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The competition for designs for socks is hosted by Down Syndrome International in collaboration with the National Down Syndrome Society and the Down’s Syndrome Association.

Winners from previous years (since 2012!) may help those readers who are considering submitting some designs (see following figure; linked to pages with additional examples). Although designs submitted by individuals who have trisomy of the 21st chromosome may (I don’t know if they do) receive extra weight (a leg up?) in the competition, anyone may submit designs.

Learn more about WDS from the pages about it available at the United Nations or Wikipedia

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My father, William E. Lloyd, Sr., was a wonderful man in my eyes. Here’s a photo of the two of us together at the 1994 dedication of a local library facility named in honor of his mother, the Ruth Emmons Lloyd Information Center in Prince William County, Virginia.

I’ll add to this post after my father’s day breakfast!

Here is photographic evidence that I was there.

So, it was nice to be out on the porch! There were lots of birds. Merlin reported 34 species, including two kids of crows, two kinds of flycatchers (Acadian as well las the resident Great Crested), a Scarlet Tanager, and many other among the usual suspects.1 And let this post show that I’m not dead yet. (Indeed, I’m reminded of the often shared clip from Monty Python and the Holy Grail—see the IMDB enttry about the 1975 movie—from which I took the title for this post.)

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Please understand that “dormant” does not mean that there will be nothing being published.1 You, Dear Readers, can expect to find posts every now and again in your e-mail boxes or simply on the Web site. There’s already been fewer than usual posts over the last couple of weeks, but you should expect that reduced frequency to persist until the beginning of the coming volume.

Most readers are familiar with the structure of these issues of the newsletter. It’s sorta-kinda like this: After a listing of the current contents, an update about the status of the SET community, and a list of recent posts (i.e., “spedlettes”) there will be some miscellaneous personal reflections.

Photo

A friend asked me about the members of the special education faculty at the University of Virginia in the last quarter of the 20th century, and it sent me scurrying through my photo archives. I provided a link to the SET post, “Friday phots with John M. 1998,” which featured a photo of eight of us from a light retirement party we had for our colleague, John Mesinger.

During my searching, I found this slightly more recent photo showing the group assembled for another event. This meta data for the image show that it is from 2015, but it only includes the members of the faculty who were present at this particular event.

I hope one or more of the folks shown can help me recall the event; the wall behind us sure looks like one I remember in what used to be Alumni Hall.2 A couple of these fine folks will not be able to supply answers; since this photo, Sandi and Jim passed away. Like probably all—at least most—faculties, there were some squabbles among us, but this was a remarkably friendly group who all shared a passion for improving education for children and youths with disabilities. I will forever count myself as fortunate for having had the chance to work with these people.

Status update

SET has has grown. We are a community of > 1200 members with dozens of those subscribers choosing to support SET by paying for their subscriptions.

• A tip of the cap to the wonderful contributing subscribers. Thank you, Linda L., Susan O., Clay K., Marilyn F., Joel M., Annmarie U., Rob O’N., Bev J., Jan B., Nancy C.-W., Bob P., Michael K., Roberta B., Jim S., Debbie R., Vickie W., Janette B., Tina C., Jen W., Jim P., Mike N., and Angelique W.

• Thanks to the many who dropped hearts on posts this week, with a special nod to Vince C. for restacking last week’s newsletter.

• Welcome to new hangers-on, including Olivia S, Amy T., Pedagogy P., Sally, Derrell, Megan, Ron W., Maria B., Fred Van R., Ilene S., Andy J., Betsy C., Bill T., Jeff I., Gokal, & Larry W. I hope y’all read the introductory paragraphs of this news letter issue so that you’ll have low expectations for the coming weeks.

• And one last special nod to Mack B. who has requested a group subscription so that he can do something (still hoping to hear his plans) like create a discussion group among his colleagues or have students use SET for class readings. Pretty cool, whatever he plans. And you, Dear Readers, are welcome to do something similar. Just write me a note (you can just reply to the email version of this issues).

The community is international, including people from Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America, OZ, and some Pacific Islands. Readers—including parents and teachers, administrators, professors, journalists…even psychologists—are obviously concerned about kids with disabilities, and I hope that SET can provide connections to helpful resources for them.

Thanks to everyone who spreads the word (“shares”). Please continue to do so! Forward. Tweet (X?). Give gift subscriptions. Tell friends! Share posts (including this one) with your connections, both local and worldwide! Laura McK. over at The Great Leap has told lots of folks and many of them have subscribed.

