De Facto Leaders

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 We’re 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.      We’re 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.  We’re 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 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.  We’re 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 We’re 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. We’re 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.  We’re 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. We’re 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). We’re 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) We’re 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.