De Facto Leaders

There’s a lot of "us vs. them" thinking happening relating to what’s going on in the school systems.Parents feeling like teachers don't want to accommodate students with diverse learning needs.Teachers feeling like administrators don't understand because they aren't in classrooms anymore. Therapists feeling like teachers don't want to reinforce strategies in their classrooms, or that administrators don't value their expertise. It’s easy to default to thinking the worst of the person on the other side of the table, but what if we approached interactions assuming the BEST? When we assume the worst, we may miss opportunities to form partnerships; or at the very least, have compassion for other people who are most likely trying to do their jobs to the best of their abilities. Giving someone the benefit of the doubt is a challenge when you’re burnt out, or if you feel the person you're interacting with has more authority and power than you.That’s why I wanted to have a conversation about this topic with Dr. Barbara Flowers, an elementary principal and life coach for educators and administrators. Barb Flowers is an elementary school principal and an educator life coach with 14 years of experience in the field of education. Holding a Ph.D. in K-12 Leadership and currently pursuing certification as a Confidence Coach, her passion lies in supporting educators to reduce burnout and enhance their confidence in their roles. Drawing from her personal journey as a teacher and early administrator, during which she struggled with confidence issues and self-doubt, she is driven to help others in overcoming similar challenges. Now, her mission is to empower educators, ensuring they navigate their professional journeys with resilience and self-assurance. Barb also is the host of The Teacher Burnout Podcast and The Principal's Handbook Podcast.In this conversation, we discuss common conflicts that happen in K-12 education and how to resolve them, including:✅Finding time to pull kids out for therapy; considering both the therapist’s and teacher’s point of view.✅Determining when kids should receive support in a special education setting versus when they should stay in general education with support. ✅Navigating co-teaching: Does it make things easier for general education teachers, or does it add more work to their plates? ✅When being good at your job becomes a hazard: How to avoid overloading staff who are good at supporting students with complex needs.✅Why therapists are hesitant to co-teach, and how to have conversations with your building administrator about making inclusion intentional.You can connect with Barb on her website here (https://barbflowerscoaching.com/) or on Instagram @barbflowerscoaching (https://www.instagram.com/barbflowerscoaching/).Listen to The Teacher Burnout Podcast here (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-teacher-burnout-podcast/id1680061535).You can listen to my conversation with Barb on The Principal’s Handbook Podcast here (https://cp.bepodcast.network/episodes/effective-strategies-for-collaborating-across-multidisciplinary-teams-with-karen-dudek-brannan). I also mentioned The School of Clinical Leadership, my program that helps related service providers guide their teams to support students’ executive functioning across the day. This program will help you plan direct therapy, but will also help you lead change management on your team, no matter your job title. You can learn more about the School of Clinical Leadership 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.

When kids need support with language, reading/writing, and executive functioning, they often have multiple diagnoses.This makes both treatment planning, diagnosis, and determining eligibility for educational programming complicated; especially when it comes to legal guidelines as well as state and local policies. That’s why in episode 159 of De Facto Leaders, I’m sharing a Q & A session I did about comorbidities in my Language Therapy Advance Foundations member’s group. In this episode I talk about the simple view of reading and how it aligns with the essential 5 framework.I also talk about common comorbidities, including: ✅Developmental language disorder + dyslexia✅ADHD + dyslexia✅Dyslexia + ADHDI wrap up by discussing clarification from the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services on the use of terms like “dyslexia” and “developmental language disorder” and the difference between schools being PERMITTED to use a term vs. being REQUIRED to provide services aligned with FAPE. In this episode, I mention Language Therapy Advance Foundations, my program that helps SLPs create a system for language therapy. You can learn more about Language Therapy Advance Foundations here (https://drkarenspeech.com/languagetherapy/).The following are evaluation tools that can help guide you in evaluating and treating individuals with ADHD, dyslexia, DLD, and other diagnoses that impact reading, writing, language, and executive functioning. I cover a complete framework for executive functioning intervention in the School of Clinical Leadership, my program for related service providers who want to emerge as the executive functioning lead on their school teams. You can learn more about that program here (https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/clinicalleadership). Keep in mind when you view this list that formal evaluation tools should be used in conjunction with other non-standardized tools. It's best practice to utilize a portfolio process when doing an evaluation which can consist of a combination of observations, stakeholder interviews, work samples, data from non-standardized protocols, and formal assessments. You can read the full list of assessments in this article here (https://drkarenspeech.com/co-morbidities-and-differential-diagnosis-adhd-dld-dyslexia/). 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.

Dr. Pamela Snow, a cognitive psychology professor and expert in literacy's impact on life outcomes, discusses the gap between effective reading instruction and popular practices. She emphasizes the importance of rigorous research to inform teaching and highlights the interconnectedness of language skills. Pamela advocates for structured reading instruction, a knowledge-rich curriculum, and better training for educators to enhance literary skills. Her insights provide a crucial understanding of how literacy shapes critical thinking and overall success in life.

The literacy space has become increasingly polarizing since the reading wars began.There are a number of debates and questions that continue, including:Will kids learn to read “naturally”? What did the whole language approach get right, if anything?Is explicit phonics instruction just a pendulum swing (and is focusing on phonics enough)?Are we teaching kids to read too early? When we talk about “early literacy” instruction, what are we actually recommending and how does that look? I invited Jane Gebers, veteran speech-language pathologist and author to episode 157 De Facto Leaders to discuss these questions. I entered the field right around the time the National Reading Panel study was published, so there was a fair amount of research on evidence-based literacy intervention when I started practicing. But when Jane started practicing, much of this research hadn’t been done, and she had the experience of watching the fields of education and reading instruction evolve. She was also one of the early adopters of many approaches that are common practice today, and it was an honor to hear about her work. Jane L. Gebers is the author of the popular resource, Books Are for Talking, Too! (Link here: https://www.slpstorytellers.com/2023/09/11/slp-author-book-books-are-for-talking-too-by-jane-gebers/), first published in 1990, and now in its 4th edition as of March 2023. A practicing speech-language pathologist for over 40 years, she has worked in public school, hospital, private, and clinical settings. She has been an adjunct professor at St. Mary's College of California and other universities where she taught Language Development, Assessment, and Intervention courses to students pursuing special education credentials. She currently holds a private practice in Northern California.In this conversation, Jane and I discuss:✅Everyone’s talking about “scaffolding”, but what does this word actually mean?✅Reading practices that have stood the test of time, despite attempts to disprove their effectiveness.✅The battle between play-based learning and “sight words”; and how to emphasize the right skills at the right time.✅When building language skills, do we focus on a developmental hierarchy or environmental demands? ✅Mapping language to print symbols and what to address in the early years to set the stage for reading and writing. You can connect with Jane on her website here: https://soundingyourbest.com, and find her book, Books Are for Talking, Too! here: https://www.slpstorytellers.com/2023/09/11/slp-author-book-books-are-for-talking-too-by-jane-gebers/  The following resources were mentioned in this episode:Some of the work done by Dr. Carol Westby, Ph.D. (Link here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/152574019902100107)The Neuroscience of Reading with Dr. G. Reid. Lyon (Link here: https://irrc.education.uiowa.edu/blog/2023/05/neuroscience-reading-dr-g-reid-lyon)Teachers’ Use of Scaffolds within Conversations During Shared Book Reading (Dekshmukh, R.S., Pentimonti, J.M., Zucker, T.A., & Curry, B.) (Link here: https://pubs.asha.org/doi/10.1044/2021_LSHSS-21-00020)In this episode, I mention Language Therapy Advance Foundations, my program that helps SLPs create a system for language therapy. You can learn more about Language Therapy Advance Foundations here:  https://drkarenspeech.com/languagetherapy/I also mentioned The School of Clinical Leadership, my program that helps related service providers guide their teams to support students’ executive functioning across the day. This program will help you plan direct therapy, but will also help you lead change management on your team, no matter your job title. You can learn more about the School of Clinical Leadership 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.

No one working in special ed has ever said, “I chose this career so I could do paperwork all evening and weekend.”Yet many realize after getting into the field that administrative demands can take away from time spent with students or collaborating with colleagues. That’s why I was so excited to connect with Sean Klamm, special educator and founder of Playground IEP (Link here: https://www.playgroundiep.com/) in episode 156 of “De Facto Leaders”. After starting his career as a teacher and then special education administrator, Sean was inspired to find a solution that would streamline, and potentially remove some of the “behind the scenes” work special educators need to do to manage service plans.Sean Klamm is the Founder of Playground IEP. Sean is a Special Educator and former Director of Special Education at Butler College Prep in Chicago. After serving as Director for 5 years, Sean transitioned to build Playground IEP; the special education tools he wished he had while working in the school. Playground IEP is a new class of caseload management software that increases collaboration and automates many of the manual caseload management tasks. Sean and his team also built IEPcopilot.ai (Link here: https://www.playgroundiep.com/iep-copilot) which uses AI to assist in writing IEP goals, BIPs, and other sections of the IEP. Sean and his team are committed to building tools that allow teachers to spend more time with students and less time with spreadsheets.In this conversation, we discuss:✅ What’s the real motivation behind using AI and technology?✅ How to keep the entire team in the loop about goals and accommodations (instead of letting IEPs collect dust in a binder on the shelf).✅ When teachers aren’t supported, IEPs don’t get fully implemented. How do we solve that problem? ✅ Using AI and technology to make space for better instructional practices and team collaboration.✅ Systems vs. tools vs. culture: How leadership can avoid the “technology for the sake of technology” trap. You can connect with Sean on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanklamm/Learn more about PlayGround IEP here: https://www.playgroundiep.com/Create a free IEP Copilot account here: https://www.playgroundiep.com/iep-copilotIn this episode, I mention Language Therapy Advance Foundations, my program that helps SLPs create a system for language therapy. You can learn more about Language Therapy Advance Foundations here: https://drkarenspeech.com/languagetherapy/ I also mentioned The School of Clinical Leadership, my program that helps related service providers guide their teams to support students’ executive functioning across the day. This program will help you plan direct therapy, but will also help you lead change management on your team, no matter your job title. You can learn more about the School of Clinical Leadership 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.

Related service providers are often considered subject matter experts. Our role is to support other members of multidisciplinary teams like teachers, parents and administrators. But many clinicians I’ve talked to started their careers feeling like a “jack of all trades, master of none”. Some feel that graduate school was all theory and no practice. Others feel it was “drinking water through a firehose”, with way too broad of a scope to feel confident in any specific area.That’s why it’s so important for professionals in education and healthcare to have a gameplan that helps them navigate all stages of their careers, so they can uncover interests and talents.In my personal situation, it started when I felt overwhelmed as a new SLP trying to understand my role on the school team supporting language and literacy; which is what inspired me to create Language Therapy Advance Foundations. That’s why I was so excited to connect with Brianna Guild from SLP Literacy Corner who went through a similar journey.Brianna is a private practice Speech-Language Pathologist in Ontario, Canada. She provides virtual speech therapy sessions, primarily in the areas of literacy, language, and articulation, to residents of Ontario. She started her own small business, SLP Literacy Corner, in 2022. She aims to support busy educators by creating resources and sharing activity ideas aligned with the Science of Reading. She is passionate about sharing low-prep resources and ideas for students of all ages, so educators can spend less time planning their literacy lessons. Her journey to becoming an SLP was not a traditional one. She received her Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry with a minor in Psychology from the University of Guelph, and then her Master of Health Science in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Toronto. She loves that the field of Speech-Language Pathology combines her interests in education, healthcare, and research.In this conversation, we discuss:✅What is it like to be a struggling reader? (we both share our lived experiences).✅How to discover your niche as a clinician and find your area of specialization.✅The “pendulum myth”: Why evidence-based reading instruction is not just another trend.✅Beyond phonics: How has the Science of Reading evolved?✅Reading as a basic human right: It’s impact on access to higher education and career opportunities✅Finding your people and uncovering your version of clinical leadership.You can connect with Brianna on her SLP Literacy Corner website here: https://www.slpliteracycorner.ca/  on Instagram here: http://@slp.literacy.corner or on her Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082685452676You can find her SLP Literacy Corner Teachers Pay Teachers store here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Slp-Literacy-Corner We mentioned the following resources in this episode:“The Reading Comprehension Blueprint” by Nancy E. Hennessy, M.Ed (Link here: https://products.brookespublishing.com/The-Reading-Comprehension-Blueprint-P1197.aspx)The Hanen ABC and Beyond Program for Building Emergent Literacy in Early Childhood Settings (Link here: https://www.hanen.org/Programs/For-Educators/ABC-and-Beyond.aspx)Ascend SMARTER Intervention Reading and Writing Curriculum (Link here: https://www.ascendlearningcenter.com/dsi-curriculum)Basics of Decoding and Spelling Instruction by the International Dyslexia Association (Link here: https://www.idaontario.com/wpeducation/basics-of-decoding-and-spelling-instruction/)National Reading Panel (Link here: https://www.nichd.nih.gov/sites/default/files/publications/pubs/nrp/Documents/report.pdf)International Dyslexia Association (Link here: https://dyslexiaida.org/structured-literacy-effective-instruction-for-students-with-dyslexia-and-related-reading-difficulties/)Ontario Language Curriculum (Link here: https://www.dcp.edu.gov.on.ca/en/curriculum/elementary-language)ONlit hub for evidence-based systematic and explicit instruction (Link here: https://onlit.org/)In this episode, I mention Language Therapy Advance Foundations, my program that helps SLPs create a system for language therapy. You can learn more about Language Therapy Advance Foundations here: https://drkarenspeech.com/languagetherapy/I also mentioned The School of Clinical Leadership, my program that helps related service providers guide their teams to support students’ executive functioning across the day. This program will help you plan direct therapy, but will also help you lead change management on your team, no matter your job title. You can learn more about the School of Clinical Leadership 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.

In this episode, I share a special Q & A session I did with the members of Language Therapy Advance Foundations; my program that provides service providers with a research-based framework for language therapy.I get a lot of questions about how to make the transition between preschool to school-age, what language therapy activities are appropriate for younger children, and when to start direct intervention on linguistic skills like syntax.While there is not a scripted protocol or curriculum that gives us all the answers, there’s a wide body of research that shows how an effective intervention framework can work. Should we focus on the “big picture” structure of language, like narrative structure, or should we focus on the pieces? Will kids get the “big picture” if they can’t put the other components together (at the word and sentence level)? Or will developing the structure give them a process that will help them develop those other components. In reality, it’s a little of both. Should we think from a developmental perspective; making sure that kids are developmentally ready to learn certain skills before introducing them? Or should we think from more of a behavioral, or cognitive/linguistic perspective, and operate from the assumption that teaching will facilitate skills?Again, it’s a little of both.In this episode, I clarified some of that nuance, as well as how I’ve considered these things in the framework I teach. ✅How to structure your therapy session; including how to set expectations, how to think about modeling and scaffolding, and where "drill" activities come in to play✅Where does narrative language intervention apply to language therapy? ✅Are some students too young for direct work on vocabulary and syntax? ✅How do we make the transition from preschool to school-age language therapy?✅Describing a pattern vs. diagnosing: How does gestalt language processing fit in to a language therapy framework?The following resources were mentioned in this episode:De Facto Leaders EP 64: Are kids ready to work on complex sentences in elementary school? (Link here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/ep-64-are-kids-ready-to-work-on-complex-sentences-in-early-elementary-school/)Spencer & Douglas (2020). Narrative Intervention: Principles to Practice (Link here: https://pubs.asha.org/doi/10.1044/2020_LSHSS-20-00015)The Informed SLP: Let’s give them something to gestalt about (Link here: https://www.theinformedslp.com/review/let-s-give-them-something-to-gestalt-about)In this episode, I mention Language Therapy Advance Foundations, my program that helps SLPs create a system for language therapy. You can learn more about Language Therapy Advance Foundations here: https://drkarenspeech.com/languagetherapy/ 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.

Our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors don’t have to define us. This is an important thing to remember for adults dealing with professional burnout and compassion fatigue; and it’s also important to model for kids.When school discipline focuses on punitive measures alone, we miss out on opportunities to teach kids how to manage emotions or repair mistakes. That’s why I’m so excited to share this second half of my conversation with Crissy Mombela in “De Facto Leaders” episode 153, where we talk about the importance of debriefing, maintaining safe school communities, and teaching kids how to restore relationships. Crissy Mombela is the Program Director for the REACH initiative through the Partnership for Resilience. She leads the REACH Communities of Practice (CoP). Her work allows her to be a thought partner and leader in the implementation and evaluation of the REACH Initiative, a strategic partnership with the Center for Childhood Resilience at Lurie Children’s Hospital, and the support of the Illinois State Board of Education. With over twenty-five years of public education experience as a special education teacher and administrator, Crissy’s focus is on developing systems that support connection, innovation, and belonging within school communities. Crissy earned her B.S.Ed. with a concentration in special education from Northern Illinois University and her M.Ed. in Educational Administration from Loyola University. Crissy currently holds an Illinois Professional Educator License for teaching and administration with endorsements for directing special education programs and teaching English Language Learners. In her free time, Crissy enjoys traveling with her family, baking, and scrapbooking.*In this conversation we discuss some sensitive topics relating to traumatic events in schools. In this second half of our conversation, we discuss:✅Why does skipping the debrief after a crisis situation increase the likeliness of compassion fatigue?✅Crisis prevention: How do we take a proactive approach to de-escalation?✅The impact of social-emotional learning for adults: Why it’s not just about the kids.✅Restoring a safe community after physical altercations between students.✅Minimizing retraumatization during the debriefing process.✅Teaching relationship repair and the impact it has on the well-being of all parties.✅Why debriefing should be a part of crisis drills.The following resources were mentioned in this episode:The REACH Initiative at the Center for Childhood Resilience (Link here: https://childhoodresilience.org/reach)The Partnership for Resilience (Link here: https://partnership4resilience.org/)Elena Aguilar Coaching Resistance Podcast Series (Link here: https://www.brightmorningteam.com/podcast/coaching-resistance-part-1-what-is-resistance)Neurodiversity Strengths Checklist (Link here: https://literallyausome.com.au/neurodiverity-strengths/)Ladder of Inference TED Ed by Trevor Maber (Link here: https://www.ted.com/talks/trevor_maber_rethinking_thinking/transcript)Reclaiming Youth At Risk (Link here: https://www.amazon.com/Reclaiming-Youth-Risk-Hope-Future/dp/1879639866)The Whole-Brain Child (Link here: https://amzn.to/43d2dNT)National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments (Link here: https://safesupportivelearning.ed.gov/trauma-sensitive-schools-training-package)Conscious Discipline - Bailey (Link here: https://consciousdiscipline.com/free-resources/book-portal/)Relationship, Responsibility, and Regulation (Link here: https://amzn.to/3PjP5Ra)CHAMPS (Link here: https://ancorapublishing.com/product/champs-third-edition/)Hacking School Discipline (Link here: https://amzn.to/4a6ppPY)We Want to Do More Than Survive  (Link here: https://amzn.to/4c6cShg)Other People's Children - Cultural Conflict in the Classroom (Link here: https://www.amazon.com/Other-Peoples-Children-Cultural-Classroom/dp/1595580743)In this episode, I mentioned The School of Clinical Leadership, my program that helps related service providers guide their teams to support students’ executive functioning across the day. This program will help you plan direct therapy, but will also help you lead change management on your team, no matter your job title. You can learn more about the School of Clinical Leadership 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.

People working in school or medical settings are in a position to be caring for others in their professional lives; which makes it difficult to leave work at work.When you combine that with relationships outside of work, family responsibilities or having a child with a disability, there’s a high risk of burnout. I invited Crissy Mombela to episode 152 of “De Facto Leaders” to discuss this topic because she’s had lived experience as a teacher, a school administrator, and as a parent. Crissy Mombela is the Program Director for the REACH initiative through the Partnership for Resilience. She leads the REACH Communities of Practice (CoP). Her work allows her to be a thought partner and leader in the implementation and evaluation of the REACH Initiative, a strategic partnership with the Center for Childhood Resilience at Lurie Children’s Hospital, and the support of the Illinois State Board of Education. With over twenty-five years of public education experience as a special education teacher and administrator, Crissy’s focus is on developing systems that support connection, innovation, and belonging within school communities. Crissy earned her B.S.Ed. with a concentration in special education from Northern Illinois University and her M.Ed. in Educational Administration from Loyola University. Crissy currently holds an Illinois Professional Educator License for teaching and administration with endorsements for directing special education programs and teaching English Language Learners. In her free time, Crissy enjoys traveling with her family, baking, and scrapbooking.This episode is the first part of our conversation about social-emotional learning for adults in education and healthcare.In this first half of the conversation, we discuss:✅What compassion fatigue is and why self-care alone won’t solve it. ✅Having a child with ADHD: What it’s like to be on the other side of the table as a parent in an IEP meeting.✅How to set expectations with your child’s school team so you’re an active participant.✅Reframing “discipline” in schools; and why it doesn’t have to be punitive.✅How to embed social-emotional learning across the day and why it has to be practiced “in context”: For both kids and adults✅The impact of giving kids the opportunity to contribute to their communityThe following resources were mentioned in this episode:The REACH Initiative at the Center for Childhood Resilience (Link here: https://childhoodresilience.org/reach)The Partnership for Resilience (Link here: https://partnership4resilience.org/)Dr. Nadine Burke Harrris’s work with Adverse Childhood Experiences (Link here: https://burkefoundation.org/what-drives-us/adverse-childhood-experiences-aces/)Dr. Mack Brackett’s book “Permission to Feel” (Link here: https://www.marcbrackett.com/)The CHAMPS Model for Classroom Management (Link here: https://www.amazon.com/Champs-Proactive-Positive-Classroom-Management/dp/1599090309)In this episode, I mentioned The School of Clinical Leadership, my program that helps related service providers guide their teams to support students’ executive functioning across the day. This program will help you plan direct therapy, but will also help you lead change management on your team, no matter your job title. You can learn more about the School of Clinical Leadership 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.

If we try to make schools in the US more like schools in other countries, will that result in more effective practices? Why do policies work in some districts, but not others? Many ideas sound good on paper; but the people working with students or leading schools are telling a different story. That’s why I invited reading specialist Jalita Johnson to episode 151 to share her expertise on these topics.Jalita Johnson is a reading specialist in the Northern Virginia area and is also a veteran, wife and mom of 4. She completed her undergrad studies at Fayetteville State University, an HBCU near Ft. Liberty (formerly Ft. Bragg) North Carolina. She holds a Master's Degree in Elementary Reading.​​She is currently enrolled in a Doctoral bridge program at George Mason for Educational Leadership. Over the years, she has come to realize that she committed to being a lead learner.In this conversation, she shares:✅Being an agent for change: Why her military background gave her the skills and experience to lead reform initiatives in education ✅Syntactic complexity, and the disconnect between decoding/encoding and language comprehension✅Professional development and learning communities: Does one size fit all?✅What challenges come up when federal, state or district-level reform initiatives are modeled off of policies from other countries or states? The following resources were mentioned in this episode:“Hacking School Leadership: What makes Teachers Happy and Why it Matters to Students” by Erika Garcia-Niles (Link here: https://www.amazon.com/Hacking-School-Leadership-principals-happiness/dp/1956512446/ref=sr_1_1?crid=OW0WCCPY7Q3F&keywords=hacking+school+leadership&qid=1699901781&s=books&sprefix=hacking+school+leadership%2Cstripbooks%2C87&sr=1-1)Stacy Roberts, M.Ed, CCC-SLP, from Explore to Express (Link here: https://www.exploretoexpress.com/)In this episode, I mention Language Therapy Advance Foundations, my program that helps SLPs create a system for language therapy. You can learn more about Language Therapy Advance Foundations here: https://drkarenspeech.com/languagetherapy/I also mentioned The School of Clinical Leadership, my program that helps related service providers guide their teams to support students’ executive functioning across the day. This program will help you plan direct therapy, but will also help you lead change management on your team, no matter your job title. You can learn more about the School of Clinical Leadership 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.