De Facto Leaders

Do autistic people experience empathy?  Does masking cause trauma?  How do we help neurodivergent kids form relationships in a way that’s accepting of their differences? These are questions that I get from clinicians on a regular basis that I’ve also wondered about myself. That’s why when I created The School of Clinical Leadership, I made sure to include research and strategies to help guide clinicians through answering these questions.  In episode 110 of the De Facto Leaders podcast, I’m sharing a recording that comes directly from the School of Clinical Leadership course library.  In the video, I’ll cover why teaching situational awareness is so important for social relationships and self-advocacy, and why it’s a skill that can help clinicians navigate the nuances of effective and affirming intervention. This episode is taken directly from the School of Clinical Leadership, my program that helps K-12 clinicians provide executive functioning support for their caseloads. You can learn more about the program here: https://www.drkarendudekbrannan.com/clinicalleadership Learn more about today's sponsors, Playworks, IXL and Renaissance:Learn more about Renaissance:As a global leader in education technology operating in more than 110 countries, Renaissance is committed to providing educators with insights and resources to accelerate growth and help all students build a strong foundation for success. We believe that technology can unlock a more effective learning experience, ensure that students get the personalized teaching they need to thrive, and help educators and administrators to truly, fully, See Every Student. Learn more at renaissance.com.We’re proud to be sponsored by Playworks, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with evidence-based practices that help schools improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.If you’re a school or district leader struggling with the challenge of chronic absenteeism, as so many are across the U.S., you may not realize that structured recess is a research-backed approach to keep kids in school. In fact, a UC Berkeley study of Title I schools found that those partnering with Playworks had significantly lower chronic absenteeism rates. Further, Mathematica research demonstrated that Playworks schools spent 27% less time transitioning from recess back to learning, saving teachers valuable instructional time. These results are possible for your students, too. Learn how Playworks can help you improve student-educator relationships, belonging, and attendance by signing up for a quick no-obligation conversation. We’re also thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers’ timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove student performance on state assessments🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

If you’re a therapist or educator working in the schools, there’s a high probability that the administrator who does your employee evaluation isn’t a subject-matter expert in your discipline. If they are, you’re certainly in the minority. This is because it’s impossible to find a school administrator who’s held every single job in the school system. On top of that, employee evaluations are incredibly time-consuming, making it difficult for school leaders to provide the mentorship and coaching to help their staff make changes to their practices.  That’s why I invited senior high school principal Eric Makelky to episode 109 of the De Facto Leaders podcast to talk about employee evaluations. In this interview we discuss: ✅Why some school administrators don’t give specific feedback on evaluations ✅Just how much time is your principal spending on evaluations? Is the employee evaluation like IEP paperwork for administrators?  ✅The mindset and qualities you need to make the evaluation experience valuable, even if your administrator has never been in your position. You can connect with Eric Makelky on Twitter here: http://@emakelky He’s currently the interim host of the Transformative Principal podcast with Jethro Jones. Be sure to check out the episode titled “What If They Don't Want Feedback with Eric Makelky and Jethro Jones”   for a great discussion on employee evaluations. Click here to view more: https://www.jethrojones.com/podcast/episode519  In this episode, I also mentioned my free online training where I share how to help students thrive socially, emotionally, and academically with executive functioning support. In the training, I share why some students still struggle with social skills, even though they’re going to social skills groups.   You can sign up for the free training here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/efleadership Learn more about today's sponsors, Playworks, IXL and Renaissance:Learn more about Renaissance:As a global leader in education technology operating in more than 110 countries, Renaissance is committed to providing educators with insights and resources to accelerate growth and help all students build a strong foundation for success. We believe that technology can unlock a more effective learning experience, ensure that students get the personalized teaching they need to thrive, and help educators and administrators to truly, fully, See Every Student. Learn more at renaissance.com.We’re proud to be sponsored by Playworks, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with evidence-based practices that help schools improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.If you’re a school or district leader struggling with the challenge of chronic absenteeism, as so many are across the U.S., you may not realize that structured recess is a research-backed approach to keep kids in school. In fact, a UC Berkeley study of Title I schools found that those partnering with Playworks had significantly lower chronic absenteeism rates. Further, Mathematica research demonstrated that Playworks schools spent 27% less time transitioning from recess back to learning, saving teachers valuable instructional time. These results are possible for your students, too. Learn how Playworks can help you improve student-educator relationships, belonging, and attendance by signing up for a quick no-obligation conversation. We’re also thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers’ timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove student performance on state assessments🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

