Hello, dear readers. Thank you for sticking with me. Settle in…this is a long one.

Aslo, welcome to the first issue of Special Education Today for May of 2022. Regular readers will probably be able to anticipate the contents of this newsletter, but they will also find an unfamiliar section (or two). Read on!

For those who previously have received none, one, or a few newsletters, let me provide this overview: The following notes include (a) updates on SET’s status, (b) shout-outs to members of the community, (c) a listing of the previous week’s content, (d) a couple of editorial announcements, and (e) notes about subscriptions.

Update on subscribers

Free subscriptions have continued to increase. In addition, I think there have been zero unsubs in many weeks. Yay! (Now, if you’re thinking of unsubbing, that’s OK, ‘cause you can alway comes back.)

Thanks to folks who’ve helped by sharing SET’s address with other parents, teachers, administrators, students, professors, psychologists, therapists, doctors, and others who can benefit from the content we’re carrying. Current readers can help, too. Please pass along notes about SET.

Meanwhile, a special welcome to some new subscribers with whom I had direct (i.e., “back channel”) correspondence last week: Hey and hello, Carissa H., Stacey B., Janine S., and Debbie, Y. Thanks to y’all for answering my questions! And welcome to the others who subscribed recently, many of whom probably heard about SET from a talk by Jan Hasbrouck.

Also, a special and hearty thanks to the people who elected to opt into a paid subscription! The early-bird special continues through the month of May. If you’re thinking of jumping in, it’s a good time to lock in savings for the first year by snagging an annual subscription. More later.

Department of shout-outs

Because the community is growing, I have a lot of names of members to recognize in this section this week. That growth is very encouraging to me; one of my greatest hopes is that SET becomes a platform for many people who are concerned about special education, folx who can respectfully interact with each other. All that is to say “thanks” to readers who commented and liked posts and other readers’ comments.

Flashes of the old electrons to the many folx who’ve interacted with SET content on the Web site itself. Thanks, for example, to Geoff V., Laura McK., Tina C., Ed M., Charlie H., Jesse F., Marie, Julie L., Jane B., Tina H., Annmarie U., Mary K., Clay K., Michael K., Rhonda B., and others who’ve liked, commented, and shared posts. And here’s a special flash of the electrons to loyal readers whom I consider “MOs” (i.e., “multiple offenders”) in recent weeks): Jane B., Betsy T., Larry M., Joel M., and (of course) Michael K. You go, pals!

I find it especially encouraging when readers comment on posts. Whether their comments amplify, embellish, support, or criticize the posts, those notes are beneficial because they contribute to the developing community of people interested in special education. They also help me to adjust what I’m posting, so keep ‘em coming!

Also, on Twitter, one can find SET @SpecialEdToday. Please watch for messages there and throw a reTweet (preferably with a glowing review!) or a like. Speaking of Twitter, I appreciate that folks are mentioning SET on that medium. Flashes of the electrons to @tenati0us_tina, @ValContesse, @betsytalbott1, and @JanHasbrouck for recently Tweeting or re-Tweeting SET content or @mentioning SET. Thank you all!

And, although I do not currently have a presence on Facebook, I know that some readers are dropping references to SET there. That’s great! Thank you! Please continue to do so!

Share

Current contents

Had you been checking the SET Web site the last week of April, you would have found articles about various topics. They included the following posts available to paid subscribers that are now unlocked for free subscribers.

Now, also last week’s posts included a post that was delivered only to paid subscribers. If I can learn how to control this system, premium posts such as this one will eventually become available to free subscribers at a later date. This past week there was this one:

Department of disjointed commentary

A few readers may know that Pat and I created The Lloyd Family Award at the University of Virginia’s School of Education and Human Development. The award recognizes a doctoral student in the school who has been the lead author on a published empirical paper about special education authored during the student’s second year of doctoral study. The study could employ descriptive, single-subject, qualitative, or group-contrast methods. A key feature to me is that we are rewarding students who are engaging in scientifically defensible work.

