diff --git a/react/react.d.ts b/react/react.d.ts
index 32249bd347..f7e5f5387c 100644
--- a/react/react.d.ts
+++ b/react/react.d.ts
@@ -117,6 +117,11 @@ declare module React {
 
     export interface DomReferencer {
         getDOMNode(): Element;
+        /**
+        * Use this overload to cast the returned element to a more specific type.
+        * Eg: var name = this.refs['name'].getDOMNode<HTMLInputElement>().value
+        */
+        getDOMNode<TElement extends Element>(): TElement;
     }
 
     export interface Component<P, S> extends DomReferencer {