Doing a quality evaluation when you’re assessing things like language can be a challenge because there isn’t one “magic bullet” test that gives us what we need.  What is even more challenging is when you get a referral to evaluate a client that speaks two or more languages; especially when they’re languages you don’t speak.  Unfortunately, monolingual clinicians get referrals for multilingual evaluations all the time.  That’s why I invited Meg Morgan, Speech-Language Pathologist and Clinical Assistant Professor from the University of New Hampshire to episode 108 of the “De Facto Leaders” podcast to talk about multilingual evaluations. This episode will be extremely valuable to you for ALL language evaluations; even monolingual clients.  In this interview we discuss: ✅The biggest myths about bilingualism and language proficiency, and why it’s not as simple as we think ✅How to prepare yourself to evaluate a client who speaks a language you don’t speak ✅How to gather evidence to share with your team, even if you don’t have formal test scores ✅Why doing a thorough evaluation saves you time in the long run; and how to streamline the process You can connect with Meg on LinkedIN here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meg-morgan-039778144/ You can also watch her presentation Multilingual Evaluations by Monolingual SLPs on speechpathology.com here: https://www.speechpathology.com/slp-ceus/course/multilingual-evaluations-by-monolingual-slps-9364                                                                                       (paid membership is required to view this training) Meg mentioned the following resources in this episode: Bilinguistics - Click here to read more: https://bilinguistics.com/ The Leaders Project - Click here to read more: https://www.leadersproject.org/ SALT - Click here to read more: https://www.saltsoftware.com/ In this episode, I mentioned the Ultimate Guide to Sentence Structure, my free guide for clinicians that outlines common sentence types that support comprehension in students who are learning English or who have disabilities that impact language learning. You can sign up for a free copy here: https://drkarenspeech.com/sentencestructure In this episode, I mentioned my Executive Functions Implementation Guide that shares how school therapists can lead their IEP teams in providing mental health, behavioral, and social skills support for K-12 kids. You can download this free resource here:  https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/efschools     Learn more about today's sponsors, Playworks, IXL and Renaissance:Learn more about Renaissance:As a global leader in education technology operating in more than 110 countries, Renaissance is committed to providing educators with insights and resources to accelerate growth and help all students build a strong foundation for success. We believe that technology can unlock a more effective learning experience, ensure that students get the personalized teaching they need to thrive, and help educators and administrators to truly, fully, See Every Student. Learn more at renaissance.com.We’re proud to be sponsored by Playworks, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with evidence-based practices that help schools improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.If you’re a school or district leader struggling with the challenge of chronic absenteeism, as so many are across the U.S., you may not realize that structured recess is a research-backed approach to keep kids in school. In fact, a UC Berkeley study of Title I schools found that those partnering with Playworks had significantly lower chronic absenteeism rates. Further, Mathematica research demonstrated that Playworks schools spent 27% less time transitioning from recess back to learning, saving teachers valuable instructional time. These results are possible for your students, too. Learn how Playworks can help you improve student-educator relationships, belonging, and attendance by signing up for a quick no-obligation conversation. We’re also thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers’ timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove student performance on state assessments🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

