Special Education Today Newsletter 5(9)

Interested in some notes about SET and a list of the posts for the previous week?

Hello, Dear Readers! Here’s the newsletter for 1 September 2025. It is the 1401th post in the history of Special Education Today. If you have been around from the beginning (and some of you have¹), that’s a lot of messages that have passed through your mail boxes. Thanks for the patience.

You loyal subscribers will know that in this issue you’re going to find a photo, notes about the status of Special Education Today, links to the posts for the past week, and some ramblings. So, please keep reading.

Photo

Okay, let me admit right away that I lied. This is not a photo. It is a (very brief) movie. Pat took this in our front yard. (I can’t edit the caption, so here’s the copyright info: Movie © 2025 by Patricia Lloyd, Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

If you said “Monarch!” you correctly identified the caterpillar. If you said, “Milkweed” you got that right, too (bonus points—and admiration—f you said “Asclepias Syriaca”). Did you spot the poop?

The caterpillar (larval stage) shown in Pat’s video may well now be in its pupal stage. The chrysales are quite pretty. An individual butterfly will emerge after a couple of weeks in the pupal stage. It will then take wing and, beginning with its maiden voyage, head south toward the (rapidly diminishing) winter habitat in Mexico.

For more, here are a couple of links: US Forest Service page, Arizona State University biology site, and a page from Active Wild (a commercial source). I’ve known teachers who raised monarchs in terraria in their classrooms, providing students opportunities to complete science activities and learn, first hand, what happens.

Status update

The SET subscriber level has been in a flat period lately. There have been a few new subscribers, but there have been just about as many unsubs. Maybe the mug shots have driven people away? Anyway, there are nearly 1000 subscribers overall (plus another few 100 followers).

Nearly one in 12 subscribers are people who are paying for subscriptions. They are helping to make SET available to all of us. Special thanks to those peeps. I greatly appreciate you spending just a bit over $1 a week on SET. In addition to helping subsidize the broader readership, they are providing a vote of confidence in SET.

I am especially appreciative of the on going support of SET by the people who have founding status. We all should say, “Thank you!” to Mike G., Kathy M., Anita A., and Li-Yu H.

And, speaking of Li-Yu: This week she published an article honoring a man who made prolonged and powerful contributions to special education for kids in Taiwan. It’s the second time that SET has an article that includes content written in a language other than English. This is reflection of the plan to make SET useful to an international audience. I hope that by the time this volume year ends, readers will be accustomed to seeing posts with segments in Mandarin, Portuguese, and maybe another language, too. Thanks, Li-Yu!

The past week’s Spedlets

I think of SET as a wide-ranging source for learning about the education of children with disabilities and their lives with their families. This past week reflects SET’s eclectic nature—and it includes an example of my frivolity, too! Please write to me if you would like to see SET cover different “beats” than those you regularly see…or skip some beats? Just reply to this newsletter and I’ll get your message. Better yet, post a comment and let everyone know.

1. Special Education Today newsletter 5(8): What might ww want to know about SET for the previous week? [JWL]

2. Hasbrouck explained "Triple A Framework" and DI: Of course you want to see our colleague's keynote address for the 2025 Direct Instruction conference? [JWL]

3. Programmed instruction about behavioral science basics: Could you or someone you know benefit from an online course in behavioral science? [JWL]

4. Local education agencies say anti-DEI law disrupts IEPs: What if a state law blocks services for students with disabilities? [JWL]

5. HB, Fred J. Weintraub: Why should we all be cheering for this guy as he blows out the candles on his cake? [Paid; JWL]

6. The weaver of hope: Brendan O'Connell's legacy in Taiwan

   What is the story about Reverend Brendan O'Connell's contributions in Taiwan and Asia? [L-YH]

7. My mugs shots: 5: What's the message about the mug in the photo for today? [JWL]

Should a reader be interested in posts other than those listed in the foregoing bulltets, please point a browser at https://www.SpecialEducationToday.com and review the offerings. The first page will show relatively recent posts, but there should be a button at the bottom (top?) that permits one to see “more” (or the archives). In addition, it is possible to search for posts; just use the little “looking glass” at the top.

Of course, please be advised that not all of the posts are available to the general public. Some are reserved for readers with paid subscriptions. (These weekly newsletters have been and will continue to be on the public side of the paywall.)

Commentary

As Dear Readers my recall, I am concerned about the state of science in special education (and in the larger domains of education in general and other scientific fields). In early 2025, there were stories (e.g., “US ED research contracts cancelled” 12 February 2025)) that I found distressing. I resisted the topic 14 August 2025 in “Loss of research funding” and I want to return to it in this commentary.

