Here we go with the fifth issue of the second volume of the weekly newsletter for Special Education Today. This issue covers the week that began 27 June 2022.

As I reported last week, there is no new structure in this issue (and often before)…well, okay, there’s a heading about forthcoming content this time. Readers will find the same-old-same-old...contents will be quite familiar. There is a status report, some notes of appreciation to readers, a table listing the contents from the past week, a note about a couple of forthcoming posts, and a little commentary. I hope that the data keep you up to date, in case you want to be in the know!

Please feel free to read the entire all on the Web at https://www.specialeducationtoday.com. And please feel free to share it widely.

This version of the newsletter goes to all subscribers. Some readers may note that some of the contents of the newsletters to which I refer lead readers to a paywall. Paying subscribers have privileges!

Status update

SET’s subscription rate is holding essentially steady. About 5% of all subscribers are paying subscribers. That is, about 5% of us are carrying all the others. Thanks to all y’all who have committed to paying subscriptions!

And thanks to those who are hanging with SET on the free side. I appreciate your votes of support. The idea is to get the content of SET out to lots of folks, and y’all can be the vectors to help spread the word.

Share Special Education Today

I doubt that people new to SET found it spontaneously popping into their email in-boxes, lying on their lawns or driveways. To the extent that you, dear readers (new and long-standing), share SET posts and recommend SET to colleagues, you help boost the base. Thanks!

Please let your colleagues, friends, neighbors, and others who have interest in special education know about SET. Of course, please also become a paying subscriber.

Flashes of the electrons

I’m happy to acknowledge the contributions of readers who comment on posts, register their “likes,” and let people on other media know about SET. There were lots of interactions this past week. Y’all rock! Here are recent data:

Comments

Three paying subscribers provided wonderful comments this past week on posts for SET. I want to recognize

1. Joel M. for his notes emphasizing the ideas about teaching students well by emphasizing the postive, and, especially for his appreciation of our late colleagues, Fred Weintraub and Lynne Cook.

2. Dan H. for appreciating the musical connection to behavior management practice, and

3. Clay K. for suggesting an idea in which readers submit ideas about songs that can be used to help guide teaching and understanding students with disabilities.

Likes

This might be a record harvest of likes! MK (//), Jane B (///////), Tina C. (//), Debbie G., Ed S., Bets T. (//), Larry M., Lysandra C., Barbara M., Clayton K. (///), Roberta S., Donna P., & Joel M. all dropped smiley faces on posts last week, warming to cockles of my cold, old behavioristic heart. Thank you!

Oh, and take a look at the notes about forthcoming posts. You’ll see that there is one about “monitoring.” You can bet that I’ll be monitoring likes and, especially, comments.

As before, I have little memory about what’s been happening on social media recently. But, I hope readers will help SET by retweeting appropriate notices and posting your own follows-tweets-etc. about content even when I don’t.

Table of contents

Well, this was probably what some readers might consider a rich week. There were lots of posts. Here are the messages I posted to the Web site [https://www.specialeducationtoday.com] recently.

Lots to read, y’all!

Forthcoming

So, what will paying subscribers see in the coming week? Well, I have two posts in the hopper now and probably more to come. One is about the problems with helping kids who, for whatever reason, require locked living facilities; are there reasonably beneficial services for them? A second is about how valuable counting is for children learning arithmetic and mathematics. I’m looking forward to posting them.

Commentary

I’m not as fretful as some of my friends and colleagues about contemporary political discussions in the USA, nor do I want to steer SET into the contentious debates of the current political situation in the US and elsewhere. I do want to beg that readers consider whether there is an expressed “right to education” in our governmental structure (in, for example, the US Constitution).

What does a “right to education mean,” what does it mean for our kids, and how do we ensure that “rights” currently enshrined in laws (e.g., US IDEA and similar laws in other countries) are maintained?

If I read the US Constitution and amendments strictly, I see no mention of education. So, is availability of education not a right of children and families? Especially importantly, from my perspective, is the opportunity for a free and public education for kids with disabilities an “unenumerated right?”

Let’s discuss.

JohnL
SET Editor
Charlottesville

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SET should not be confused with a product with the 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.