Special Education Today newsletter 4(4)
Special Education Today newsletter 4(4)
Did you miss anything from SET the week of 15 July 2024?
Bem-vindo, bienvenue, bienvenido, and (of course!), g’day. Welcome to another issue—the fourth of this new volume year—of the newsletter for Special Education Today.
I have plenty to cover in this issue—the usual contents list and thank-yous along with some frivolities and notes. I hope to cover the material efficiently, so as not to waste readers’ time, so let me jump right into it.
Photo
A year ago at this time Pat and I were in Eugene for the annual National Direct Instruction Conference and Institutes. I had a lot of fun (e.g., seeing the lovely watercourses in the area, as shown in this photo), although I think some people who attended may have found my talk rather boring.
I’d’ve gone again for this year’s meeting—the 50th!—and taken advantage of the tremendous opportunities, but the 2024 meeting has already happened. So, we’ll have to wait until next year. Then, one can go to the DI Conf and learn real [stuff] about teaching effectively. Several times a year I feature content from the National Institute for Direct Instruction; readers can keep up anytime by going to the NIFDI Web site.1
Flowers for friends
SET continues to grow. If you’re a subscriber, you’re among greater than 700 others. In addition, there are nearly 200 people who “follow” SET but do not formally subscribe. I’m quite flattered that so many folks consider this drivel (and my other claptrap) to keep track of SET. Thank you! And, thanks also for dropping likes and comments. Each post includes a list of those who have done so. I encourage readers to…well…read beyond the content of posts and see how the community is responding to it.
And, it’s great to note that the number of paying subscribers has increased, too. I want to pass along a special thanks to a subset of those folks (random without replacement; that is, I’ve mentioned none of these folks last week): Bev J., DrBob, Dan H., Debbie R., Rhonda B., Mike N., Kristen A., Keith L., Irma B.-H., Jane H., Hill W., and LuAnn J. Lots and lots of gratitude to you peeps; you keep SET alive for everyone. And, that’s to say nothing about my faithful advisory group’s sustaining help; it’s composed of Kathy M., Li-Yu H., and Mike G.
Now, if some of those names may seem familiar to you, that’s because they probably are familiar. Many of the paying subscribers are people whose names appear regularly on academic publications or are used in advertisements to draw people to professional development programs.
Sorta-kinda table of contents
Speaking of honored members of the SET community, I want to lead this listing of posts with a special shout-out to two members whom I’m identifying by their full, real names: David Bateman and Mitch Yell. Mitch and David lent their expertise about legal matters to one of the posts that appeared on SET this past week.
David and Mitch made a named appearance on SET 2 March 2023 when they posed with me and some real royalty: Marilyn Friend. Learn more about them from links on the post about “Loper.” Also, please stay alert for additional posts by them and by other people who are parts of the community…there are more in the proverbial pipeline.
Special Education Today newsletter 4(3): Here's what happened on SET during the week that began 8 July 2024
ADHD & COVID-19: Did COVID contribute to ADHD?
Talk about math is coming from many directions: Why would I like to see coverage of outcomes for students?
Patricia Buckley Moss—1933-2024: The prolific artist championed education for kids with dyslexia
G. Ashman on inclusion: What does he explain in "What does an inclusive classroom look like?"
The Supremes, Loper Bright, Chevron, and special education: If each of these topics is a circle in a Venn diagram, what the hell is in the overlap among the discs?
Notes and comments
After flooding readers last week with editorials on (a) faulty brain thinking and (b) non-violence, I probably should take it easy this week. So, here’s just a little ditty about art and disability.
The recent post about the passing of Pat Moss combined with a 2022 post about Miguel Tomasín, a musician who has trisomy and a story about Charlie French (a London man with Down syndrome who paints abstract images) that Pat Lloyd passed along to me Saturday (watch for a full post about Mr. French in the coming days) strengthened my resolve to promote arts and arts education here on SET. Accordingly, I hope to publish posts about works of art by individuals with disabilities and about the artists in a recurring feature on SET.
Now, I’m thinking of “art” in a pretty broad sense here. I don’t mean to refer only to painting. As implied by the foregoing notes, arts can include music (anyone want to say that Stevie Wonder is not an artist?), acting (e.g., Marlee Matlin comes to mind), and other media. I am glad to acknowledge stars such as Ms. Matlin and Mr. Wonder, but I hope that I can feature folks who may not have recognition by the masses…just folks who “do” art and have disabilities.2
So, what do you think? Good idea? Needs refinement? Let us know in the comments section, please. And keep reading (stay tuned?) to learn how this initiative goes.
While you’re reading (and listening), please remember to take care of yourselves (you know what I mean…seatbelts, vaccines, gun-free zones) and to teach your children well.
JohnL
John Wills Lloyd, Ph.D., UVA Professor Emeritus, Founder & Editor: https://www.SpecialEducationToday.com/
Footnotes
Nope, I’m not on the payroll for NIFDI, and I don’t make $$ from readers’ clicks on the links here.
If you have examples of artists that I might feature, please send me a note via back channels with appropriate data. Publishing such posts may require securing actual permission to post works, so I can’t just go with a message like, “Here’s a picture of Jimmy’s drawing of a saxophone. It’s so cool!” I’ll need contact information, for example.
Rather than an artist in some field with a disability, John, here's a recommendation for coverage about an artist who has created really cool tools to allow individuals with disabilities to create their own art. Dwayne Szot created Zot Artz: https://zotartz.com/ He's built devices that attach to wheelchairs to allow their users to roll paint or large sticks of chalk on roads, sidewalks, or huge sheets of cardboard. Sticks that allow the users to paint designs on walls. Etc. We brought Dwayne up to the U. of MN Duluth a summer or two (like we did you) to give workshops and I've seen him in action. I think his work is worth highlighting if you want to do provide more coverage about the arts and individuals with disabilities.