Special Education Today newsletter 5(41)
Did you miss anything during the week that began 6 April 2026?
Welcome! This is the weekly newsletter for Special Education Today for the week ending 12 April 2026. It’s volume 5, number 41, and it is the 1655st (teehee) post in the history of SET. Thanks to those who have been along for a lot of those issues and to those who are new to SET.
If you’re new to SET’s newsletters, here’s what you will be able to read in this issue:
A photo that may or may not be relevant to special education;
An update about the status of SET;
A catalogue of the posts from the previous week (with links to them); and
An editorial comment (or not).
Image for this week
We took a couple of days leave this past week and went to Highland County, Virginia, in the Alleghany mountains on the border with West Virginia.1 We stayed at spot called “Bramble Hill” that is owned by the Virginia Society of Ornithology (an organization that Pat and I support). It is a quiet (except for bird sounds) and stunningly pretty spot. If you zoom in on Bramble Hill (38.53333° N, 79.52146° W) on a map, you’ll see that the house is in Virginia and the adjacent barn—20 m away—is in West Virginia.
With the two friends who accompanied us, we went for dinner one evening and lunch the next day in the nearby town of Monterrey, which has a population of 165 (but is well known for a maple festival in March, when 50,000 people visit.
After lunch, I took this photo of the door that, I think, leads to a second floor area above some businesses on the main east-west street. If you look closely in the reflection2 on the glass, you’ll see your editor and photographer taking the photo.
The setting around Bramble Hill farm is magnificent. The creeks in the region feed into the South Branch Potomac River. Yep, that’s right! This spot on Earth is part of the headwaters for the river that flows through the Washington, DC, area and into the Chesapeake Bay.
We were too early to see many warblers, but they will apparently be abundant during the coming weeks as migration toward their breeding grounds begins in earnest. We did see or hear 25-30 species. Sadly, woodcocks were not among them, either. We didn’t miss them because we spent too few hours watching for the warblers and woodcocks. Sigh.
SET status notes
SET has grown a bit more in the recent weeks. The number of subscribers is a few dozen below 1200 as of this writing. In a couple of months, it should pass that mark. Many of us also subscribe to Minding the Gap, Filling the Pail, The Bell Ringer, and The Science of Learning (all of which I recommend).
Welcome to Rebecca K., Kate B., Melissa G., Mysidia, Mr. G., AM, Bill L., Brecca F., Julian L, Pythagorean, Lisa B., Chris B., Meg G., A. H-F., and Corrine E.
As always, I was to post a shout-out to SET’s patrons. Kathy M., Anita A., & Mike G have been contributing and continue to do so. Thanks, too, to the many readers who also support SET with subscriptions, including Alexis, Alix H, Amanda H., Angelique W., Ann R., Anna O., Bear A., Callie O., Candace S., Clary K., Dan H., Ed M., Ed P., Fang X., Hill W., Jane N., Jean S., Jenni R., Jim F., Joel I., Joel M., Kidu V., Kristin S., Larry M., Linda L., Marilyn F., Marina P., Mary R., Maryanne L., Meg D., Mike N., Monica McH., Nancy S., Paige P., Pam S. and Pam S. (both!), Rebecca B., Rebecca S., Riley M., Sally B., Stephanie A-O, Tom Z., Vicki W., Vince C., and all those other supporters whom I didn’t list this time. All y’all: Thank you!
I also want to express my appreciation to those who dropped comments or restocked posts this past week: Tom Z. and Li-Yu H.
Spedlets
This is the catalog of the posts from the previous week. (Authors’s initials are not in the trailing brackets, because I wrote all of these this week so there’s no need to add them.)
For everyone
Special Education Today newsletter 5(40): Here are the updates for the week that began 30 March 2026
Measuring self-injury using wearable devices: Can advances in technology help address self-injurious behaviors?
Paul Offit expressed concern about autism recommendations: What concerns him about the policies of the US Secretary of Health & Human Services?
Discipline without legal violations: What should special educators know about legal protections related to disciplinary actions?
K. Tavalin’s report about US budget for 2027: What does CEC’s leading government analyst have to say?
Chris and Alyssa seek support for SBSK: Why would a wonderfully successful operation need financial backing?
Friday catch-up notes—10 April 2026: What items should have but did not find life as full posts recently?
Earlier identification of ADHD linked to better school outcomes: What does a large-N longitudinal study reveal?
Three quiet leaders: What is it about these people? What could they be thinking?
For the faithful
US funding for research in 2027: What are the cuts proposed in President Trump’s budget?
If you wonder whether you might have missed a mailing, whether I posted something but did’t send a mailing, what’s in the archives, or you just want to review something, you can go directly to SpecialEducationToday.com. There is a list of the recent posts (in reverse chronological order) and a link at the top of the page to the “archives,” and a link after the 10 or so recent post to another page with additional previous posts.
Editorial
None this week. But, all y’all (that is the plural form of “y’all”), please remember to take care of yourselves, your family members, and friends—eat well, exercise, practice patience, drive carefully (wearing those seatbelts). And remember to teach your children well.
Take joy, friends,
JohnL
John Wills Lloyd, Ph.D., UVA Professor Emeritus
Founder & Editor, https://www.SpecialEducationToday.com/
Footnotes
Betsy T., who is from West Virginia, might say, “West-by-god Virginia.”
The reflection has a strange feature half way down the right side of the glass. That’s where I electronically removed a paper sign and the photo software filled in with that it “thought” would be there.