Special Education Today newsletter 4(49)
Are you ready for yet another rundown on the last week on SET?
Here we go again! As we begin another week, it’s time to take a look back at the previous week of Special Education Today. Does this ever get boring to you, Dear Readers? Are you so tired of seeing the same-old-same-old: a photo followed by notes about subscriptions and interactions with the content…then followed by a catalog of posts with an editorial for the caboose?
For you Dear Readers who have been around since the proverbial get-go, this is close to the 200th one of these weekly missives to which I’ve subjected you. And it’s the 1300-somethingth post, overall. I would understand if you thought, “I’ve got something better to do with my time than read this.” For those who don’t abandon, delete, and skip the newsletter, though, here beginnith the usual sections.
Photo
Pat brought in the first colander of blue berries this week. She has 5-6 bushes, some of which bloom earlier than others. Most of the bushes an enclosed in some netting, but she has one she keeps outside the netting—shares it with the local critters (lots of bird feed from it).
Lovely, no? Pat will use most of these (and the colanders full that follow) to make some sort of preserves. I saw that this batch had already been frozen not long after she brought it into the house. I think I shall be able to eat some of them, mayhaps from the next batch, with my yogurt and banana. They’re a bit too lovely to blend into a smoothy, though—don’t you agree?
Status
Substack’s data indicated that there are 965 subscribers to SET. Total followers equals 1228. So, hey, we might break 1000 subscribers by the end of volume four!
Now, here’s a special shout out to Amanda H. who joined the ranks of the paid subscribers this week. Thank you, Amanda. Your subscription makes it possible to pay the bills and create and deliver SET to everyone. Also, welcome to the new subscribers among us (I see you, Nancy, Alicia, Jan, Meg, Mad, Susan, and anyone whom I missed). Substack said that there were 50 new subscribers in the past 30 days.
Thanks to Torrence S., who was the only reader who dropped a comment this past week.
Overall, readership (about 5900) was lower this immediately past week than the previous week. Probably something like 400 of you DRs account for greater than 50% of that readership, maybe even 67% of it. But some of that readership comes from posts you’ve shared with others and from folks who found SET some other way, just stopping by to read an article in passing. I like the idea that those additional readers come from sharing, though…so please keep doing it!
Speaking of the end of the volume, DRs with lots of years of reading SET will remember that SET usually takes a bit of summer break. With the new year about to begin for the SET, that implies that this is one of the last issues of the year. There will likely be two more of these weekly newsletters and then I’ll say, “done with volume four.” Then, after a couple of weeks, SET will begin volume five. I’ll send the first newsletter of the new volume—5(1)—on 7 July, my mother’s birthday!
Posts
I published seven posts on SET during the week beginning 26 May 2025. In chronological order, here is a list of them.
Special Education Today newsletter 4(48): Are you ready for another look at the previous week of SET?
To help or not to help: What should we do when a child is struggling in public?
Does monitoring progress help?: What was on Special Education Today five years ago?
More on multi-sensory literacy development: What could we learn from the work of Grace Fernald on VAKT instruction?
TECBD 2025 paper proposals open now: Wouldn't it be great to have lots of SET readers presenting at this delight-filled meeting?
People who've gone on ahead this year: We should honor these colleagues' contributions
How Max "caught" CP: What happened next?
All except the third one are available on the free side of SET at the time of the mailing of this newsletter. Except for the weekly newsletter, most of them will go behind the paywall in a few more days. To read all the posts including those behind the pay wall in the archive, please upgrade to a paid subscription.
Notes & comment
The batteries are running low as I’m writing this week’s newsletter, so I’m going to wrap it up soon. I won’t provide much in the way of an editorial this week.
I do, however, want to provide the observations act these generally tumultuous times bring many risks for special education and students with disabilities. I am working on preparing a post (might take more than one) about these threats. The current US administration has indicated that it will sustain funding for IDEA, even as it dismantles the structures that help sustain special education. To be sure, it would wonderful if the administration would increase funding to meet the long-standing plan for the federal government to provide 40% of the extra costs incurred by schools in educating students with disabilities.
But there are threats that arise from areas outside IDEA. Many individuals with disabilities—including children—rely on Medicaid, so cuts to the funding there are likely to have not-good consequences for our kids. Reductions in federal support of evidence-based teacher education programs are likely to result in even greater constraints on the the hiring and retention of skilled teachers. Cuts in funding in multiple research programs, not just in the Department of Education, may produce downstream challenges as we learn less about what helps our kids, what sorts of help they need, how to get help to them in a timely manner, and etc. Withdrawal of support for vocational habilitation and rehabilitation programs are likely to make it harder for our kids to get the job skills and knowledge that they’ll need to be sustaining contributors to our economy and society during their adult years. There’s more….
In her post entitled “Medicaid Saves Disabled People,” Laura McKenna mentioned many of these issues. If you want to get a head start on what’s coming in my posts about the topics, slip over to Ms.-Dr. McKenna’s Apt 11D and read her notes.
Meanwhile, Dear Readers, please take care of yourselves. Get lots of rest. Eat right. Exercise. Make sure your neighbors are safe and secure. Enjoy spring’s bounty (at least for those in the northern hemisphere) or admire fall’s beauty. Occupy yourselves with productive and rewarding activities. And—it should hardly need me reminding you—please teach your children well.
Peace & love,
JohnL
John Wills Lloyd, Ph.D.
UVA Professor Emeritus
Founder & Editor, https://www.SpecialEducationToday.com/
Please do not confuse SET 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.