Special Education Today Newsletter 5(49)
What's in this newsletter covering the week beginning 1 June 2026?
Welcome to first June 2026 installment of the newsletter for Special Education Today, which, as it happens is almost the last issue of this volume year. I expect to publish one more weekly newsletter on 15 July 2026 and then SET will go dormant until the beginning of July 2026, at which time it’ll emerge again as Volume 6.
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.
Special Education Today newsletter 5(48): This is only another update and it covers the week that began 25 May 2026 [JWL]
ABA take down in the news: What about that report in the NY Times regarding ABA? [JWL & ET]
Detailed US achievement data available: What results might one be able to find in the latest iteration of the EDC State Assessment Data? [JWL]
Romaine Mackie award nominations open: Whom could SETters nominate for this honor? [JWL]
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.
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.
How about that double negative? Does “not” mean “nothing!” Wow! I’m taking credit for that one, even with (or perhaps because?) of my English undergraduate studies.
Alumni Hall was a building on Emmet St. across from Memorial Gymnasium. It was originally a fraternity house (my Uncle Bob’s) before the Alumni Association purchased and repurposed it. There is a new building under construction on the site as of spring 2026.