Exceptional Children

William Lee Heward grew up in Three Oaks, Michigan, rooting for his hero Ernie Banks and the Chicago Cubs. He majored in psychology and sociology as an undergraduate at Western Michigan University, earned his doctorate in special education at the University of Massachusetts, and joined the special education faculty at The Ohio State University in 1975. In 1985, Bill received Ohio State University's highest honor for teaching excellence, the Alumni Association's Distinguished Teaching Award. He has had several opportunities to teach and lecture abroad, most recently in 1993 when he served as a Visiting Professor of Psychology at Keio University in Tokyo.

Bill's current research interests focus on "low tech" methods classroom teachers can use to increase the frequency with which each student actively responds and participates during group instruction and on methods for promoting the generalization and maintenance of newly learned skills.

His research has appeared in the field's leading journals, including Behavioral Disorders, Education and Training in Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, Exceptional Children, Journal of Special Education, Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, Research in Developmental Disabilities, Teacher Education and Special Education, and Teaching Exceptional Children.

Bill has coauthored four other textbooks, and he has written for the popular market.. His book Some Are Called Clowns (Crowell, 1974) chronicled his five summers as a pitcher for the Indianapolis Clowns, the last of the barnstorming baseball teams.