Special education in Saudi Arabia was formally established in 1962. The earliest cited literature on special education written in English was a 1970 government report. This article presents results from the first synthesis of internationally published Saudi special education literature over a 44-year period. This synthesis yielded information about the types of publication, topics of interest, populations of interest, types of research, trends over time, and research gaps. One hundred and sixteen citations were uncovered, 45.7% of which were published in the last 5 years. The themes that emerged on models of disability, policy-research incubation period, and stages in research, indicated a developmental rather than a cultural growth perspective, implying the global nature of special education research. Insights to inform countries with a developing special education system include the need to balance research from both medical and social perspectives, and to increase intervention-based research to inform instructional practices.