Donald Deshler is currently director of the Center for Research on Learning at the University of Kansas, where he provides leadership for the research, product development, and staff development activities. At the Center, Deshler and other colleagues have developed and validated the Strategic Instruction Model and the Learning Strategies Curriculum as mechanisms for improving the learning effectiveness of students with learning disabilities and the instructional effectiveness of teachers.

He teaches graduate courses at the University of Kansas on instructional methodologies for teachers of adolescents and young adults with learning disabilities and seminars on current issues in and research procedures for populations with learning disabilities.

He is the author of the textbook Teaching the Learning Disabled Adolescent: Strategies and Methods. He was the original editor of the Council for Learning Disabilities' journal, The Learning Disability Quarterly, and is currently on the editorial boards of six other journals in learning disabilities and special education.