Spedlettes

Folks who read only this newsletter may miss receiving email about some of the posts mentioned in it. This newsletter appears once a week. I post messages to the Web site multiple times during the week. I send notices about most of them to subscribers.

In addition to the newsletter for last week, there were four other posts. Here is a list of the posts that appeared last week. All of these were on the public side of the paywall, and will be there for 10 days after their publication (the newsletter will stay on the free side in perpetuity—haha). The initials in brackets after each item refer to the authors for the post.

1. Special Education Today newsletter 5(48): This is only another update and it covers the week that began 25 May 2026 [JWL]

2. ABA take down in the news: What about that report in the NY Times regarding ABA? [JWL & ET]

3. Detailed US achievement data available: What results might one be able to find in the latest iteration of the EDC State Assessment Data? [JWL]

4. Romaine Mackie award nominations open: Whom could SETters nominate for this honor? [JWL]

5. Friday catch-up notes—5 June 2026: Looking for tidbits didn’t show up as a full post this week? [JWL]

Please remember that one can go directly to site to see the latest posts https://www.specialeducationtoday.com. As mentioned previously, we only send email notices about some posts, not all of them.

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Commentary

Dear fellow travelers, you are reading the 1706th post in the history of SET. I estimate that something like 300 of those posts have appeared in Volume 5 (about 6 per week).

Those posts have covered diverse topics including some with somber and some with lighter content. There have been announcements of opportunities to recommend people for awards; to learn about recent research or opinions; to catch up with what’s happening on the policy fronts; to attend conferences, meetings; and Webinars; and to get to know both individuals with disabilities and a little about some of the people who serve them.

In the coming volume of SET, I anticipate that my co-authors and I will provide posts in largely the same vein. I also hope that we will be able to launch new threads or strands that help fill in gaps in history of special education, provide regular updates on policies around Earth, and revisit previous content from SET.

Stay tuned! In the meantime, as usual, I encourage readers to take care of each other. Wear your seatbelts. Don’t text and drive. And, of course, teach our students well.

JohnL

SET Editor guy

Charlottesville

SET should not be confused with a product with the same name that is published by the Council for Exceptional Children. SET predated CEC’s publication by decades. Despite my appreciation for CEC, this product is not designed to promote that organization, nor does it represent the positions of CEC or imply that CEC approves of the content of SET.

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This issue of the newsletter has the usual contents. If you have been on the ride a few times, you’ll know what to expect in this newsletter. However, if you’re relatively inexperienced in the ways of SET, you should know that the issue includes these sections: (i) photo, (ii) administrative notes, (iii) a list of recent posts, and (iv) notes and comments.

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Photos

SET readers may recall that I attended the 48th meeting of the International Academy for Research in Learning Disabilities last week. I’ll be returning to that adventure later in this newsletter (so, read on!). First, though, while I was in Durham, NH, for the meeting I got a couple of photos that I shall share here. Here is a photo of Sylvia Linan-Thompson and Annmarie Urso with me in a posed shot (thanks Bill Therrien) with the blank screen behind us.

Sylvia has been doing exemplary work on adaptations of instruction for students who are learning English for many years. Readers of SET should know that, although she’s done lots of work on concerns for Spanish speakers, she’s also working on adaptations for students who speak less common languages such as Aleut, Athabaskan, Tlingit, and other Alaskan native languages.1 Annmarie, whom I first got to know a couple of decades ago (when she was a teenager) has been doing great work in preparing teachers (especially in employing well-grounded individualized education programs, as in her book with Dee Berlinghoff2) as well helping guide organizations like IARLD and the Division for Learning Disabilities of the Council for Exceptional Children.

Annmarie is a long-time subscriber to SET, and there were lots of other SET-affiliated folks at the meeting including (but not limited to) Vincent C. (wonderful host of the event), Rebecca S. (who’s been with SET since pretty-dang-close-to-the beginning!), and others—I should have had us all gather for a photo, but I failed. Sigh.

Admin updates

Thanks to those SETters who said “hi” at the IARLD meeting and to all the wonderful Dear Readers rp, everywhere for your continuing readership. I am regularly encouraged when I open the administrative Web page for SET and see that 100s and 100s of y’all have taken a look at a recent post.

A special thank you to the founding subscribers, who include Anita A., Kathy M., and Mike G. These folks subscribe at levels over and above the basic contribution and thereby help SET to be able to publish free content for subscribers all around this Earth. Sometimes, when I think about these folks’ vote of confidence in SET I get a “little emotional.” Drop a comment and thank them.