Over on the New York Times, William J. Broad² published an article about the politicization of science. In “Historians See Autocratic Playbook in Trump’s Attacks on Science” (which the Times has behind it’s pay wall), Mr. Broad reviewed the politicization of science over a period of about 400 years, beginning with the Roman Catholic Church blocking non-Earth-centric views (e.g., heliocentrism proposed by Nicolaus Copernicus and supported by Galaleo Galilei).

As some Dear Readers know, the trains of my thinking run almost exclusively on one track: What about [topic x] and kids with disabilities and special education? So, I’m thinking about kids with disabilities and special education as I read Mr. Broad’s article and I’m thinking…are there examples of the politicization of special education and disabilities?

I don’t know that one can answer my thought-question definitively. However one can surely speculate about some events that point to an answer of “definitely maybe.”

• A registry of individuals with autism? In the spring of 2025, credible news outlets (e.g., CBS News, 22 April 2025, Newsweek, 23 April 2025, and The Guardian, 22 April 2025) covered a statements by officials in the US Department of Health and Human Services regarding plans to study large numbers of individuals with autism. The government, as the story went, would create “registries” of individuals with autism and, of course some social media sources³ lit up with protests. It is understandable that concerns about individuals’ privacy, for example, were matters were discussed among individuals with autism, themselves, advocates for autism, and others. The US government promptly disclaimed any interest in a registry, explaining (some would say, “backpedaling”) that their interest was only in coordinating disparate data sources. As of this writing in the late summer of 2025, the topic seems to be quieter. Those interested in tracking the controversy (without having to wallow in the social media sources) might find coverage by Snopes (e.g., “Breaking down RFK Jr.'s alleged 'autism registry' tracking Americans with the condition: The National Institutes of Health director said they were launching an autism registry — but a Health and Human Services official contradicted him”) of value.

• Benefits of charter schools or inclusion? It no secret that the policy proposals of Project 2025 included advocacy for charter schools. Although he did not focus on it, David Bateman mentioned charter schools in his analysis of Project 20205 for SET on 7 November 2024. As Kara Arundel of K-12 Dive reported on 20 May 2025, the authors of some analyses about students with disabilities in charter schools have presented discouraging reports about inclusive practices in those schools, and on 5 August 2025 ED leaders stated a goal of expanding the range of school choice options for students with disabilities. Should the US Department of Education need a narrative more fitting with its policies, we might not be surprised to find it supporting studies showing the benefits of charter schooling for students with disabilities. Similarly, if ED proposed multiple studies that would demonstrate the benefits of whole-school multi-tiered systems of support for inclusive education, would we be surprised?

These illustrations of what politically steered research might look like are speculations. I don’t know that they are happening, but it is pretty easy to imagine conversations about requests for proposals that might fit political agendas. Maybe it’s actually a good thing to do. Even if they may not actually choose the researchers who receive grants, political appointees have to decide on what initiatives to devote precious funds. Some advocates would almost surely argue that it is not only sensible but that it is appropriate and common.

Regardless of whether Mr. Broad’s analysis is being realized in our little corner of the research world, the research projects that emerge for US ED and HHS merit monitoring. We just might learn something about the future of special education.

I hope that alert readers will keep us informed about what they learn regarding priorities and plans for research in special education. There are people who have policy expertise watching what’s happening and talking about it. If I learn anything from eavesdropping on conversations (or direct, explicit inquiries), I’ll let y’all know.

In the meantime, lest you think I might have forgotten, here are the usual recommendations: (a) Wear your seatbelts (and make sure your children’s seats are affixed properly). (b) Get the up-coming fall vaccinations as appropriate. (c) Eat healthily and serve your family and friends good food. And (d) please, teach your children well.

JohnL

SET Editor guy

Charlottesville

Footnotes

1. Hmm…ahem…cough, cough…Joel, Linda, Jim, Jen, Michael, Bob, Susan, Ed, Nancy, Ed, Rhonda, Bev, Esther, Jim, Susan, Debbie, Jane, Marilyn, Tina, Clay, Mary Anne,..cough, cough.

2. Mr. Broad, along with Nicholas Wade, wrote a book that I used to mention in just about every research course that I taught. It was entitled “Betrayers of the Truth: Fraud and Deceit in the Halls of Science.” and the title pretty clearly explains the topic. There is a Wikipedia entry about it.

3. Not wanting to call attention to the too-often inappropriate content on those sources, I shall not throw links to sources. If you keep current with those outlets, you may well be able to put your visit the right places; if you don’t keep up with them, chasing these stories on them is not a good reason to start wasting in those sources.