What’s evidence-based and neurodiversity-affirming shouldn’t be in opposition. Effective interventions that build resilience and help kids build healthy relationships should be “affirming” by definition. Yet many clinicians remain confused about how to apply this to practice; especially when it comes to things like “social skills” or “pragmatic language”. One of the most common complaints I hear across disciplines when it comes to social skills support is that students don’t generalize skills. I’ve heard this from psychologists, SLPs, social workers, counselors, among others.  The solution to the generalization problem is ALSO the answer to making intervention    ND-affirming and EBP.  In order to do this, we need to teach the right skills with the right service delivery model.  In episode 107 of the De Facto Leaders podcast, I share how to do this.  I cover: ✅Why adult-led social skills groups that teach social rules lead to poor carryover ✅The two skills that should be a part of every social skills intervention plan ✅The three components to and effective service delivery model (and why pull-out therapy alone doesn’t work). In this episode, I also mentioned my free online training where I share how to help students thrive socially, emotionally, and academically with executive functioning support. In the training, I share why some students still struggle with social skills, even though they’re going to social skills groups. You can sign up for the free training here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/efleadership To get the information in written form, check out my Executive Functioning Implementation Guide here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/efschools Learn more about today's sponsors, Playworks, IXL and Renaissance:Learn more about Renaissance:As a global leader in education technology operating in more than 110 countries, Renaissance is committed to providing educators with insights and resources to accelerate growth and help all students build a strong foundation for success. We believe that technology can unlock a more effective learning experience, ensure that students get the personalized teaching they need to thrive, and help educators and administrators to truly, fully, See Every Student. Learn more at renaissance.com.We’re proud to be sponsored by Playworks, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with evidence-based practices that help schools improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.If you’re a school or district leader struggling with the challenge of chronic absenteeism, as so many are across the U.S., you may not realize that structured recess is a research-backed approach to keep kids in school. In fact, a UC Berkeley study of Title I schools found that those partnering with Playworks had significantly lower chronic absenteeism rates. Further, Mathematica research demonstrated that Playworks schools spent 27% less time transitioning from recess back to learning, saving teachers valuable instructional time. These results are possible for your students, too. Learn how Playworks can help you improve student-educator relationships, belonging, and attendance by signing up for a quick no-obligation conversation. We’re also thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers’ timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove student performance on state assessments🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

I was honored to have Sharon Fuller, founder of The Attachment Place, LLC as a guest for episode 106 of the “De Facto Leaders” podcast.   Sharon began her journey with developmental trauma disorder (DTD), also known as reactive attachment disorder (RAD), when she and her husband first adopted in 2005. She is a mom to nine children, six biological and three who were added to their family through adoption. When confronting the effects of the trauma their adopted children had endured she realized they were ill-prepared to parent them and for the impact their trauma would have on their entire family. Sharon is a trained transformational coach and respite provider.    During that time, she developed an approach that is effective in breaking down walls and reaching the hearts of children with trauma histories and attachment challenges.   From 2012-2019, the Attachment Place helped close to one hundred children transition successfully to their homes and form attachments to their parents. That’s why I knew Sharon would be an amazing guest.    In this interview we discuss: ✅Why kids with reactive attachment disorder need clear boundaries to feel safe and form relationships.  ✅Why kids who have experienced trauma appear independent, and why they must shift to being dependent on parents before they can reach healthy independence.  ✅Why permissive parenting approaches can cause anxiety for the whole family. ✅Why parent coaching is a non-negotiable when working with trauma, and how she supports parents through her “environment matrix” framework.    You can connect with Sharon on her website for The Attachment Place or on Facebook here. She runs a Facebook group called Quieting the Storm of Adoption Parents’ Group. You can learn more about her framework for supporting families on her free training here, and can email her at sfuller@theattachmentplace.com.   In this episode, Sharon mentioned this study that showed that putting a fence around a playground can increase creative exploration in preschoolers.    In this episode, I mentioned my Executive Functions Implementation guide that shares how school therapists can lead their IEP teams in providing mental health, behavioral, and social skills support for K-12 kids. You can download this free resource here.    