Pat and I wanted to honor many family members associated with UVA. As most of us know, graduating from an institution of higher education engenders a lot of loyalty to that institution. My father and a couple of uncles were graduates of UVA in the first half of the ~1900s. They were very much a part of that white-boys, state-supported institution. An aunt attended the nursing school, which was not quite as exclusive. Although all of them had privilege, we wanted to recognize their accomplishment and contributions to the commonweal.

My elder brother and two of our same-generation cousins attended Virginia. They studied engineering in the tumultuous times (1960s-70s) when UVA opened up to undergraduate women and survived racial, military, and political tumult—as did many institutions of higher education. More reason to recognize their accomplishment and contributions to the commonweal.

Not the least here is that Pat earned a masters from UVA. As the many faculty members with whom she has worked over the years since the late 70s will attest, she is an alumna who’s contributed mightily to education.

So I hope the award honors that legacy. And I hope that the award puts a big smile under a particular basket that students can discover by conducting scientific inquiries regarding special education issues.

The recipient of the award for 2022 is Jessie I. Fleming. Jessie and Bryan Cook reviewed educational journal publishers’ policies with regard to open access practices. “Open access” refers to efforts to provide consumers of research with access to research documents without requiring readers to pay for reading the article on a commercial publishers’ site. Here’s a photo of (r-l), Pat, Ashley Fleming, Jesse, a me. Please follow the link to the Fleming and Cook article.

Jesse is the most recent recipient of the Lloyd Family Award. Former recipients include.

1. 2017-18: John Romig

2. 2018-19: Marie Black

3. 2019-20: Sarah Benson

4. 2020-21: Victoria VanUitert

Subscriptions

Now on to more mundane matters. As readers of last week’s newsletter will know, I am moving SET to a tiered subscription plan. As of now, there will be two tiers: (a) paid and (b) free. Assuming I can make this work, here’s how the tiers will differ:

• Those who opt for the free subscription will get access to this newsletter and, one week after they have gone live, the news items published on the site.

• Paying subscribers will get everything immediately...the newsletter, the irregular news posts, and longer (and shorter) musings.

The basic subscription plan ($6 a month) has an annual alternative. Instead of dropping $72 over 12 months, one month at a time, subscribers can opt for a $60 per year subscription, a savings of > 16%. Paying subscribers (and, for that matter, free subscribers) can cancel at any time and get refunds.

You can show your support for SET by getting in on the action early. Or you can wait. You can just ignore it and keep reading what you’re probably accustomed to reading. But, you can also take advantage of an early-bird subscription and show your support for SET.

Subscriptions are available right now! You can subscribe immediately. Also “early bird” subscribers (those who subcribe in May of 2022) can even get a deeper discount: The first year at $48.

I’m trying to figure out this subscription stuff. Let me know if you have questions, please.

Miscellaneous

If you have ideas about what SET ought to publish, send me a note or DM me (@SpecialEdToday or @JohnWillsLloyd).

I appreciate readers’ use of the “share” buttons that are embedded in my posts by Substack, but I understand that sometimes they present problems. Those problems may be a consequence of a user not having created a Substack account (as either a free or paid subscriber) or not having validated her identity (i.e., “logged in”). If a reader encounters a problem using the embedded buttons and wants to share a link, it’s just fine to copy the URI in a browser and pass that along to others!

Now, meanwhile I hope your remember the Beatles. For example, “All You Need is Love!” Nice sentiment! And conistent with that sentiment, let me remind you that your should take care of yourself and your loved ones. I hope you take steps to protect yourselves: wear seatbelts, eat healthily, get vaccinations, make sure you’re mostly in well ventilated paces, use masks when there is a risk for sharing viruses, and don’t take your kids to risky places.

Oh, and also please remember to teach your children well.

JohnL

Beautyville, VA

John Wills Lloyd, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus, UVA School of Ed & HD
Co-editor, Exceptional Children
Editor, https://www.SpecialEducationToday.com/