According to Kuhn, a paradigm is shared by the people who belong to the same scientific field, and a mature science is governed by a single paradigm that sets the standard for legitimate work within the particular science. In the field of special education research, scientists have used the concept of paradigm to explain how they approach the area of special educational needs. In Skidmore's conception, there exist three parallel paradigms as a framework for special education research. Does this plural understanding of special education needs research make it useful or legitimate to use the concept of paradigm? The aim of this paper is to present an alternative way of conceptualizing and analysing the area of special educational research. In order to do this the 'research programme' model proposed by Lakatos provides the source of inspiration. This model entails the conceptualizing of several research programmes and how they can act simultaneously without necessarily competing with each other. In the area of special education needs, this will help the researcher to find ways of handling different theoretical perspectives with the goal of establishing pedagogical tools.