Welcome to this week’s issue of the Special Education Today newsletter. It is going to be quick one. I’m remembering some lyrics from Bob Dylan’s Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues:
Now if you see Saint Annie
Please tell her thanks a lot
I cannot move
My fingers are all in a knot
I don’t have the strength
To get up and take another shot
And my best friend, my doctor
Won’t even say what it is I’ve got.
If you are a regular reader, then you likely can predict that this issue of the newsletter includes a photo, some status notes, a list of recent posts, and a bit of editorial comment.
Photo
This photo shows the Rockfish Valley just east of the Blue Ridge Mtns. Jim Kauffman and Jeanmarie Badar lived just to the left of this. If you find one of the photos from their deck, you’ll see this same view for a slight different angle. Gorgeous, no?
Updates
Thanks to all you wonderful Dear Readers for your continuing readership. I am regularly encouraged when I open the administrative Web page for SET and see that 100s and 100s of y’all have taken a look at a recent post.
I shall note that it was wonderful to have multiple comments on several posts this past week. If we keep that up, the Goddesses of the Intertubes (also known as “The Algorithm”) will be begin to consider SET to be a happening place and will send readers to the shores or our little island. That should make for good times in these parts.
Also, it’s a good time to say “thank you” to the fine contributing authors of SET: Li-Yu Hung (National Taiwan Normal University), John Romig (Florida State University), Ana Paula Martins (University of Minho), Mitchell Yell (University of South Carolina), Mandy Rispoli (University of Virginia), and David Bateman (university of all over the place…I’m not sure where he is this week). I keep hoping that Betsy Talbot (William & Mary) will begin contributing.
I shall not take the time to dig through the records to identify news subscribers this week. Those of you who just joined the commotion, thanks and welcome. Please grab friends and get them to join us, too.
Spedlettes
The list of articles for the past week:
Special Education Today Newsletter 6(8): What new content should one find in a newsletter for 24 July 2026?
Broadcast TV examined US policy changes’ effects on students with disabilities: What did the CBS reporter conclude about the policies affecting children with autism?
C. Hendrick: Cognitive psychology and Direct Instruction: What did the highly regarded proponent of understanding cognition have to say at the 2026 NIFDI conference?
More about accessible play spaces—Bennett’s Village redux: How about a news story regarding the local inclusive park?
Education is a science! No, it’s an art!: Is there much of anything to be gained from such debates?
Lunch group August 2026: Who was hanging at a local pizza joint?
Friday catch-up notes—28 July 2026: What about stories that didn’t show up as a full post this week?
US center on parents with disabilities defunded: What happened here?
Happy birthday to Chuck Heuchert: Is this not a good time to remember our late colleague and pal?
There you go. As the card dealer at the poker table said, “Read ‘em and weep.”
Notes & comments
No editorial this week. Why? I’m just too weak. I am hoping that pending physical therapy will help.
So, argue among yourselves, please. Someone, just make an incendiary comment and the others of you rush to reshape and explain what’s true and not-so-true about it. Hav at it!
And, my Dear Fellow Travelers, I hope that you will remember how important it therefore is that we take care of yourselves and each other. Remember to get plenty of sleep, look both ways before crossing a street, buckle those seatbelts, drive carefully, eat healthily, exercise regularly, and—of course—teach your students well.
JohnL
John Wills Lloyd, Ph.D.
Founder and Editor, Special Education Today
SET should not be confused with a product that uses the same name and 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 should the views expressed here be considered to represent the views or policies of that organization.
Hope you are feeling better soon and that your PT helps! Shoulder PT helped a lot, back PT not so much...
Thanks, Jane. PT was helpful, but as you surely know, it isn’t like a magic light switch. I can’t just flick it once and have everything fixed