In this episode, I also mentioned the School of Clinical Leadership, my program that helps pediatric clinicians be better leaders, make a bigger impact with their services, and lead their teams in providing executive functioning support for kids at the K-12 level. You can learn more about how to become a member here. Learn more about today's sponsors, Playworks, IXL and Renaissance:Learn more about Renaissance:As a global leader in education technology operating in more than 110 countries, Renaissance is committed to providing educators with insights and resources to accelerate growth and help all students build a strong foundation for success. We believe that technology can unlock a more effective learning experience, ensure that students get the personalized teaching they need to thrive, and help educators and administrators to truly, fully, See Every Student. Learn more at renaissance.com.We’re proud to be sponsored by Playworks, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with evidence-based practices that help schools improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.If you’re a school or district leader struggling with the challenge of chronic absenteeism, as so many are across the U.S., you may not realize that structured recess is a research-backed approach to keep kids in school. In fact, a UC Berkeley study of Title I schools found that those partnering with Playworks had significantly lower chronic absenteeism rates. Further, Mathematica research demonstrated that Playworks schools spent 27% less time transitioning from recess back to learning, saving teachers valuable instructional time. These results are possible for your students, too. Learn how Playworks can help you improve student-educator relationships, belonging, and attendance by signing up for a quick no-obligation conversation. We’re also thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers’ timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove student performance on state assessments🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

In 2022, a study was published in JAMA Network Open with a compelling title: “Video gaming may be associated with better cognitive performance in children.” You may read the article here: https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/video-gaming-may-be-associated-better-cognitive-performance-childrenThis resulted in a number of social media influencers spreading the word about the “benefits” of playing video games. For up to 3 hours a day nonetheless. **After I published this podcast episode, this study was retracted and replaced due to concerns with the original analysis. I have not edited the original episode, but am posting the information about the retraction here: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2803642Please keep this retraction in mind as you listen to my analysis, as many of my concerns about the interpretation of this study are addressed in the retraction. What got lost in translation was the subheadline and nuances of the findings, which were explained quite transparently by the researchers, and were readily available to anyone who clicked through and read the full news release.That’s why in episode 105 of the “De Facto Leaders” podcast, I explained the details outlined in the news release; including the details that were left out of the headlines. I also share my thoughts on what these results mean for educators, therapists, and parents when it comes to the harm and potential benefits of gaming. The full news release to the ABCD study can be found here. Link here: https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/video-gaming-may-be-associated-better-cognitive-performance-childrenIn this episode, I mentioned my Executive Functions Implementation guide that shares how school therapists can lead their IEP teams in providing mental health, behavioral, and social skills support for K-12 kids. You can download this free resource here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/efschools Learn more about today's sponsors, Playworks, IXL and Renaissance:Learn more about Renaissance:As a global leader in education technology operating in more than 110 countries, Renaissance is committed to providing educators with insights and resources to accelerate growth and help all students build a strong foundation for success. We believe that technology can unlock a more effective learning experience, ensure that students get the personalized teaching they need to thrive, and help educators and administrators to truly, fully, See Every Student. Learn more at renaissance.com.We’re proud to be sponsored by Playworks, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with evidence-based practices that help schools improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.If you’re a school or district leader struggling with the challenge of chronic absenteeism, as so many are across the U.S., you may not realize that structured recess is a research-backed approach to keep kids in school. In fact, a UC Berkeley study of Title I schools found that those partnering with Playworks had significantly lower chronic absenteeism rates. Further, Mathematica research demonstrated that Playworks schools spent 27% less time transitioning from recess back to learning, saving teachers valuable instructional time. These results are possible for your students, too. Learn how Playworks can help you improve student-educator relationships, belonging, and attendance by signing up for a quick no-obligation conversation. We’re also thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers’ timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove student performance on state assessments🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

