this study include Inclusion and Inclusion Education: A Literature Review; Supportive Administration for Special Education and Inclusive Education: Low Incidence Units in Queensland, Australia; Classroom Teachers' Attitudes to Inclusion of Students with Special Needs in the Regular Classroom; and Parents' Attitudes to Inclusion of their Children with Special Needs. (For further information contact the Director.) Staff of the Schonell Research Centre have also been keynote speakers at the annual International Seminars held at the Korea Institute for Special Education. The most recent presentation was by Dr Christa van Kraayenoord in October 2002 entitled 'Teaching strategies for reading for students with learning difficulties: Recent research and implications.'

From 11 to 13 October, 2002 the 50th Anniversary Conference of the Schonell Special Education Research Centre 'Celebrating the Past: Envisioning the Future' was held in Brisbane. This was a very significant event and highlighted the research tradition, current projects and future directions.

From the 1950s to the present day, the Schonell Research Centre continues to lead the way in research related to individuals with diverse needs in Australia. Today, academic staff pursue a comprehensive, integrated, and active research role. Over the past decade the Centre has attracted over $2 million in grant monies to fund its research projects.

Examples of some of the recent research projects being undertaken by Centre staff include: