Although researchers in special education have made significant advances in defining and identifying evidence-based practices, scholars often constitute an insular group that disseminates research findings primarily through outlets and venues targeting like-minded researchers using traditional approaches. Thus, despite tangible results in determining what works, using dissemination approaches that fail to resonate with or influence practitioners represents an important but often overlooked contributor to the ongoing research-to-practice gap in special education. The authors argue that empirical and theoretical literature outside of special education may offer insight into how ideas take hold, which may be especially relevant to the effective dissemination of evidence-based practices. Drawing on Heath and Heath's (2008) model, the authors describe 6 characteristics of messages that are likely to “stick”: (a) simple, (b) unexpected, (c) concrete, (d) credible, (e) emotional, and (f) stories. The authors consider each in terms of implications for dissemination of special education research findings, and urge special education researchers to consider researching, refining, and applying dissemination strategies that can make special education research matter on a broader scale.

尽管特殊教育研究人员在定义和识别循证实践方面取得了重大进展，但学者们通常构成一个孤立的群体，主要通过使用传统方法针对志同道合的研究人员的渠道和场所传播研究结果。因此，尽管在确定哪些有效方面取得了切实的成果，但使用未能引起从业者共鸣或影响的传播方法是造成特殊教育中持续研究与实践差距的一个重要但经常被忽视的因素。作者认为，特殊教育之外的实证和理论文献可以深入了解思想如何扎根，这可能与有效传播循证实践尤其相关。借鉴 Heath 和 Heath (2008) 的模型，作者描述了可能“坚持”的信息的 6 个特征：(a) 简单，(b) 意外，(c) 具体，(d) 可信，(e) 情感，以及 (f) 故事。作者从传播特殊教育研究结果的意义方面考虑了每一个，并敦促特殊教育研究人员考虑研究、改进和应用传播策略，使特殊教育研究在更广泛的范围内发挥作用。