De Facto Leaders

On episode 100 of the “De Facto Leaders” podcast, I had the opportunity to interview Dr. Gastrid Harrigan has been an educator for over 19 years as a classroom teacher, Assistant Principal, and currently as Principal in Broward County, Florida. In addition, Dr. Harrigan is a Professor of Education at Broward College and Colorado State University Global. He’s also the host of The School Leaders Podcast, a show focused on helping current and aspiring principals and school leaders navigate their leadership journey. One of the biggest challenges that school clinicians face is effectively collaborating with members of their IEP teams; including those in leadership positions. That’s why I invited Dr. Harrigan on to the show to share the biggest challenges school principals face, how they make decisions, and how you can work alongside them in a way that’s supportive and helpful to you, them, and of course…the students. In this conversation, we talk about ways school clinicians and administrators can support each other so they can get what they both want: Better student outcomes. Specifically, we discuss: ✅The best way to approach your principal with questions, concerns, or suggestions (including what NOT to do). ✅Why you should develop operating procedures for collaborating with others as well as managing your classroom or therapy room. ✅What principals wish their staff knew about their jobs, and ways you can make their lives easier. ✅Tips for getting a response from busy school leaders (and what to do if they don’t answer your email). You can connect with Dr. Gastrid Harrigan on Instagram @drgharrigan and find the School Leaders Podcast on most podcast directories, including Apple and Spotify.  You can also find him on LinkedIN 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.  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.

On episode 99 of the “De Facto Leaders” podcast, I had the opportunity to interview Allison Fors, who is a pediatric SLP-A, mom to a child with a cleft palate, and a Teachers Pay Teachers seller with tons of great resources for early language. Allison is an SLP-A in California. She has primarily worked with diagnoses of autism, Down syndrome, and developmental delays in schools at the K-12 level, as well as private practice. Her interests include early language, as well as understanding and incorporating sensory strategies into sessions. She also has a cleft-affected daughter, which began a special interest in this particular population! She loves creating resources and connecting with others in the field via her website AllisonFors.com (https://allisonfors.com/blog/). In this interview, Allison shares her experience as a parent with a cleft-affected child; from navigating parent groups to working with a multidisciplinary team. She also shares some common compensatory errors that go along with clefts and some tips for navigating early intervention. We wrap up the interview by discussing her process for selecting products to create for clinicians; as well as how she makes resources that are creative and engaging for her audience of pediatric clinicians.  You can connect with Allison on Instagram @speech.allisonfors.com (https://www.instagram.com/speech.allisonfors/ ) as well as on her website here: https://allisonfors.com/blog/. You can also find her on Teachers Pay Teachers here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Allison-Fors 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.

On episode 98 of the “De Facto Leaders” podcast,  I had the opportunity to interview children’s book author and veteran SLP, Valerie Doherty. Valerie has over 30 years of experience as an SLP, and in 2011 her passion for language and literacy inspired her to start writing children’s books. Readers need physical books they can actually hold in their hands, which is why many authors want to go back to the basics and give young readers good quality books they can interact with. If you’ve ever aspired to be a part of that process through writing your own books, you may know there are a lot of stages to making that happen; especially if you want to go the traditional publishing route. That’s why I thought Val would be a great guest to bring on the show because she’s gone through the entire publishing process, from idea to publication. In this conversation, we discussed: ✅What aspiring authors need to know about copyright, trademark, and intellectual property (and where to go for help navigating the process).  ✅Tips for working with illustrators, editors, publishers, and literary agents, and how these professionals can help you get your best quality work in to the world. ✅Insights on the creative process and marketing, plus the best places to go for support along the way. You can find Valerie’s work on her website here and connect with her on LinkedIN here. The follow resources were mentioned in this episode for support with the writing process, legal assistance, publishing, and marketing: The Author’s Guild Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators SLP by Day, Author by Night 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. 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.

On episode 97 of the “De Facto Leaders” podcast, I had the opportunity to interview SLP and Related Services Director, Marva Mount. Marva is a nationally recognized speaker on issues regarding public school speech and language services. She is a published chapter author, and has been awarded the Hall of Fame Award for outstanding contributions to the field of speech pathology by her state organization. In addition, Marva is a distinguished fellow in the National Academies of Practice, and has served school-aged populations from ages 3 to 22 for almost 40 years. She currently works for Imagine Learning. Marva has made a career out of going the extra mile, never afraid to ask for things and share her ideas; which eventually led to an official leadership position. However, she was acting like a leader even before it was officially in her job title, which is why I thought she’d be a great guest to share her experiences advocating for the profession and her caseload. In this conversation, we discussed: ✅Common mistakes clinicians make when starting conversations with leadership or asking for what they need.  ✅Tips for learning the habits, tendencies of preferences of building leaders and other team members so you can build trust and get your ideas heard. ✅Why administrators frequently say “No” to requests from their staff, and how to increase the chances that you’ll get a “Yes”. You can connect with Marva on her Instagram account @marvajomount or on LinkedIN here. You can also see her Collaborate with Confidence presentation on speechpathology.com here (you need a subscription to access this presentation). We also mentioned the DISC profile in this conversation, which you can learn more about 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.  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’m SO excited to share episode 96 of the “De Facto Leaders” podcast, where I sat down with Bilingual School Psychologist, Briana Wagner. Briana started out as a teacher, but soon made a career transition to school psychologist. She’s also bilingual and knows a ton about how to support culturally and linguistically diverse students. In early 2022, she started the @educationallypsyched Instagram account where she shares information about the school psychologist’s role, as well as a number of topics related to special education eligibility and service delivery. In our conversation, we get in to a number of topics that will be helpful for clinicians, educators, and parents including: ✅What’s the difference between a school psychologist, educational psychologist, and a psychiatrist? ✅How to educate parents and outside medical professionals who don’t fully understand school eligibility guidelines ✅The problems with teaching “whole body listening” and what to do instead Plus…and you don’t want to miss this part…we get into a fantastic discussion about advocating for bilingual and culturally and linguistically diverse students (plus I pick her brain a bit on how I can improve my Spanish). In this episode, Briana mentioned this video about why you shouldn’t encourage bilingual students to only speak English. She also mentioned her collaborator for the video who can be found on Instagram @bilingualplaydate. You can connect with Briana on her Instagram account @educationallypsyched. In this episode, I mentioned my “30 Skills and Tools to Foster Generalization” guide that walks through assets you can build to ensure clients get support outside your sessions. You can download this free resource 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 episode 95 of the “De Facto Leaders” podcast I sat down with Hallie Sherman, a school speech-language pathologist, blogger, and business owner from SpeechTimeFun (https://speechtimefun.com/). When Hallie started working as a school SLP, she had a difficult time finding materials for middle school and high school students. After a lot of trial and error, she managed to create her own tools to serve her students. In 2012, she decided to start a blog and start sharing some of these resources with others; thinking that no one would ever read it. Fast forward to the present day; and Hallie’s created a successful Teachers Pay Teachers store which led to her building a membership site for school clinicians called SLP Elevate. In this conversation, we dive in to topics such as: ✅How and why she started selling materials for SLPs, and why she originally started her blog under an alias (Miss Speechie). ✅The thought process and strategy behind the materials she creates; and why they help clinicians keep therapy aligned with the curriculum. ✅How therapists can educate others about what they do (and some hidden benefits of people NOT fully understanding your role). ✅How to get over your fear about sharing your clinical knowledge online. To connect with Hallie, you can find her blog here (https://speechtimefun.com/), connect with her on Instagram here (https://www.instagram.com/speechtimefun/), or on Facebook here (https://www.facebook.com/SpeechTimeFun ). You can learn more about her program for SLPS, SLP Elevate, here (https://www.speechtimefunpd.com/slp-elevate-aug). In this episode, I mentioned my “30 Skills and Tools to Foster Generalization” guide that walks through assets you can build to ensure clients get support outside your sessions. You can download this free resource here (https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/generalization). 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 episode 94 of the “De Facto Leaders” podcast I sat down with Clay Hadden (a.k.a. Mister Clay), a private practice SLP and YouTuber from South Carolina. We had a fantastic conversation about how to come up with creative ways to serve your caseload and play a part in advocacy issues relating to health care and education. At the beginning of the pandemic, Clay found that he wasn’t able to serve a large portion of his caseload due to the lockdown. But on top of that, he found that many of his clients couldn’t get funding to cover services, which meant he had to find a creative way to support them. That’s when he started his YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/@MisterClay), and the rest is history! In this conversation, we dive in to topics such as: ✅How he created assets to support clients during lockdown that he still uses today to facilitate language growth outside of sessions. ✅How he empowers his staff to innovate and create resources families can use to build communication skills. ✅What he’s doing to solve problems with insurance reimbursement ✅How to find online videos that support language development (and how to screen out the harmful ones) ✅Mindset tips for creating books, videos, and other tools for families (and why you should get started before you feel “ready”) There were a ton of great resources mentioned in this episode, and I’ll start by listing all the places you can find Clay’s work. You can find his YouTube channel here (https://www.youtube.com/@MisterClay), his blog here (https://www.misterclayslp.com/), and follow him on Instagram here (https://www.instagram.com/mister_clay_slp/). You can buy his book here (https://www.misterclayslp.com/mister-clay-writes/little-robot-and-the-bouncing-ball). Clay also mentioned a number of other great resources for clinicians and families, including: OT.Outside.The.Box (https://www.instagram.com/ot.outside.the.box/) ShelbytheSLP (https://www.instagram.com/shelbytheslp/) PlaySpark (https://www.instagram.com/play_spark/) ThanksMorris (https://www.instagram.com/thanksmorris/) Miss Rachel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTqtGJwsJVE) Cosmic Kids Yoga (https://www.youtube.com/@CosmicKidsYoga) Bluey (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVzLLZkDuFGAE2BGdBuBNBg) We also discussed Atomic Habits by James Clear (https://www.amazon.com/Atomic-Habits-Proven-Build-Break/dp/0735211299) and Drive by Dan Pink. (https://www.danpink.com/books/drive/) In this episode, I mentioned my “30 Skills and Tools to Foster Generalization” guide that walks through assets you can build to ensure clients get support outside your sessions. You can download this free resource here https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/generalization) 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’m continually learning and developing my understanding of language and executive functioning, as well as how to help teams work together to better support these skills. That’s why I recently decided to audit some of the content I have floating around the internet. In truth, I have a lot out there because I like to get content into the hands of clinicians who need it as quickly as possible, which is why I do a lot of impromptu videos and run a lean operation. And since I’m human I had (and likely still do) have a lot of content out there that quite frankly isn’t my best work. Plus, I’ve learned a lot these past few years about the research, as well as how to communicate it to a large audience. That’s why for episode 93 of “De Facto Leaders” podcast, I wanted to highlight a couple topics I’ve discussed in the past that needed some additional clarification. I pulled a couple of topics that need continued explanation because they’re complex and nuanced, and I wanted to make sure I clearly communicated my stance and understanding of them. I also pulled a couple topics where I felt previous information I released was incorrect, unclear, or misleading. Specifically, I address the following that I’ve discussed on previous episodes: ✅Does it matter if your therapist is neurotypical vs. neurodivergent?  ✅Can you improve your attention span? ✅How should clinicians handle the medication discussion with ADHD? ✅Does positive reinforcement help, or is it “forced compliance”? ✅Is there evidence that we can “improve” working memory? In this episode, I mentioned my Ultimate Guide to Sentence Structure. In this free guide I share the challenging sentence types that result in comprehension and processing difficulties; plus how we can improve these skills to support reading and writing. You can download it here.  I also mentioned the School of Clinical Leadership, a program for SLPs, psychologists, social workers, and other related service providers who want to support K-12 students. The program is for you if you want to support students in the areas of language, literacy, executive functioning, mental health, behavior, and independent skills needed for academic, vocational, and social situations. If you’ve been working on any of these areas, but are struggling to provide the support your students need to generalize skills across the day, then come join us in the School of Clinical Leadership and learn a game plan to lead your IEP team in the right direction. 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.

