De Facto Leaders

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. 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.

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). 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.

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. 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’s a lot of talk within the therapy world about effective therapy strategies; but there’s NOT a lot of talk about how to get funding so programs can actually deliver support and resources. That’s why I was so excited to have Merlin Anderson on the De Facto Leaders podcast to talk about what’s known as “ABC runs”. The concept of an ABC run started with 5 friends who wanted to help a local outdoor center with children’s programs to build a new facility. They decided to get together to go for a run, and at the same time pool their resources to make a donation. After that, they decided to make this a regular event to support local children’s charities; and they decided to call them “Adventures Benefiting Children (ABC) runs”. That first year, they held 9 events and raised just under $1,300 for local children’s charities. At the beginning, the donations seemed insignificant, but consistency and perseverance paid off. Now each individual ABC run often generates more donations than the entire first year combined. At the time this episode was recorded, ABC runs have generated over $200,000 in donations to local children’s charities. If you’ve ever felt like your therapy sessions or efforts to help are just a “drop in the bucket” and you want to find more ways to support kids in your community, episode 90 of the De Facto Leaders podcast is a must-listen. 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.

If you’re a school therapist, you’ve likely been asked to do a lot of things within the school system that don’t seem totally relevant to your role as a clinician. Yet at the same time, you may often feel siloed off, like you’re not a part of the school team. That’s why in episode 88 of the De Facto Leaders podcast (formerly “Are they 18 yet?®”), I wanted to talk about what school therapists can do to feel more included, respected, and valued within the school community. Specifically, I talk about: Staff meetings: Should school therapists have to attend them? And if you can’t, how can you stay on top of what’s going on in the building? Employee evaluations: What should therapists do if they’re evaluated by an administrator who’s never been in a clinical role? How can therapists ensure they follow their district’s procedures, while at the same time ensure they have access to mentoring and support related to their discipline?  I break all these questions down in the episode.  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 this episode, I’m excited to officially announce the new direction for the podcast! The show is now called “De Facto Leaders” (it was formerly “Are they 18 yet?®”) I’ve been hinting at this for a while and have slowly transitioned the types of topics I’ve covered over the last year, but in this episode we’re making the official switch! When I originally launched the podcast, I did so in the parenting category; and aimed to share advice that would be helpful to parents and professionals of K-12 kids. The focus of the show is still focused on helping school-age kids grow up to be successful adults; but the way I’m doing that is through empowering the professionals supporting them. That’s why the show will now be focusing on clinical leadership and personal development for therapists and educators. It’s for you if you’re a speech pathologist, social worker, psychologist, or other specialized service provider supporting K-12 kids.  It’s also for you if you want to play a part in reforming education and healthcare, if you want to have an impact on policies at the local, state, and federal level, and you want to put yourself in a position where you can make a true influence with the work you do. You’re in the right place whether you want to stay in your current position and be more impactful OR whether you’re thinking about a career transition, moving to leadership, or starting a business and want to set yourself up for success.  In this episode, I share how I’ll help you do this! 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.

Part of a school therapist’s job is getting buy-in from the entire IEP team, but that can be difficult to do when team members don’t agree on what’s best for a student. That’s why in episode 86 of the “Are they 18 yet?®” podcast, I walk through several case studies from my mentoring group to share how to handle it when this happens. As you listen, you're going to find that building relationships is essential to providing effective therapy services, and that with a couple key shifts you'll be able to establish connection and trust with coworkers. These examples are from SLPs, but they’re really relevant to any professional or parent of K-12 kids:  What do I do when I don’t agree with what the IEP team is recommending (e.g., private school staff over qualifying students for certain disability labels)? Should students from Spanish speaking households be in a bilingual program even if they speak mostly English at school? I think they should, but the teacher doesn’t. Should I stand my ground? In this episode, I mention the School of Clinical Leadership, my program that helps pediatric therapists create the freedom to deliver services in a way that truly serves kids. To learn more about how to become a member, visit our enrollment page here. The De Facto Leaders podcast was formerly the “Are they 18 yet?®” podcast. As of November 2022, the name of the show has changed, and we’ve shifted from a focus on parenting to a focus on supporting clinicians and educators to design effective services for kids (but parents are still welcome to listen). Episodes published before November 24, 2022 will still contain some of our old branding.  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.

One of the most powerful ways to provide comprehensive services for K-12 kids is by collaborating with other therapists and teachers… Which is why it’s frustrating when team members can’t come to a consensus about what’s best for kids. When you’re working together as a team, at least some conflict is inevitable. That’s why I wanted to share some case studies and Q & A sessions where members of my mentoring program for clinicians shared some real-life scenarios they were working through. In episode 86, I talk through how to collaborate when there's tension between outside therapists and school therapists. I also talked about how to get teachers and administrators on board when you’re trying new models of service delivery beyond just the direct therapy model.  In this episode, I mention the School of Clinical Leadership, my program that helps pediatric therapists create the freedom to deliver services in a way that truly serves kids. To learn more about how to become a member, visit our enrollment page here. The De Facto Leaders podcast was formerly the “Are they 18 yet?®” podcast. As of November 2022, the name of the show has changed, and we’ve shifted from a focus on parenting to a focus on supporting clinicians and educators to design effective services for kids (but parents are still welcome to listen). Episodes published before November 24, 2022 will still contain some of our old branding.  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.

If you’re a pediatric therapist or service provider, chances are you do some form of “supervising”, whether it’s in your job title or not.  Part of being an effective clinical leader comes from working as a team and training others to do what we do, so kids can get support across settings.  That’s why it’s important for you to think about how to supervise and mentor others, even if you’re not in an official clinical supervision role.  That’s why in episode 85, I talked about how to navigate clinical supervision in pediatric settings.  I share how to create supervision opportunities, even if supervision isn’t your primary job responsibility, as well as strategies to use to mentor both new and experienced clinicians. In this episode, I mention the School of Clinical Leadership, my program that helps pediatric therapists create the freedom to deliver services in a way that truly serves kids. To learn more about how to become a member, visit our enrollment page here. The De Facto Leaders podcast was formerly the “Are they 18 yet?®” podcast. As of November 2022, the name of the show has changed, and we’ve shifted from a focus on parenting to a focus on supporting clinicians and educators to design effective services for kids (but parents are still welcome to listen). Episodes published before November 24, 2022 will still contain some of our old branding.  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.

One of the biggest challenges for pediatric therapists is making sure their caseload has support across the day and across settings. This becomes incredibly difficult to do with limited direct therapy time and when service providers are working in silos. That’s why one of the most important things you can do to serve your caseload is think about service delivery before you get stuck in the weeds of IEP goals and therapy worksheets. Zooming out and looking at the bird's eye view is the first step in expanding your thinking and finding ways to be resourceful when supporting kids. In episode 84, I share how that strategy works. I’ll explain why making this shift in thinking can help service providers: ✅Ensuring kids get the support they need across settings, even if direct treatment time is limited. ✅Leading an IEP team to make better decisions, even if you’re not an administrator or the case manager. ✅Uncovering creative solutions for serving your caseload, even if you're bumping up against red tape and time limitations. In this episode, I mention the School of Clinical Leadership, my program that helps pediatric therapists create the freedom to deliver services in a way that truly serves kids. To learn more about how to become a member, visit our enrollment page here. The De Facto Leaders podcast was formerly the “Are they 18 yet?®” podcast. As of November 2022, the name of the show has changed, and we’ve shifted from a focus on parenting to a focus on supporting clinicians and educators to design effective services for kids (but parents are still welcome to listen). Episodes published before November 24, 2022 will still contain some of our old branding.  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.