Special Education Today newsletter 5(18)
What would you like to know about what's happening in SET land?
I am happy to provide another issue of the weekly newsletter for you, Dear Readers of Special Education Today. This is the 18th for this fifth volume. This issue covers the week that began 27 October 2025 and it is 1481st post on SET.1
The newsletter contains—don’t be surprised, please—a photo, updates on the status of SET, a list of posts for the week, and some comments.
Photo
Perhaps the picture for this issue should go in the following section about the status of SET, because it shows what happened on 30 October 2025 in the backyard here at SET central.
This maple tree has been quite colorful this fall. As is obvious, there is still a lot of green in the leaves of surrounding shrubs, but also there are bare branches on trees in the background (eastward, toward the creek). If I lean a little to my left and look out the window past the monitors, I can see the tree about 15 meters from where I sit.
It seems to be a trance-inducing tree. Sometimes when I’ve been thinking about something, I realize that I’m staring out the window at that maple.
Status update
The news from SET Central is right good, but not as gorgeous as that maple.
Folks have been reading SET. Over the week covered by this newsletter, there were about 1000 reads per day. The majority of those reads come from the ~1350 followers of SET; about 1025 of those followers are subscribers and they are distributed across 54 countries and 45 US states.
Scores of you also read other education-related ‘stacks Filling the Pail, Minding the Gap, and The Bell Ringer (among others).
Thanks to everyone who has renewed his or her subscription. And, here is a special welcome to Jay, who started a paid subscription this past week. You, Jay, have joined a wonderful group of supporters of SET. The group includes (and this is only a partial list), Ed. P., Bob P., Ed M., Pam S., Lucinda S., Mike N., Pei Jung H., Jane N., Mary R., Jen W., Jim P., Christy A., Jean S., Vicki W., Amanda H., Jim S., Riley M., Kristen M., Anna O., Clay K., Joel M., Dan H., Larry M., Candace S., and at least 50 others. And that list does not include Kathy M., Li-Yu-H., Anita A., and Mike G., who are members of my advisory club.
Shout outs to Dan H. Mike N., and Jane B. for dropping comments this week. Dan H. renewed his credentials in the Multiple Commentator Club with three comments in one week! Thank you all for chipping into the commonweal.
Likes seemed to be flowing readily this past week. Some posts got 6-7-8 likes! Thank you for clicking those buttons on posts.
Spedlettes
My memory is hazy, but “spedlettes” is either an actual recommendation or a variation on one by Joel M. (thanks!). Whatever the case, the heading introduces this section of the newsletter wherein Dear Readers can find links to the posts published during the week beginning 27 October 2025. Initials in brackets identify the authors.
Special Education Today newsletter 5(17): Is anyone ready for yet another SET newsletter? [JWL]
One more time: Teaching is brain changing: Can you say it with me? [JWL]
Webinar: US states’ policies for literacy and professional development: What do educators know about public policies guiding teachers’ understanding of literacy instruction? [JWL]
2025 Virginia federation conference: What can one learn from attending this special education meeting? [JWL]
US National Center on Deafblindness: Who among special educators should not know about this resource? [JWL]
Peacehaven Farm broke ground to expand facilities: What’s to know about this special organization’s development? [JWL]
Project 2025 and changes at the US Department of Education: Could the US be witnessing a turn away from its long-standing support of special education for students with disabilities? [DB}
Happy Hallowe’en!: What’re some decorations in my neighborhood? [JWL]
Pediatric group does not recommend leucovorin for autism: What did the American Academy of Pediatrics have to say? [JWL]
Pepper Stetler on the threat to US special education: Is the current dismantling of special education a continuation of an historic trend? [JWL]
The costs of bogus autism therapies: In addition to money, what do adoption of unvalidated treatments cost families? [JWL]
Almost all these posts are available to the public at this time. The newsletters will continue to be available for free, but the others will slip behind the paywall 10 days after they are published. Tell you family, friends, colleagues, and others that, if they want to read them for free, now’s the time. Of course, it would be delightful to have folks upgrade their subscriptions to paid, ‘cause paid subscribers always have access to every post.
Commentary
So, I’m “going a little meta” with the comments for this week. Rather than writing an editorial about current events (and, as Mike G.’s comment on the post about Pepper Stetler’s article shows, there’s lots worthy of discussion), I’m going to write about SET. Don’t press delete just yet, please. I promise to write briefly.
I fret a good bit about the content that appears on SET. As Dear Readers should know from their experience (including all the times I’ve repeated the mantra, I want SET to be a source of trustworthy content; that desire requires that I research what appears here—a time-consuming process. And, there’s a heckuva lot to know about disability, so research is in order; just start with recognizing that the topics of characteristics, causes, assessments, interventions, policies, and others represent major areas of study and then remember that each of those topics is multiplied by the (a) range of ages (preschool through transition and work) and (b) number of disabilities (sensory and academic; low- and high-incidence; etc.)…well, you get a sense of the range of topics that SET includes in its scope of responsibility. Also, I want the content to go beyond me, to be more than “John said.” In that regard, I’m glad to have contributions of the fine writers—David Bateman, Li-Yu Hung, Paula Martins, Mandy Rispoli, John Romig, Mitchel Yell, and the late Jim Kauffman—to SET. These authors also help me to pursue another hope for SET: I want it to be an Earth-wide resource, because kids with disabilities (and their families) don’t live only in the US, the US does not have hegemony about their needs and beneficial services, and we are all in this together.
All of this to say that SET is a sprawling enterprise. There’s a lot to it. Please don’t be disappointed if your favorite interest in special education is not covered in every other post.
Although we members of the community of SET, and I include not just the authors and management but also the subscribers, represent diverse interests, I hope that we can cleave to this central tenet: We want to work toward securing compassionate, beneficial outcomes for our kids. Sure, there’s going to be little slips from that target (e.g., time spent on the colors of a tree in my backyard), but if you Dear Readers see something amiss in what SET publishes, I hope you will stand up and say so. Just reply to the email for this newsletter and your comments will come to me (privately). I’ll listen! Thanks.
I close with the usual admonitions (or familiar recommendations, if you prefer). For your own sake, and because it probably would be good for our kids, please take care of yourselves and each other. I hope that taking care of ourselves and our colleagues and neighbors will allow us to teach our children well.
From your life I hope you can make peace and take joy.
JohnL
John Wills Lloyd, Ph.D., UVA Professor Emeritus,
Founder & 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.
Footnote
There are some Dear Readers who have been reading this drivel since May of 2021 and can remember the transition from Spedtalk to SET. Thanks to those who can do so. For those who don’t recall, here is a link to 1(1) of the SET newsletter. Some of y’all might even get a grin or a laugh from reading that first newsletter.