De Facto Leaders

Updated: 04 Jun 2025 • 218 episodes
defactoleaders.com

On the De Facto Leaders podcast, host Dr. Karen Dudek-Brannan helps pediatric therapists and educators become better leaders, so they can make a bigger impact with their services. With over 15 years of experience supporting school-age kids with diverse learning needs, Dr. Karen shares up-to-date evidence-based practices, her own experiences and guest interviews designed to help clinicians, teachers, and aspiring school leaders feel more confident in the way they serve their students and clients. She’ll cover a range of topics designed to help you support students' emotional and academic growth and set kids up for success in adulthood, including how to support language, literacy, executive functioning, and how to help IEP teams working together to support kids across the day. Whether you want to learn more effective strategies for your therapy session or classroom, be a more influential leader on your team, or find creative ways to use your skills to advance in your career, Dr. Karen has you covered.

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In this episode, we address the common experience of being overlooked in crucial conversations about the students we serve. Whether you're a clinician or educator who feels unheard while trying to contribute, aspiring to be in a leadership role, or currently in leadership and experiencing impostor syndrome, this discus

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In this episode, we dive deep with educational consultant and innovator Dr. Kate Anderson Foley, who challenges conventional wisdom about student support systems and offers a fresh perspective on educational leadership. Dr. Anderson Foley's  shares revolutionary ideas about restructuring intervention frameworks and exp

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In this episode, I’m excited to announce the release of my new compression course, “The School Leader’s Guide to Executive Functioning Support.”  You can learn more about the course here: https://drkarenspeech.lpages.co/school-leaders-guide-to-executive-functioning-support/ In this session, I’ll be sharing why I create

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In this episode, I sit down with Eric Smith from GrowNOW ADHD, to explore innovative approaches to social skills and executive functioning through the lens of a community-based program:  Executive Functioning Summer Camp. Eric shares his insights on challenging existing service delivery models and discusses the importa

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In this powerful episode, I sit down with Ana Hernandez, a speech pathologist who found herself on the other side of the therapy room after undergoing brain surgery. Ana shares her deeply personal journey through the road of recovery. As someone who has spent her career helping others communicate, Ana opens up about wh

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This week, I’m sharing an interview I did with another host on the BE podcast network because I think it’s something you’ll really enjoy. The episode is going live in the De Facto Leaders podcast feed.  Dr. Chris Jones has been an educator in Massachusetts for 22 years. His experience in the classroom ranged from 8th –

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