Special Education Today newsletter 6(7)
What happened during the week that began 11 August 2025?
Hello, Dear Readers! I hope that you enjoyed the content of Special Education Today for the week that began 11 August 2025. If you missed something, this post, which is the weekly newsletter for our publication, will provide a chance to review it—and that means that if something you read this past week made you feel ill, you should be forewarned that you may be feeling sick again. If you just want a refresher, the newsletter will provide that, too. If you’re familiar with the newsletters, you probably expect a photo, some updates, a list of recent posts, and an editorial…and your expectations will be met. Correct! You win the prize (whatever it is or isn’t)
Photo
Okay, Dear Readers, please do not freak when you look at this picture. It is simply a picture of a nest on the inside of a wall in our garage. It is most likely empty.
This is likely the nest of a potter wasp. At least, that’s the best guess I can make, even if this “pot” nest isn’t the same as those I was able to find in photographs (here & here, for example).
Some potter wasps build mud nests such as the one shown here. The nests are the work of an individual female. She builds the nest, stuffs paralyzed prey into it, and lays an egg on the prey. The egg hatches, feeds on the preserved prey, and then emerges.
I suspect that the juveniles have emerged from this nest. That’s why there is the row (column?) of four smaller holes on the left side of it.
Could it be that the wasp that created this nest didn’t make a perfectly shaped pot because she had NBD (nest-building disorder)? I dunno. Mayhaps it’s just that certain subspecies make the artfully shaped ones and other subspecies make these more modern, abstract ones?
Any way, it’s pretty fascinating to me. Oh, and multiple sources concur with the Wikipedia entry about potter wasps: These wasps are not dangerous; they are beneficial, in fact.
Status
As of this past week, Substack indicated that there are 987 subscribers and 1296 followers for SET. Welcome to Tim V. and Jackie (and anyone whom I missed!), who joined the pack of free subscribers this week. Thanks for joining us.
Interactions: Have y’all been active with the likes recently. Wow! Thanks. Thanks, even more, to those who dropped comments: Mike G., Jean S., Dan H., John R., and Mike N. And an additional shout out to Paul C. for his restack.
Subscriptions: You should know that there are about 83 subscribers who provide financial support for SET with paid subscriptions. I want to acknowledge some of these very Dear Readers’ support: Susan S., Bev J., Maryanne L. Vicki W., Linda L., Clay K., Tina C., Ed M., Jen W., Jane B., Bob P., Eileen F., Nancy C-W., Michael K., Jim P., Marilyn F., Joel M., Debbie R., Rhonda B., Jim S., Isabel G., Mike N., Angelique W., Rebecca S., June R., and John R. There are four sustaining subscribers (Anita A., Mike G., Kathy M., & Li-Yu H.); they are the Dear Readers whose on-going support is helping SET to reach people around Earth, people who are concerned about students with disabilities. Thank you!
SETlets
So, let’s try this new heading for this section of the news letter (and thanks to DR Joel M. for the suggestion). There were nine new posts on SET durning the just-passed week. I wrote all the posts this week, so there are no annotations about authorship. Here’s the chronologically ordered list:
Special Education Today newsletter 5(6): What? Aren't we rolling again this year?
Repost: Yikes! A presidential commission on vaccines?: What did this story from January 2017 cover and is it still relevant?
The power of examples: What are some things educators should know about demonstrations?
Loss of research funding: If the US government ended or reduced support for special education research, would anyone miss it?
Selling stories: Who's selling what in contemporary media?
DEI and teacher education: What is and will happen with funded program for preparing special education teachers?
My mugs shots: 4: What's the message about the mug from which I'm drinking today?
Vaccine-autism study retracted: Had you heard that a study linked vaccination during pregnancy with autism in offspring?
Birdability takes flight again: Who needs help with preparing for a celebration?
So, there it is. That is the list of SETlets for last week. Each of these posts was read between 500 and 800 times during the days after they were published. They’ll each pick up more reads before they go to rest behind the paywall (though you paid subscribers can continue to read and comment on them over there in the garden).
Notes & comments
This past week I had lunch at a restaurant with Pat, Brenda, and Bob. Bob is my first cousin, and he lives about 15 miles away. Bob, who is the eldest of my cousins, was an engineer by training and employment. For many years he has been an avid bicyclist.
Bob is also a subscriber to SET. When we get together, we often talk a bit about what’s been in the SET posts. At this lunch, he launched right into talking about The power of examples post. We were seated near a table where other patrons were talking loudly. Using his capacity for understated humor, he quickly quipped, “That is an example of not quiet.” I got a good grin out of his comment…and we asked the waitron to reseat us in a quieter place.
Drawing on his engineering side, Bob wanted to know about the data I get about readers of SET. I explained that there were lots of data available. Using the examples post as an example, I explained that by the time we were having lunch, that post had probably been read something like 300-350. He nodded, so I continued. I explained that it was intriguing for me to see how the “reads” rolled in from the time the post went live. I told him that one of my hypotheses was that people read the posts when then first glanced through their mail in the morning (wishful thinking?), and so the total number of reads would steadily increase across the time zones as the morning passed. I had to admit that I was making things up, because a post that some people first received at 4:00 AM here in C’ville would be a post that some readers also received at 4:00 PM in their local time zone in Australia.
I think Bob gets some fun from looking at and thinking about data, as do I. He was intrigued to know that with some drilling, I can determine how many times a given reader has read (at least “opened”) an e-mail message. I told him I could even tell how many devices a user had used to view a post. (Getting to those data requires several clicks to move through the necessary screens that have the links to scripts that extract the data from Substack’s databases, though. On e does have to “drill down.”)
Enough of that topic. Bob’s getting a new bike. I learned a little bit about it and bikes in general. It’s a very light frame. He told me frames are no longer measured as much by height as by the “reach” (I think that’s the distance between the saddle post and the neck where the bars attach). He’ll add his own favorite components (wheels, saddle, handlebars, brakes, gears, shifters, peddles, etc.). I’m going to have to visit him and see this new bike when he’s got it ready for viewing.
Somehow our conversation returned to SET. I explained to Bob that, although I could see all those data, writing the content was a challenge. I have little way of knowing whether the posts actually connect with readers. I explained that seeing a few “likes” was a bit okay, but discouraging, because that would represent only a (generous) 1% connection, probably more like ½ or ⅔%….Sigh.
So, that’s where I come back around to the status section of this newsletter, Dear Readers. You do open the messages or the articles. Y’all do interact with the content. You share. For those actions I am quite thankful. I appreciate it!
I also appreciate what you do for kids with disabilities. Thanks for being among the people who care enough to seek improved education for your children, to provide evidence-based instruction, to work to ensure educational opportunities are available for our kids. I’m glad to have you reading this product and I hope that it provide value to you.
As you conduct your day-to-day efforts for our kids now and in the future, I hope you will please take care of yourselves and of the others in your lives. Don’t let your colleagues make like forgetting to wear their seatbelts or getting vaccinations. Stay healthy. Drive carefully. Take joy. And, of course, teach your children well.
Love,
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.