Editor’s note: This post contains snippets about stories, resources, and observations that the SET authors didn’t quite develop into full-blown posts over the past week. I’m hoping we can catch up with our in-boxes, but we didn’t want you, Dear Readers, to miss them. Some of them may later appear as a part (or parcel) of a full-blown post.—JohnL

AI-generated image of a special educator doing one of the jobs that might not be included in her job description. Image © 2026 by John Wills Lloyd, Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

Over on the New York Times, Sarah Mervosh, Francesca Paris, and Claire Cain Miller reported the results of their survey of 36 education experts (almost all academics and no one I recognized as a special education expert) about what changes in education were most likely to promote better student outcomes and which changes would be relatively more expensive. In “30 Ideas for Fixing U.S. Schools, Ranked by Experts: Math and reading scores are in a decade-long slump. We asked three dozen experts: What could turn things around?,” they tell readers that their experts touted small-group tutoring, professional development about the science of reading, and universal pre-K as beneficial.
For Disability Scoop, Michelle Diament posted a story 28 September about the legal decision that will allow states to follow the Trump administration’s guidance about disregarding the Olmstead mandate to provide services in the “most integrated setting” in communities. Read her excellent reporting in “Trump Administration Gets OK To Scale Back Disability Protections.”
Sarah Todd Hammer sat for an interview with Chris Ulmer of Special Books for Special Kids. Ms. Hammer, who advocates about disabilities on her own YouTube channel, quite frankly explained her life since becoming paralyzed as a child in “She Was Suddenly Paralyzed from the Neck Down at 8 (Acute Flaccid Myelitis).”
Over on The 74 Million, Chad Alderman published an article 29 September 2026 entitled “For Kids With Challenges, These Missouri Schools Are Bright Spots for Reading.” The schools about which he reported include some where students with disabilities are “beating the odds.”
Awais Aftab, a psychiatrist, wrote about cases he sees in his practice in a New York Times column for 29 September 2026. In “What if A.D.H.D. Isn’t About Attention at All? Evidence suggests that it really affects what psychiatrists like me call sustained engagement — an important difference in understanding how to think about the condition,” he explained his theory of the “symptoms” of ADHD.

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Special Education Today

Friday catch-up notes—2 October 2026