The National Association of Special Education Teachers (NASET) empowers special education teachers, advocates, and professionals with practical training, trusted resources, and meaningful connections - supporting those who make a difference in the lives of students with diverse learning needs.
Happy Friday! We hope you have a rejuvenating November weekend! Here's the news you may have missed this week
Election night made history for the disability community. A Paralympic gold medalist who uses a wheelchair won a US Senate seat in Iowa, the same seat once held by the senator who authored the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and he credits that senator as his mentor. The results will ripple into education policy too: analysts are already mapping what the new balance of power could mean for schools, and Colorado voters approved one of the largest school funding infusions in state history, with special education and smaller class sizes called out as priorities.
Beyond the ballot box, an investigation found disabled children caught up in a federal crackdown on homelessness, and new data shows special education disputes between families and districts are still climbing, driven by a handful of big states. In the classroom, the case for giving ESL teachers a seat at the IEP table is worth every sped director’s attention, and a new pilot program in California joins a multistate wave of federal grants building the next generation of special education teachers.
Research delivered two significant autism studies: new evidence for why autism is less common in girls, and a study linking the gut microbiome to clinical severity in children. We end with research on the lesser-known ADHD signs that show up in adults.
The ADHD Book Your Students Will Actually Read
You know the student. Bright, trying hard, still turning in nothing. Then the shame spiral no accommodation can fix. Your Brain's Not Broken for Teens and Young Adults talks to the student, not about them. ADHD coach Tamara Rosier, PhD, who has ADHD herself, gives real tools: what drains focus, how to climb out of a shame spiral, and how to ask a teacher for help.
Giphy
Hello from the NASET Break Room - our quick pulse check on the state of special education based on trending posts and questions we saw online this week.
Last Week:
Do parent consent delays ever hold up services a student is clearly waiting on?
Sometimes, usually just a few days’ lag 📨 (46%)
Did you know case managers may not need administrator sign-off to request an FBA?
I didn’t know, this is useful to hear📚 (59%)
When AI-fed misinformation shows up in a parent email (like a fake ‘interim 504’), what do you do first?
Loop in admin or a case manager before responding 🧑💼 (49%)
Has a paraprofessional on your team ever told you they felt “thrown to the sharks” with no onboarding or training?
Yes, and it still bothers me how we handled it 😤
Yes, but we built a better process after 🛟
No, we onboard paras properly here 🙅
I don’t directly supervise paras, not sure 🤷
Have you ever disagreed with a district decision about where a student with an IEP should be placed (general ed vs. SDC vs. private)?
Yes, and I pushed back formally ⚖️
Yes, but I didn’t feel like my opinion carried weight 😬
No, placement decisions have felt collaborative here 🤝
I’m honestly unclear on what triggers an SDC placement 🧩
Has a behavior specialist or evaluator ever refused to run an FBA before an IEP meeting where one was clearly needed?
Yes, and the meeting suffered for it 🚫
Yes, but I pushed back and got it done 📝
No, FBAs happen here when they’re needed ✅
Not sure where that decision gets made in my district 🧩
✈️ Join us on Tuesday November 17th at 7pm ET for What Protections Travel With You: Your Rights as an Educator in a Public, Private, or Religious School with Dr. Suzanne E. Eckes, J.D., Ph.D. Susan S. Engeleiter Professor of Education Law, Policy, and Practice at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Past President of the Education Law Association. She will walk through how the ministerial exception actually operates, which employees it reaches, and how it limits disability and other employment anti-discrimination protections in private religious schools - including the significant limits on teacher speech outside a public district. Recording and certificates available 24 hours after the webinar. 👩💻 Register Today
Is there a topic or guest speaker you’d like us to feature? Reply to let us know!
🧮 We teamed up with Dr. Sarah Powell from the University of Texas at Austin for our exclusive new course Math Intervention for Special Education: Instructional Strategies. Join Dr. Powell, one of the nation's leading researchers in math intervention, for a comprehensive six-module course on research-validated math intervention for students who struggle with math, with or without an identified disability
📝 Our newest course partner is Dr. Edward Schultz from Midwestern State University in our exclusive new course, Dyslexia Identification and Intervention. Join Dr. Schultz, co-author of the Core-Selective Evaluation Process and a national trainer on learning disability identification, for a three-module course on what dyslexia is under the new 2025 IDA definition, how to recognize and screen for it early, and how to teach students with dyslexia using structured literacy.
♾️ November 23rd at 630pm EST is Session 2 of our BCBA Series: Behavioral Interventions (with Assent) Led by Dr. Beth L. Raiola, EdD, BCBA, LBA, Program Chair for Applied Behavior Analysis at Post University, sessions are 90 minutes each and offer BCBA CEUs and RBT PDUs, covering autism in the classroom, family dynamics, and coaching early-career teachers. The full series is included with membership. Recording & Certificate 24 hours after the session.
Support Special Education Research
Your Classroom Affects Your Health, Too
Special educators manage lighting, noise, and space for their students. But who's studying how those environments affect you?
Schools are among the most female-dominated workplaces in America, yet occupational health research has largely overlooked them. The Educator Health Survey, a national study of K–12 educators by AREA Research and Perkins&Will focused on women's health, asks about lighting, air quality, temperature, acoustics, restroom access, break space, and health across your career.
It takes 15–20 minutes, and any question can be skipped. The first 350 participants receive $20. No names or emails are collected. Findings publish Fall 2027. 👩🏫 Take the survey
Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT) users, this is for you! Includes an opportunity for a $10 TPT gift card - Take the survey
🏫 High School Educators, we want to hear from you - Sign up here
📚November Special Educator e-Journal
Perry Zirkel’s November Legal Update
Prevention of Language Deprivation in Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing Children by Jamie B. Ferreira
Enhancing Paraprofessional Training to Support IEP Implementation Fidelity in Special Education by Camryn Ellison
⬇️ NASET Support Squad Downloads of the Week Developing Student Independence Through Classroom Jobs and Responsibilities and Conducting Effective Student Interviews for IEP Development Scroll down to instantly download ⬇️
ELECTION 2026
FEDERAL & NATIONAL
CLASSROOMS & WORKFORCE
RESEARCH
Sponsored By
The IEP is a year-round job. Your system should support the whole year.
Built for special education teachers managing timelines, assessments, goals, instruction, and progress monitoring, The Intentional IEP helps you organize the work across the school year. Start by mapping the steps for your next IEP with a practical writing timeline.
You Organize Everyone Else’s Lives. Let Us Help With Yours. 📋
You spend every day keeping IEPs, meetings, and other people’s children organized. Then one phone call puts you in charge of an aging adult’s care with no plan. GrayBrief’s online course gives you the same clear, step-by-step structure you bring to your classroom: Medicare, care options, paperwork, and what to do first.
Shout Out to Last Week’s Winners Who Correctly Answered, “Extinction Burst.”
This Week's Question:
What term describes the process by which words become stored for instant, effortless recognition?
Correctly answer 3 or more trivia questions each month to be eligible for a gift card! We had 31 winners in October!
What’s one resource you REALLY need, but can’t find? Reply to let us know!
Caseload counts students. Workload counts the week.
A caseload number never shows the evaluations, meetings, consultation, paperwork and travel that fill a special educator's week. The Workload Census, from PULSE's free Special Education Observatory, measures the real week. It's anonymous, takes about four minutes and is open to every role, from SLPs and school psychologists to teachers, paras and administrators. When you finish, you'll see how your week compares with others in your state.
“The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet”