De Facto Leaders

I get a ton of questions about how to support kids who have weak word-retrieval, so I wanted to share a powerful technique you can use to address this. When kids have poor word-finding skills, it’s often because they’re not engaging in the internal dialogue needed to pay attention to important features of words and store that information efficiently. The key to boosting these skills is to help kids develop this internal self-talk needed to learn words independently. As an SLP or other professional supporting kids, you can’t teach kids every word they need to know. What you really need to do instead is to give them the metacognitive skills they need to learn words independently. That’s why in this episode, I wanted to share a special Q & A session that I did for the members of Language Therapy Advance Foundations. In this Q & A I discuss: ✅My go-to strategy for boosting word-finding (hint: this DOES NOT involve drill activities that encourage rote memorization). ✅How to help kids develop the internal dialogue they need to keep learning words, even after they leave your therapy room✅Is there a place for drill-based activities (like rapid naming of categories, associations, and synonyms)? If so, how does it fit into an effective language therapy protocol?✅How to use semantic feature analysis to boost student engagement and get kids excited about words, so they actually look forward to sessions. In this episode, I mention a blog post where I outline an example of how to do semantic feature analysis for adjectives, which is an activity I use to improve word-finding. The videos in this post are taken directly from the Language Therapy Advance Foundations member’s area, so it’ll give you a sneak peak of what’s inside the program. You can check out that post here. If you want to learn more about how to boost students’ word-finding and vocabulary, as well as improve their ability to learn independently, check out the Language Therapy Advance Foundations 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.

When it comes to supporting autistic kids, I’ve come across a lot of resources that help with the home and school environments. But many families aren’t sure how to navigate unexpected and novel situations with their kids; which means travel is often out of the question. That’s why I wanted to interview special needs travel columnist and author, Dawn Barclay. Dawn’s book on traveling with autistic children will be available August 2022, she interviewed hundreds of families and experts in the process of writing it. In our conversation, we discuss some highlights from the book, including: ✅The biggest fears of families with autistic children when it comes to travel.✅How to find autism-friendly travel locations (including certified locations where staff have been trained). ✅Common challenging situations and how to advocate for your kids ✅Popular travel destinations for autistic kids. Dawn M. Barclay is an award-winning author who has spent a career working in different aspects of the travel industry. She started as an agent with her parents’ firms, Barclay Travel Ltd and Barclay International Group Short-Term Apartment Rentals, and then branched out into travel trade reporting with senior or contributing editor positions at Travel Agent Magazine, Travel Life, Travel Market Report, and most recently, Insider Travel Report. She is a mother of two and resides in New York’s scenic Hudson Valley. She also writes fiction as D.M. Barr and holds leadership roles in several writer organizations. You can learn more about her book on her blog here: http://www.dawnbarclayink.com/In this episode, I also mentioned Language Therapy Advance Foundations, my program that teaches SLPs a systematic process for building the language skills kids need to support comprehension and academic skills. You can learn more about how to become a member here: https://drkarenspeech.com/languagefoundationsI also shared that I’m currently reworking my program offerings relating to executive functioning and social-problem solving. However, you can get more information about executive functioning and how it impacts kids in my free parent guide. You can get a free copy of the parent guide here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/parentguide 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.

When it comes to working on executive functioning and “social skills”, one of the biggest complaints I hear from therapists is that their clients don’t generalize.   That’s often because when it comes to working on these types of skills, direct therapy alone isn’t enough to help kids apply skills. I often encourage SLPs to think beyond just direct therapy when it comes to designing services.   That’s why I invited Lori Melnitsky to come on for episode 59.   Lori is a private practice speech-language pathologist who has been in the field for over 30 years. She specializes in stuttering therapy, and also does coaching for young adults with ADHD who need support with executive functioning.   In this interview, Lori and I discuss: ✅How to know if kids need support with executive functioning in elementary school, middle school, and high school. ✅How to know when you should coach the student vs coach the parents to support executive functioning (and when you need to focus on both). ✅The relationship between executive functioning and anxiety, and how they both impact each other ✅The importance of consistent positive praise and feedback for people with ADHD; no matter the age. Lori Melnitsky, MA CCC-SLP has specialized in stuttering for over 25 years for children and adults. She founded All Island Speech and Stuttering Therapy and is now online in NY, NJ, CT, and PA. Lori is a person who stutters and entered the field to help others communicate. She has run National Stuttering Association Chapter meetings and taught graduate courses on stuttering. She is a sought after speaker at local school districts and speech associations on the topics of stuttering and ADHD. Lori is Lidcombe trained, Prompt Certified, MPI 2 certified for stuttering, and an ADHD coach. Additionally, Lori founded the FB group and podcast Stuttering DeMystified. Lori was also a mentor on an episode of the Children’s show Arthur and is a published author in the Journal of Fluency Disorders. Her website is Home | All Island Speech and Stuttering Therapy | Plainview, NY To learn more about how you can connect with Lori and learn more about her courses and services for stuttering and ADHD/executive functioning, you can visit her website here or follow her on Facebook here.  You can also check out her podcast “Stuttering Demystified” here. In this episode, I also mentioned Language Therapy Advance Foundations, my program that teaches SLPs a systematic process for building the language skills kids need to support comprehension and academic skills. You can learn more about how to become a member here. I also shared that I’m currently reworking my program offerings relating to executive functioning and social-problem solving. However, you can get more information about executive functioning and how it impacts kids in my free parent guide. You can get a free copy of the parent guide 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 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.

How do you know if an intervention is neurodiversity affirming and evidence-based? Are child-led interventions actually in a child’s best interest? What’s the right way to build social skills, “pragmatic language” and social communication skills? I’ve done a lot of soul-searching surrounding this topic. The typical pragmatic language interventions that focused on preaching the “right” way to act in social situations never felt right to me. Yet I didn’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. So in this episode, I wanted to share the framework I currently recommend for teaching social problem-solving. The truth is, there are a lot of truly ableist practices going on; but there’s also a lot of misinformation (I know…such a buzzword these days!). That’s why I’m going to break down a couple key points to help therapists, teachers, and parents navigate through it all so they know how to raise well-adjusted kids. I share what I know from 4 different angles: Research/evidence-based practice, clinical experience, being a parent, and being neurodivergent myself. Specifically, I’ll talk about: ✅The difference between academic language interventions and social-problem solving interventions (and why what works for one doesn’t work for the other). ✅Why many social skills groups and therapy sessions are ineffective in teaching kids social-problem solving skills. ✅How to help kids be more resilient, flexible, and effective at developing social relationships (without gaslighting them or being ableist). ✅What it really means to be “neurodiversity affirming” and “child-led”, and how to do it in a way that helps kids feel safe and secure. In this episode, I explain why I approach academic language that build comprehension and processing in a much different way than I do social problem-solving. In light of that, I mention two different programs I offer for speech pathologists. First, I mentioned the Social Language Roadmap, which teaches a set of strategies designed to teach kids the social problem-solving skills they need to thrive in school, community, and vocational settings. It’s designed for SLPs, but may also be helpful to other people working with school-age kids. You can learn more about how to join the Social Language Roadmap here. Second, I mention Language Therapy Advance Foundations, my program that teaches speech-pathologists a framework for supporting the language process skills needed for strong reading comprehension, writing, and other academic tasks. You can learn more about how to join Language Therapy Advance Foundations 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.

Navigating the special education eligibility process is confusing for all parties involved (parents, professionals, etc.).   That’s why I wanted to get some insight from someone who understands the process inside and out.   In episode 57 of Are they 18 yet?® I interviewed my colleague Jil Stauter, a school psychologist who has worked with students from preschool all the way through high school. I was fortunate enough to work on a team with her for a number of these years. In this in-depth interview, Jil and I deconstruct the process of determining if students are eligible for special education services under the label of “specific learning disability”. She also shares some essential advice for anyone who aspires to work in the school systems and be a part of the special education process. Here’s a breakdown of what we cover in the interview: ✅What types of data a school psychologist needs in order to determine if a student is eligible for services under the category of “specific learning disability” using the RtI process. ✅What confuses people most about special education services in the schools (as it relates to learning disabilities and other diagnoses). ✅What happens if a school IEP team disagrees with the recommendations of an outside evaluation. ✅Plus more about the ins and outs of eligibility for services in the schools, and how special ed teams can work together. You can listen to the entire interview here. In this episode, I mention my Ultimate Guide to Sentence Structure. In order to build strong language comprehension needed for reading, writing, and other important life skills, kids need to have a solid understanding of sentence structure. In this guide, I outline common challenging sentence types, how to write goals to target them, and some evidence-based strategies for working on them. >>>You can get a free copy of the Ultimate Guide to Sentence Structure 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.

In this episode, I talk with Lauren Haines from Busy Bee Speech about childhood stuttering.Many people don’t realize this, but there are a TON of misconceptions in the general public about stuttering. It’s also a highly specialized area of speech-language pathology, so many clinicians are left feeling unprepared to support stutterers who come to therapy. That’s why I wanted to dispel some myths about stuttering and offer some practical tips for therapists, educators, and parents of school-age kids. In this conversation, we discuss: ✅What are the signs that stuttering will persist past childhood, and is it possible for kids to “outgrow” speech disfluencies?✅What does stuttering look like in kids? How do we know when a child needs to go to therapy?✅What are the key pieces of intervention for stuttering, and what can therapists, educators, and parents do to help?✅Why “stuttering” should not be an off-limits word when talking to kids about their speech.✅What’s the cause of stuttering and how can we have realistic therapy goals for kids? To get more information from Lauren about childhood stuttering, check out these resources:Busy Bee Speech Fluency blog posts. Preschool Interactive Fluency Binder. Interactive Fluency Binder for Speech Therapy.I’m excited to announce that I’m partnering with MedBridge to help clinicians keep their clinicals sharp and increase patient outcomes and engagement.That’s why I have a special offer that allows you to get $175 off your MedBridge subscription.With your MedBridge subscription, you get access to their continuing education library and their client engagement portal where you can share home exercises with your clients. There are membership options for SLPs, OTs, PTs, ATs, and RNs. To get this special offer, use promo code KAREN80 when you sign up for MedBridge 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.

In this episode, I sit down with college admissions coach Kim Duckworth from Bridge Education Center to talk about helping kids expand their options after high school. Many of my listeners are parents and professionals of K-12 kids, and many of them often wonder if they're doing the right things to prepare kids for young adulthood. That's why I thought Kim would be the perfect guest to discuss this topic, because she's helped hundreds of kids successfully get in to their "dream schools". In this interview, Kim and I discuss: ✅The importance of having a plan A, plan B, and plan C when thinking about the post-high school years. ✅Common options to consider post-graduation (not just college) and how to help your child decide which one is for them. ✅The right and wrong way to do a "gap year" if your child is considering it. ✅The ONE habit your child can do to expand their options when it comes to life after high school-especially if they're considering college (spoiler alert: it has to do with vocabulary and books) ✅Why the post-high school on-ramp starts in middle school, and what you can do at each age to help children have well-rounded high school experiences. If you have a child who is considering college as a post-high school option, you don't want to miss this interview. Kim Duckworth is the author of “Parents, Are You Ready? The Practical Guide to Launching a Successful High School Student”. She is a graduate of Stanford University, where she received her B.A. in Communications-Journalism. She was the first woman in her family to attend college. She worked in Sales and Marketing for IBM in Silicon Valley and White Plains, NY for over 10 years. She has called Arizona her home for the last 25 years. Currently, Kim is an independent college admissions coach and member of the National Association for College Admission Counseling. She personally consulted with over 7,500 high school families as the co-owner of Scottsdale Education Center (a college preparatory center) for over 12 years. She’s been married 35 years, has three daughters and three grandchildren. She enjoys hiking, Labrador retrievers, travel, and Telluride, Colorado You can learn more about Kim's services, including her college admission coaching services on her website here: https://parentsareyouready.com/about/ Also, I highly recommend checking out her book here: https://parentsareyouready.com/books/book/ Finally, don't forget to check out the Ultimate Guide to Sentence Structure, which helps kids build the vocabulary and syntax skills they need for strong reading comprehension and written expression. You can grab a free copy of that guide here: https://drkarenspeech.com/sentencestructure 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.

In this episode of Are they 18 yet?™, I talk with my friend and former colleague, Joann Briggs.Joann was a special education teacher in the public school systems for over 30 years, and I had the opportunity to work with her for a good portion of my time as a school speech pathologist.While I always harp on the fact that SLPs can make a huge impact on literacy and language, it really is a team effort. That’s why I wanted to sit down with Joann and share how we were able to work together to serve our elementary caseload in the school systems.If you’re an SLP or a teacher who wants to know how to collaborate to build vocabulary skills, this is a must listen.It’ll also be helpful if you’re a parent and you want to get a better understanding of what happens as your child’s school.In this conversation, Joann shares:✅How to co-teach effectively with general education teachers to serve a special education caseload.✅Her experience going through a lengthy due process hearing with a student on her caseload.✅How SLPs can add value in the teaming process when it comes to language and literacy.✅How to get parents involved in the IEP process to so they feel like valued team members. In this episode, I mention my Ultimate Guide to Sentence Structure.In order to build strong language comprehension needed for reading, writing, and other important life skills, kids need to have a solid understanding of sentence structure.In this guide, I outline common challenging sentence types, how to write goals to target them, and some evidence-based strategies for working on them.You can get a free copy of the Ultimate Guide to Sentence Structure at drkarenspeech.com/sentencestructure. 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.

Recently, the Center for Disease control updated the early developmental milestones, and there's been a lot of debate about what this means. In a lot of my SLP professional groups, there have been questions about whether this will allow kids to fall through the cracks. I've also heard the concern that developmental milestones in general focus on neurotypical development and don't take neurodivergents in to account. That's why recently, I did a training for the member's of  SLP Learning Academy (my mentoring program for SLPs) to help them continue to provide quality services for kids who need them. In this episode, I share the audio from this training. In the training, I cover: ✅What updates were made to the developmental milestones and concerns that have popped up in professional discussions. ✅Why developmental milestones are often misinterpreted and what to do about it. ✅What happens if a kid isn't following a "typical developmental progression"? What does that mean we should do? ✅What to do if a child IS meeting developmental milestones, but they're still having a difficult time functioning in school or social environments. ✅Why meeting developmental milestones shouldn't be the goal of therapy (and what to focus on instead). In this episode, I mentioned  this slide deck with a flow chart for making decisions during screenings/evals (taking milestones in to account). This episode was taken from a training in SLP Learning Academy, my mentoring program that helps SLPs develop leadership skills and deliver high-quality services without burnout.  You can learn more about how to become a member 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.

We don’t want to be “helicopter parents” who coddle our kids…but we don’t want to be so militant that we traumatize them either. When it comes getting kids to do essential, but non-preferred tasks that ultimately help them thrive in the long run…the key to finding the right balance is learning how to scaffold. The term “scaffolding” is used to describe the foundation of a building, but it's also used to describe how teachers, therapists, and parents can teach kids challenging skills over time.Ideally, we are providing JUST enough support that kids are challenged, but not so much support that they never progress.  This can be applied to basic independent skills like making meals, basic hygiene, managing a schedule and deadlines (for homework and other things), among other things that are necessary life skills we want kids to be able to do. That’s why in this week’s episode, I share the second half of my conversation with my friend and colleague, Brittany Bohach, a neurodivergent speech-language pathologist. In this conversation, we share a number of tangible examples of scaffolding in the school settings-both in preschool and through elementary and secondary school. Specifically, Brittany shares why something as simple as snack  or lunch time can be difficult for a child in the preschool setting, and how to work through this situation in a way that has the child’s best interest in mind. We also discuss another scenario that involved scaffolding from elementary school all the way through high school, and how a student was able to manage challenging sensory needs and develop communication skills in the process. If you’re a therapist, parent, or teacher who wants to support kids in a neurodiversity affirming, healthy way (that also builds resilience), you’re going to love this episode. To connect with Brittany Bohach, check out her private practice, Satellite Pediatric Therapy Services on Instagram at  @satellitepediatrictherapy. Additionally, we mentioned the work of Dr. Ross Greene on this episode, which you can learn more about here. Finally, I also mentioned the Time Tracking Journal, my resource for parents and therapists who want to help kids build executive functioning skills during common non-preferred or challenging daily tasks (e.g., chores, homework). The Time Tracking Journal gives you a set of strategies to help kids complete daily routines independently by giving them the problem-solving skills they need to plan their day strategically. You can learn more about the Time Tracking Journal 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.