
De Facto Leaders
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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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 –
In light of the mass amount of misinformation about ADHD, particularly regarding medication, I thought it was time to do a re-release of this past episode. *Disclaimer, although I have “Dr.” in front of my name, I’m not an MD and do not have the credentials to prescribe medication. This episode is meant for general inf
I remember the first time I “Marie Kondoed” my therapy room and got rid of materials that were published before I was born. There were shelves of things I never used, and having so many options created unnecessary decision fatigue every time I sat down to plan my week ahead. Over time, I started investing in knowledg
In this episode, we dive into the often-overlooked art of writing clear, measurable goals for executive functioning. Unlike other academic or functional goals, executive functioning focuses on internal processes—making it harder to quantify and observe. Whether you're a teacher, therapist, or part of a school team, t

FAQs: Task-based goals vs. strategy goals, scaffolding for semantics and syntax, and going from decontextualized to contextualized
This session is a Q & A I did in the Language Therapy Advance Foundations member’s group relating to how to support students through semantic study and working on complex syntax. I addressed the following FAQs: “How do I help students who struggle to define and describe words without making them prompt-dependent?” “Ho

Making professional development and programming goals meaningful (with John Mihalyo)
Having someone observe your therapy room or classroom can feel awkward; whether it’s your boss doing your evaluation, or whether it’s a special service provider who’s supporting students in your class. When I’ve talked with administrators and service providers about classroom observations, they say it can be a learning