Special Education Today newsletter 5(30)
What happened in SET Land the week of 19 January 2026?
Hello], dear readers. Thanks for subscribing to Special Education Today. This is the regular weekly newsletter for SET and it what should be familiar contents for those who have read previous issues: a photo, some updates about the endeavor I call “SET,” a list of posts for the past week, and (if you’re unlucky) some observations about special education.
On with the show!
Photo
A few days before the storm of January 2026 arrived, I was out in the back yard and too this photo of a daffodil bud. Of course, one might say that it was appearing in January because it was “intrepid” or “eager” (you know how people anthropomorphize in their descriptions, tight?). I’d just say that it was “up early.” There are, as can been seen, plenty of other early leaves in the background.
Actually! Wait! Wait! This one might have a disability! Maybe it’s a bio-divergent bloom stalk! Its genetic clock is just a little askew!
Given my interests in helping atypical kids. I sorta-kinda plan to walk through the ice and such that’s covering the back yard, find this little stalk, and uncover it from frozen precipitation that has fallen on it since I took this photo. Not to stretch the metaphor too thin, but mayhaps I can help this little one bloom beautifully a few weeks from now.
Status
This is the 1562nd SET post. Will we make 1700 by the end of volume 5? That’s about 140 more posts over the coming 18 weeks. I guess we could post a lot of brief, frivolous articles to ensure that we reach that milestone. For me, I think it’s not good to post messages as a means to such ends, to inflate production to meet a goal, but to follow the same schedule that’s been in use for the past ~4.5 years. If you have a recommendation about this matter, Dear Reader, please drop a comment.
SET subscriptions are holding steady in the mid to upper 1000 range overall. Probably in the coming week, an 1100th subscriber will add her address to the list. (Remember that the number I used does not include those who “follow” but do not subscriber to SET. There are a few 100 more folks Substack considers “followers.”
Welcome to those who subscribed this past week. And here’s a welcoming thanks to Jennifer S., Monica McH., and Stephanie A.-O., all of whom joined the ranks for supporters. They are in there with Jim R., Candace S., Ed M., Jean S., Namcy S. (and Nancy M.), Meg D., Amanda H., Jamie J., Kim L., (both of you), Tim H., Bob P., Joel M., Michael K., Alexis F., Bear A., Callie O., Jane N., Keith L. (messed up your name one time recently—sorry!), Judy V., Angelique W., Dan H., and a host of others—especially including the patrons: Anita A., Mike G., and Kathy M.
As I‘ve noted previously, it’s delightful to have readers’ comments on posts. Thanks, Betsy T., Joel M., Stephanie A.-O., John R., Dan H. (twice!), and Tom Z. for contributing to the commonweal. I hope I didn’t overlook anyone’s comments.
Thanks to everyone who dropped likes on posts, too. Woohoo!
One of the most reinforcing aspects of having subscribers for SET is having subscribers who actually pay the few $$1, €€, ££, ₱₱, or other currency for a paid subscription. After the first year or so of its existence, SET offered paid subscriptions, and the first paid subscribers were almost exclusively people whom I knew in real life. I still see friends come in out of blue (or from the free side) with a paid subscription, but over time the proportion of paying subscribers who are folks whom I’ve never met has increased, and, now, about a third of y’all are people whom I only know through this medium. Your help is helping to move SET closer to the level I hope it can reach and sustain. If we continue to grow to a healthy level, I’ll be able to consider hiring research assistants, a fact-checker, and even a proofreader—y’all know how I could use a proofreader!
Although hundreds of loyal subscribers—free and paid—visit each time I post an email message, there are dozens of other visitors each day. I am interpreting the overage as reflection of non-subscribers visiting. Also, the records about sharing of posts indicates y’all are passing along info about SET to others. Thank you!
Anyway, please tell your friends, tell your colleagues, tell your kids’ parents, tell your neighbors, tell your relatives (including in-laws), tell your administrators.
Table sped lets
Here are the links for the posts from the past week. The first one is, as usual, a reference to last week’s newsletter. There are links to stories accessible to everyone and to those dear paying subscribers. Because I wrote all of them this week, l didn’t add initials for authors to the bulleted items.
For everyone
Special Education Today newsletter 5(29): What happened last week here in SET Land?
N. Mather to receive LDA Award: How about this recognition of strong and steady contributions to learning disabilities?
Update on federal funding for special education: What is happening with funds for special education and research in current US legislation?
Research notes: fluoride, firearms, and screen time: Is anyone interested in a few nibbles of research news she may have missed?
What explicit instruction isn’t: Have you heard some of these criticisms of direct instruction?
Storm of January 2026: What’s it like here at SET central?
For the faithful
NEED bill introduced: Would you like to sing along: “Hi ho, hi ho...it’s off to chase a squirrel we go...?”
So, those are the posts for the previous seven days. If you missed any of these, you can follow the links. Of course, one can always go to the home page to find these and earlier posts (some of which require a paid subscription).
Commentary
True confession: I am a struggling writer.
I don’t mean that I struggle in the way that we educators sometimes say, “My little Jaime is struggling with [organization | decoding | self-control | toileting | bus-riding ]” Nor do I mean that I have difficulty with typing or composing, in general.
I mean that I have struggles with whether to write some particular thing, cover a topic, post some content. Maybe not literally, but in some cases I argue with myself: “not a good idea…well, people might want to know…who cares?”
There’s a lot of flying in the dark here, Dear Readers. And, I don’t even have a pilot’s license, let alone instrument certification.2 You know, I see some article or news item that seems interesting (or irritating) to me, and I write a post about it.
So what does all this hemming and hawing mean? Well, Dear Readers, I hope you will take it as a plea for guidance and advice. What do you read on SET that you like? What would you rather not see? Are there types of stories that SET should include and types that it should exclude? (Which is which?)
Over the years, I’ve asked similar questions as poll (survey) items. Few (maybe a half dozen readers?) people responded to those surveys. This time, I am asking in an open-ended way. This inquiry is going to have a greater response burden than the a-b-c-d or y-n answers of a poll. But I hope you’ll come through with some advice suggestions, hints, tips, recommendations,
Please don’t be shy and lurking:
Drop a comment.
Reply to this email message (replies only come to me, not to everyone on Substack).
Here are a couple of buttons for those who find that an easier way to respond:
And I hope all that expression of opinions will help readers to shape the future of SET. Meanwhile, please take care of each other, big winter storm or not. Make sure everyone’s belted into their automobile seats. If you’re walking along a sidewalk and see someone about to step into path of on-rushing vehicle, pull the person out of the way, regardless of whether she has a white cane; I have had Dan H. do this for me on at least one busy street (thanks, buddy). Eat healthily (Dan models this, too, as some readers know). Get enough sleep. And, of course, teach children well.
JohnL,
John Wills Lloyd, Ph.D.
Charlottesville
Your SET guy
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, importantly, to represent the views of CEC.
Footnote
Although I’m using the US dollar sign here, I want to recognize subscribers whose countries use that sign (or a damn similar one) for their own currency: Australia, Canada, Taiwan, and others.
There are a couple of subscribers who actually do know how to fly airplanes. One of them, Tim H., is even an instructor who can, I’m pretty sure, teach someone how to fly by instruments instead of the seats of his or her pants. He explained to me that after he left professorhood, and started certifying flyers, he has continued to employ what he learned about special education and behavior analysis.