Special Education Today newsletter 6(7)
Would you believe that SET made it through yet another week?
Here we go again! Hold on, Buckaroos!1
It’s time for the 7th issue for the sixth (!) year of the newsletter for Special Education Today. You’ll find a photo; acknowledgements, appreciations, and status updates; a list of the week’s spedlettes, and maybe some dreaded editorial nots.
Photo
This week I have a photo from a local establishment where we had brunch with some friends from long ago. They go back to the times when Jimmy the Red and I frequently ran together on Sundays, talked a lot of shop ideas, probably drank too much a time or two, and laughed a lot.
These folks are adjacent to SET but not full-on special educators, so there’s no need to show the selfie I took of the four of us. However, I was taken with the decor on one of the walls of the place where we ate. It was a collection of baskets, as shown here.
Jim would have had something to say about them, almost certainly. I would have told him that I liked that the arrangement was irregular, that the pairs are unbalanced, that one basket sometimes overlaps another creating layers, and that the negative space seems whimsical. I want to check back in a few months or a year and see if the array has changed or grown.
Status report
Thanks to everyone who subscribed, commented, shared, and dropped likes during the past week.
Appreciation is definitely due to all those subscribers who renewed their paid subscriptions recently. Jamie J., George S., Sal B., Trent T., Alix H., Wayne, John U., Karmelyn L., Jennlyn, Bear A., and Laura M.2 Special among the renewers is Anita A. for her on-going super-support.
Hello to folks who joined the other > 1500-2000 of us as subscribers or followers to SET. I’m looking at you, Jack, Mohamed A., KC, Kallie, Mindy, Rebecca C., Andrea L., Bec, Teresa, Janice L., Meg G., Cease, Sarah, Seher A., and Natalie K. Y’all and anyone else are welcome to take advantage of the opportunity for a 25% discount on annual paid subscriptions by subscribing now (this link takes one right to the sale for August 2026).
Here’s a flash of the electrons to a random selection of subscribers who are especially active on SET. These folks have frequently visited, clicked links, and such: Brenda L., Jim F., Nancy S., Roberta B., Micky D., Kathy M., Mike G., Gerry W., Bill R., Ed. P., Pam S. Paula C., Mary R., Tom Z., Tina C., Linda L., Joel M., Tim H., Sonja D., and Paige P. There is no meaning to the order I’ve listed the names here and, please note, there are scores more of you active readers, so here’s to you, too.
Spedlettes
Here’s a table of (last week’s) contents:
Special Education Today newsletter 6(6): What happened if one looked away from SET the week of 3 August 2026?
President Trump promoted changed vaccination schedules: What did the POTUS say about autism and vaccinations?
SBSK interview with Ivan: What does Ivan have to say about living with a rare brain formation disorder?
August 2026 sale on subscriptions: Why not take advantage of this opportunity?
S. Graham on writing instruction: Would anyone want to miss this opportunity to learn about core instructional practices?
Revisiting K. Hempenstall on effective reading instruction: Why wouldn’t readers want to review an highly readable summary of research
Pediatricians discredited President Trump’s executive order on vaccines: Why would the American Academy of Pediatrics call the EO unscientific and dangerous?
Friday catch-up notes—14 August 2026: What about some stories that didn’t appear as full posts this week?
Advocacy for disabilities run awry: What is amiss about this video encouraging the public to seek help for students with LD?
A care-giver’s trials: Does this case study of a mother sustaining her family, including a teen daughter with Angelman syndrome, show what’s true for many families?
Please remember that one can find the latest posts at the Web site for Special Education Today. Right now, the post about the reduced price sale is pinned to the top of the list, but generally the posts appear there in reverse chronological order (most recent to oldest)…all of the nearly 1800 posts that have appeared on SET. If you’re looking for something in particular and paging through all those posts seems daunting, remember that there is the page called “clumps” that is a sorta-kinda-quasi subject index of the posts. Lastly, remember that only some of the posts in the archive are public; probably something more than 75% of them are only available to paying subscribers (all the more reason to take advantage of the aforementioned sale price of paid subscriptions available until the end of August 2026).
Comments
It’s been busy here at SET Central. In addition to doing my physical therapy exercises (some progress—yay!), I’ve been working on some longer posts that have required research and discussion. But, they will be rolling out this coming week. Here are some hints about what readers can expect:
Paige C. Pullen and I have been going back and forth over a list or questions and answers about her new book, The Canon of Literacy: A Three Sciences Framework (see SET post of 18 July 2026). We are discussing
I have a new post coming about inclusive play spaces. It features Bennett’s Village, the local example of such facilities and will have a video with interviews and more.
Given the emphasis on attention in the last couple of years, I have assembled a few paragraphs on understanding what “attention” means. It’s through the lens of measurement…how do people assess attention?
There is a passel of others (dozens!), and one or more of them may appear with these. But, Dear Readers, here’s your warning: The foregoing three will (the goddesses willing and the creek don’t rise) appear in the next few days. So, stay tuned. Watch your mail, Tell your friends and colleagues to be alert.
Meanwhile, of course, please take care of yourselves. Eat healthily. exercise regularly, get lots of sleep, watch out for each other, help an old guy with a cane cross the street...all that. And, of course, please remember to teach our children well.
JohnL
John Wills Lloyd, Ph.D.
UVA Professor Emeritus
Founder & Editor, https://www.SpecialEducationToday.com/
Footnote
For those who do not recognize the word, “Buckaroos,” let me provide a little help. It’s a US English work that is a synonym for “cowboys.” However, Buckaroos is also known as the name of a country music group led by a singer and songwriter named Buck Owens. Of course, in the context of SET, it is a synonym for “Dear Readers.”
Sorry if I messed up any names. Only some folks have added their real names to their Substack profiles. Sometimes I simply have to guess about names from email addresses. One can alter her bio profile by clicking on the disk at the top right of Substack Web pages when one is logged into the system. One can even add a photo or other image.
SET should not be confused with a product that uses essentially the same name and is published by the Council for Exceptional Children. SET predated CEC’s publication by decades; I wonder if CEC put “today” in all capitals to distinguish its product from SET. 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. A membership in CEC does not get one a subscription to SET and vice versa!