Therapist burnout is prevalent among SLPs, social workers, psychologists, and other professionals supporting K-12 kids. That’s why I was so excited to have special guest Angie Merced on the De Facto Leaders podcast for episode 92. Angie is a Certified Life Coach and School-Based SLP. She lives with her husband and two little girls in the Rochester, NY area. Her passion is to rescue SLPs who are feeling overwhelmed, overworked, and trapped in a career they're "supposed" to love. She shows her clients how to reclaim their energy, create more time and generate resources. Her mission is to eliminate the culture of burnout in our field and help smart SLPs do less, be more, and thrive with joy. You can learn more about how to connect with Angie on her website here. In this episode, Angie shares some great insights for burnout recovery, including: ✅The 3 common causes of therapist burnout and how to work through them. ✅Counterintuitive tips for “report writer’s block” and other forms of perfectionism. ✅Common coaching strategies that DON’T work for burnout (and what to do instead). 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.

Generalization is one of the most common complaints I hear from school therapists, regardless of the discipline. If you’re a clinician, you know how frustrating it is when a student seems to grasp a skill in your sessions, but doesn’t ever apply it outside your room. In episode 91, I wanted to talk about why this happens. Many therapists are very focused on building their clinical skills and planning therapy sessions. This means a lot of focus on how to support students when they’re in a direct therapy session. This is obviously an important part of what you do as a therapist; but it's not the ONLY thing that you do. The impact of your direct treatment time will be limited if students don’t get support from others once they leave your room. You can’t follow students across their entire day and be the one to provide that scaffolding outside your room. This means you need to lead others in changing their practices to support students; which you won’t be able to do if you’re only focused on planning direct treatment. That’s why in this episode, I wanted to dive further into the concept of “planning for service delivery” instead of just “planning for therapy”. If you want your students to generalize, you need to be a leader on your team who guides others in making that happen. I share how that’s possible in episode 91. 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.