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Meanwhile, let’s welcome a few folks who joined the community at the free level this past week. Here’s a welcome to Kathy D., Constance S., sea sea(?), Su E., Mary O., Tony M., Tasha, Tracy K., Olivia S,, and Amy T. There were a few ( three?) others who apparently hit the subscribe button but didn’t complete the process. It’s great to have all these known new subscribers. If the SET community could grow by 10 people a week, we could have substantially greater body politic, a force to improving recognition and service for our kids. Thanks for sharing the word about SET and please keep doing so!

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Imagine if the 1200 of us on SET now were, say, 2-3000…20-30000…lots more of us. We would be able to talk with each other (celebrate, complain, collaborate…) about better lives for kids with disabilities. Let’s grow!

And thanks to those of us who are already contributing to the effort: Alexis F., Amanda H., Angelique W., Ann R., Anna O., Bear A., Bev J., Bob P., Callie O., Candace S., Carol W., Cheryl D., Cheryl Z., Christy A., Dan H., Ed P., Ed M., Em. D., George S., Jane B., Jane N., Jean S., Jenni R., Jim P., Jim F., Jim S., Judy V., Keith L., Kimy L., Kristen A., Kristin S., Larry M., Luann D., Marina P., Meg. D., Mike C., Nancy C.-W., Nancy M., Nancy S., Paige P., Pam S. (yes, there are two of you), Riley M., Stephanie A., Tom Z., & Trent T. They are already helping to push SET to broader reach.

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Spedlettes

Here’s the catalog of posts on SET for the last week. Look for the initials of authors…well, I wrote all two of them this week, so no need for initials in brackets. As usual, the list starts with last week’s newsletter.

• Special Education Today newsletter 5(47): This is yet another issue and it is for the week that began 18 May 2026

• Memorial Day 2026: Let’s be thoughtful in our remembrances

• Friday catch-up notes—29 May 2026: What are the stories that didn’t show up as a full post this week?

• TECBD 2026 conference notices: What’s to be known about the 2026 meeting of Teacher Educators for Children with Behavioral Disorders?

There you have the corpus of posts for the week beginning 25 May 2026.

Notes & comments

When my friend, Vince Connelly, invited me to attend the meeting of the IARLD for this year, I was really quite flattered. But, then I had to prepare a talk…aye-yie-yie! Vince, what in the [xxxx] did you get me into?

As most Dear Readers will know, I’ve been concerned about learning disabilities throughout my time as a special educator. When I got started in special education,3 I was drawn not only to those children who had severe behavior problems (“autism” was so unknown that my psych professors didn’t have any suggestions about readings or practices when I asked them about it in after-class scrums). but also to those kids who couldn’t read and write. Having been raised in a home that valued knowledge, I dove into the study of special education.

So, I thought for my talk, I would just tell the story of my journey to an on-going focus on teaching and the research that we need to move ahead in the endeavor of improving instruction for our kids.

I struggled to assemble something sensible. Here’s the outline on which I sorta settled:

1. How did we get LD?

   1. We invented it

   2. We were influenced by (for better and worse)

      1. Medical ideas

      2. Psychological perspectives

      3. Educational influences

2. What is it about learning disabilities?

   1. Wait?

   2. What?

3. What about teaching?

   1. Ooopsies…

   2. Instruction?

      1. Maybe we learned something

      2. Maybe we missed something?

4. What research do we need?

   1. Look at teaching at the micro level

   2. Focus psycho-education here, not on pop-psych

5. What is our path forward

   1. High-quality research

   2. Focus on the actual problems of LD

So, I ran my slides and talked for about 50 minute. I hoped that showing lots of images of the folks whom the audience and I have known in my time in special education, I could connect with the listeners. I hope all of the attendees got the message that teaching, instruction, and education are really important.

Of course, you Dear Readers of SET already have that idea, right? And that idea, Dear Readers, is why it’s important to keep yourselves healthy and vigorous. Eat well (and good). Get that rest. Stay safe. And to keep up with evidence about effective practice so the you can make sure you can be there to teach your children well.

JohnL

John Wills Lloyd, Ph.D.
Founder and Editor, Special Education Today

SET should not be confused with a product that uses the same name and is published by the Council for Exceptional Children. SET predated CEC’s publication by decades. Despite my appreciation for CEC, this product is not designed to promote that organization nor should the views expressed here be considered to represent the views or policies of that organization.

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