H. Holden Thorp, the editor in chief of Science, published an editorial entitled “Science needs neurodiversity” in the journal 25 April 2024. In the editorial he argued that scientific endeavors will benefit from recognizing the potential of neurodivergent individuals and disclosed that he has been diagnosed as autistic. Here’s the lede: All brains work differently. Individuals process information and engage with the world in ways that are influenced by a multitude of biological, cultural, and social factors. In the world of science, these differences are what spark innovation. This is why th ..read more

Parents and educators of children with disabilities may have read about questions about the diets of children. There is almost certainly a long history of such concerns: A few notable examples include the Feingold Diet that was supposed to eliminate salicylic acids that caused hyperactivity and gluten-free diets for children with autism neither of which have proved valuable (see , Kavale & Forness, 1983, and Zang et al., 2013, respectively, for reviews). Whether the children have autism, learning disabilities, attention-deficit disorder, fetal alcohol syndrome, or other problems, there are ..read more

Readers of Special Education Today know from previous posts (e.g., “Editorial: What do special educators make?”) that I recommend much higher pay for teachers. According to an article in Ed Week by Madeline Will,1 teachers share that opinion. I doubt many readers are surprised, but they may find Ms. Will’s report of interest. In “Here’s What Teachers Think Their Salaries Should Be,“ Ms. Will reported the results of one aspect of an annual survey about finance in education that asked educators what they thought teachers should make. Here’s what Ms. Will reported about the salaries for teachers ..read more

Here we have the 43rd issue of the 3rd volume of the Special Education Today newsletter. We are closing in on the last issue in this volume year. Stay tuned! I have three images for this week’s newsletter. They show UVA spots events I saw recently. I present them not as an advertisement for my former employer, but as an accompaniment to the topic I’ll discuss in this week’s commentary. From the top they are (a) the finish of a women's 1500 M heat (I did not speed that up), (b) the view from above the visitors' dugout at a baseball game; and (c) the view from centerfield at the same park during ..read more

Another edition of “Fred’s” The FI is available. There are contents classified into nine clusters in “ABA this week” for 13--20 April 2024. The categories include Scholarly publications Book publications Podcasts Blogs Licensing & professional organizations Business world Accidentally behavior analysis Continuing education Flashback As usual, there’s lots of content under each of these categories. Just skip right on over there and read the original post. The illustration for The FI Subscribe now Share ..read more

The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services has plans to reduce the needs of some families of children with developmental disabilities. During the spring of 2024, Tony Green, Director for the Division of Developmental Disabilities for NDHHS, will hold public meetings around the US state to secure Nebraskans’ view about efforts to provide up to $10,000 to families on the DD waiting list. As a part of Nebraska’s Home and Community-Based Services, an effort associated with the state’s Medicare services, Nebraska is working to reduce the waiting list for approximately 850 children and fam ..read more

In early April 2024 here on Special Education Today, I posted a note pointing to a presentation 10 April 2024 by Sharon Vaughn of the University of Texas at Austin. Professor Vaughn spoke briefly about concerns regarding the “science of reading” and responded to questions. This was the lede for the announcement of the talk: Over the past several years the Science of Reading has gained national attention — in the media, in the classroom, and among policy makers and advocacy groups. While this spotlight on evidence-based reading instruction has led to changes in practice, it has also led to mis ..read more

The lead author on Embracing Another Normal, Kris Burbank, invited folks to join a free live (Zoom-mediated) webinar that will occur at 7 PM EDT1 on 6 May 2024. She is aiming the session at parents of children with disabilities and she’s drawing from her personal experience (perhaps more, too). Her announcement of the session asked potential attendees if they Get tired of second-guessing yourself as the parent of a child with special needs? Doubt you can live a full and happy life, given all the challenges you face? Struggle to prioritize your own needs, especially because your child ne ..read more

Two new resources about Direct Instruction should be of interest to readers of Special Education Today. I mentioned one, Direct Instruction: A Practitioner’s Handbook by Kurt Engelmann, in a post 10 February 2024. I also mentioned the larger source for the second one, Education Rickshaw (AKA Progressively Incorrect) in that previous post, too (see “Developments in DI” to review that post). In this installment of Education Rickshaw, the focus is in the question, “How Effective is Direct Instruction,” and the featured interview is with Jean Stockard, who has conducted extensive reviews of the re ..read more

On 4 April 2024, Pew Research, the long-standing, non-partisan organization devoted to creating a factual basis for discussion of contemporary issues (see Wikipedia entry) that is affiliated with the Pew Charitable Trusts, released a report by Luona Lin, Kim Parker, and Juliana Menasce Horowitz about teachers’ view on teaching, their jobs, the concerns of their students, and lots more. In “What’s It Like To Be a Teacher in America Today?,” Ms. Lin and colleagues reported many ideas that could be of interest to readers. Public K-12 schools in the United States face a host of challenges these d ..read more