Many people in education and healthcare know that lobbying and advocacy needs to happen; but many people don’t know whose responsibility it is or how to do it.That’s why I invited Michael Campbell, published author, blogger, and licensed bilingual speech-language pathologist to the show to dive into this topic. Michael has spent time as a union member on his collective bargaining committee, and he shared a ton of useful knowledge on the process. If you’re an SLP or other related service provider and you want to know how to leverage your union or build relationships to advocate for your profession, you won’t want to miss this interview. In this episode, he shares:✅What people are actually doing when they’re “lobbying” for a bill to be passed.✅What to say when you email your congressman (plus other people you can email as well to get your voice heard).✅How to learn more about bills that impact you, your facility, and your students.✅Why it’s worth your time to help other union members (like teachers) get what they want, even for initiatives that seem unrelated to you as a therapist.Michael works as a Speech-Language Pathologist in the public schools and his private practice. He started my career teaching and mentoring students through Upward Bound on undergraduate admissions and college success and also served as a Program Officer at the Institute of International Education. He taught for several years in both the US and Mexico before starting his SLP graduate program.During his graduate studies, he built The Speech Blog. You can view the webpage here: https://thespeechblog.com/ To advise candidates on SLP grad school admissions and in 2020 he published a book called “SLP To Be: An Unofficial Guide to Getting into Graduate School for Speech-Language Pathology” To view more about the book, click here: https://www.amazon.com/SLP-Be-Unofficial-Speech-Language-Pathology/dp/1730815073 Currently, he’s  practicing SLP in the school systems and also blogs about professional topics of interest at Think SLP. You may check the webpage here: https://thinkslp.com/ His current project is a workbook for clinicians or teachers with therapy/lesson plans centered on 10 famous people who stutter.We mentioned the following blog post articles during our interview from Michael’s site:> Teacher’s Unions – Just for teachers?    Link here: https://thinkslp.com/teachers-unions-just-for-teachers/> Four Things I Heard at ASHA’s Listening Session, Oct 2022   Link here: https://thinkslp.com/my-four-take-aways-from-ashas-school-issues-advisory-board-listening-session-in-october-2022/In this episode, I mentioned the School of Clinical Leadership, my program that helps pediatric clinicians be better leaders, make a bigger impact with their services, and lead their teams in providing executive functioning support for kids at the K-12 level. You can learn more about how to become a member here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/clinicalleadership Learn more about today's sponsors, Playworks, IXL and Renaissance:Learn more about Renaissance:As a global leader in education technology operating in more than 110 countries, Renaissance is committed to providing educators with insights and resources to accelerate growth and help all students build a strong foundation for success. We believe that technology can unlock a more effective learning experience, ensure that students get the personalized teaching they need to thrive, and help educators and administrators to truly, fully, See Every Student. Learn more at renaissance.com.We’re proud to be sponsored by Playworks, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with evidence-based practices that help schools improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.If you’re a school or district leader struggling with the challenge of chronic absenteeism, as so many are across the U.S., you may not realize that structured recess is a research-backed approach to keep kids in school. In fact, a UC Berkeley study of Title I schools found that those partnering with Playworks had significantly lower chronic absenteeism rates. Further, Mathematica research demonstrated that Playworks schools spent 27% less time transitioning from recess back to learning, saving teachers valuable instructional time. These results are possible for your students, too. Learn how Playworks can help you improve student-educator relationships, belonging, and attendance by signing up for a quick no-obligation conversation. We’re also thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers’ timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove student performance on state assessments🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

We’ve all sat through some boring professional development before; but there’s nothing boring about the training you’ll get from Dr. MC, the guest on episode 103 of the De Facto Leaders podcast. Many people in “helping professions” like education and healthcare focus more on taking care of others instead of taking care of themselves; which is why I wanted to have Dr. MC on the show to talk about how school leaders can make self-care a part of K-12 culture. But not just for the students; for the staff. Dr. Theresa Melito-Conners, Ph.D. (Dr. MC) is the founder of Dr. MC’s Self-Care Cabaret, a suite of theatre-inspired self-care and professional development services for helping professionals. The Self-Care Cabaret encompasses workshops, a podcast, and educational curricula — focused on accessible, realistic strategies that equip and empower.Dr. MC first recognized the need for such strategies as a special education administrator. She realized individuals in people-first, service-oriented roles often struggle with prioritizing self-care and work-life balance, and lack resources. Curious, Dr. MC pursued her PhD in educational leadership from Lesley University, honing in on self-care and renewal for helping professionals. In addition to her doctorate and published research, she is a licensed K-12 counselor with a master’s of education in school counseling from Salem State University and a B.A. in theatre studies from Emerson College. Her true joy is bringing her scholarship, experience, and zest to audiences of all kinds nationwide.In this conversation Dr. MC shares:✅Common myths surrounding the “self-care” industry, and why it’s not just wine and bubble baths. ✅Why “not having time” for self-care is a myth, and how to keep yourself grounded even if you only have 5 minutes to spare. ✅How school leaders can make self-care a part of their building culture; for both the staff and leadership.You can connect with Dr. MC on her website here: https://drmcselfcare.com/You can listen to Dr. MC’s Self-Care Cabaret podcast here:  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dr-mcs-self-care-cabaret/id1576736339You can connect with her on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/drmcselfcare/             You can connect with her on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dr-mc-s-self-care-cabaret/You can follow her on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/DrMCselfcareIn this episode, I mentioned the School of Clinical Leadership, my program that helps pediatric clinicians be better leaders, make a bigger impact with their services, and lead their teams in providing executive functioning support for kids at the K-12 level. You can learn more about how to become a member here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/clinicalleadership Learn more about today's sponsors, Playworks, IXL and Renaissance:Learn more about Renaissance:As a global leader in education technology operating in more than 110 countries, Renaissance is committed to providing educators with insights and resources to accelerate growth and help all students build a strong foundation for success. We believe that technology can unlock a more effective learning experience, ensure that students get the personalized teaching they need to thrive, and help educators and administrators to truly, fully, See Every Student. Learn more at renaissance.com.We’re proud to be sponsored by Playworks, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with evidence-based practices that help schools improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.If you’re a school or district leader struggling with the challenge of chronic absenteeism, as so many are across the U.S., you may not realize that structured recess is a research-backed approach to keep kids in school. In fact, a UC Berkeley study of Title I schools found that those partnering with Playworks had significantly lower chronic absenteeism rates. Further, Mathematica research demonstrated that Playworks schools spent 27% less time transitioning from recess back to learning, saving teachers valuable instructional time. These results are possible for your students, too. Learn how Playworks can help you improve student-educator relationships, belonging, and attendance by signing up for a quick no-obligation conversation. We’re also thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers’ timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove student performance on state assessments🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

There are a lot of approaches to teaching kids to read; but not all of them are effective. This is especially important for kids with disabilities who need explicit instruction. That’s why in episode 102, I had special education consultant and host of the Science of Special Education podcast, Brett Stevens, on the show to talk about the Science of Reading. Brett is a special education consultant focused on literacy and legal compliance. She has spent over 20 years within the field of special education serving in a variety of roles including special education teacher, school administrator, and special education attorney. She has a bachelor’s in special education, a master’s in instructional technology, and a juris doctorate of law with a specialization in special education. She is currently completing her doctoral dissertation with a focus on legal trends in the curriculum and instruction of students with Autism. Brett Stevens is the host of The Science of Special Education podcast, where she dives into research and evidenced based practices and their application in the special education classroom. In this conversation, we discuss: ✅What exactly is the Science of Reading and why is it so important for school leaders to know about it? ✅The components of Scarborough’s reading rope and why they’re necessary for kids to read successfully. ✅The different approaches to teaching reading, and the problems with some of the existing curriculums (and which ones are most effective). ✅How to work together as a team to support literacy: both the IEP team as well as supporting parents. You can connect with Brett on her website here, and listen to the Science of Special Education podcast here.  You can connect with her on Instagram @scienceofspecialeducation and in her Science of Reading Facebook group here.  You can also find her list of free resources for parents and educators here. In this episode, I mentioned my Executive Functions Implementation guide that shares how school therapists can lead their IEP teams in providing mental health, behavioral, and social skills support for K-12 kids . You can download this free resource here.  I also mentioned my Language Therapy Advance Foundations program, my course that teaches SLPs a system for supporting the language skills kids need to support reading and writing. You can learn how to sign up here.      Learn more about today's sponsors, Playworks, IXL and Renaissance:Learn more about Renaissance:As a global leader in education technology operating in more than 110 countries, Renaissance is committed to providing educators with insights and resources to accelerate growth and help all students build a strong foundation for success. We believe that technology can unlock a more effective learning experience, ensure that students get the personalized teaching they need to thrive, and help educators and administrators to truly, fully, See Every Student. Learn more at renaissance.com.We’re proud to be sponsored by Playworks, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with evidence-based practices that help schools improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.If you’re a school or district leader struggling with the challenge of chronic absenteeism, as so many are across the U.S., you may not realize that structured recess is a research-backed approach to keep kids in school. In fact, a UC Berkeley study of Title I schools found that those partnering with Playworks had significantly lower chronic absenteeism rates. Further, Mathematica research demonstrated that Playworks schools spent 27% less time transitioning from recess back to learning, saving teachers valuable instructional time. These results are possible for your students, too. Learn how Playworks can help you improve student-educator relationships, belonging, and attendance by signing up for a quick no-obligation conversation. We’re also thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers’ timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove student performance on state assessments🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

Strong executive functioning skills can help kids to be resilient, adaptable, and independent. These characteristics are going to be essential for supporting mental health and success going forward. EVERYONE who interacts with school-age kids on a daily basis has the chance to support executive functioning, and not addressing this skill is a huge missed opportunity. Many treatment teams do not adequately address executive functioning, which is why so many clinicians notice their clients struggle with social skills, behavior, and academic skills despite getting therapy. This is not the fault of the school staff.  Often they simply don't have the support or information to put these practices in place.  The good news is that it only takes ONE team member to take the lead and start moving things in the right direction. If you're a therapist supporting kids, that person can be YOU. In episode 101 of “De Facto Leaders” podcast, I share how to make that happen (even if you have a huge caseload and limited time for collaboration). You can be a leader right now, even if it's not in your official job title. The first step to successfully leading your team is “selling” this idea to your district leadership and other team members. That comes back to understanding how impactful executive functioning can be in supporting mental health, academics, relationships, and vocational success beyond the school-age years. In this episode, I mentioned my Executive Functions Implementation guide that shares how school therapists can lead their IEP teams in providing mental health, behavioral, and social skills support for K-12 kids. You can download this free resource here. I also mentioned the School of Clinical Leadership, my program that helps pediatric clinicians be better leaders, make a bigger impact with their services, and lead their teams in providing executive functioning support for kids at the K-12 level. You can learn more about how to become a member here.  Learn more about today's sponsors, Playworks, IXL and Renaissance:Learn more about Renaissance:As a global leader in education technology operating in more than 110 countries, Renaissance is committed to providing educators with insights and resources to accelerate growth and help all students build a strong foundation for success. We believe that technology can unlock a more effective learning experience, ensure that students get the personalized teaching they need to thrive, and help educators and administrators to truly, fully, See Every Student. Learn more at renaissance.com.We’re proud to be sponsored by Playworks, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with evidence-based practices that help schools improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.If you’re a school or district leader struggling with the challenge of chronic absenteeism, as so many are across the U.S., you may not realize that structured recess is a research-backed approach to keep kids in school. In fact, a UC Berkeley study of Title I schools found that those partnering with Playworks had significantly lower chronic absenteeism rates. Further, Mathematica research demonstrated that Playworks schools spent 27% less time transitioning from recess back to learning, saving teachers valuable instructional time. These results are possible for your students, too. Learn how Playworks can help you improve student-educator relationships, belonging, and attendance by signing up for a quick no-obligation conversation. We’re also thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers’ timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove student performance on state assessments🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.