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.
Show episodes
The relationship of literacy and language skills and involvement with the justice system (with Dr. Shameka Stewart)
There is a disproportionate number of individuals with communication disorders and reading disabilities involved with the justice system for both children and adults. Past research suggests that more than 40% of incarcerated people have some type of nonpsychiatric disability (Berzofsky et al., 2015; Bixby et al., 2022;
How can school leaders make informed decisions about reading curriculum when they know the home environments among their student body vary widely? I don’t envy people tasked with these kinds of decisions. My opinion is that schools should ensure students get their instructional needs met during the school day, because
In 2015, the Office of Special Education Programs published a letter stating that school teams were “not prohibited” from using the term “dyslexia”. Unfortunately, this letter left many questions unanswered and is often misinterpreted. Parents seeking out services for their children are still unsure how to advocate fo
There are many “science of reading” terms being used right now (including the “science of reading” itself). Yet debates about how to help kids become literate continues; and part of that is because of common logical fallacies applied to education. That’s why I invited Anna Geiger to episode 177 of De Facto Leaders to d
Building the language skills for reading, writing, and spelling (with Dr. Jan Wasowicz)
The “science of reading” is trending; but in order for professionals to engage in effective instruction, they need to understand that literacy also includes spelling and writing. Writing, spelling, and reading are interconnected, and the growing body of research continues to show us that these skills need to be taught
Re-release: The impact of texting on literacy and the skills needed for effective word-reading
In this episode, I’m revisiting an older episode in honor of a special event that I'm doing in the month of September, 2024. I'm so excited to participate in the National Literacy Month series of podcasts, which we're presented in partnership between the Be Podcast Network and Reading Is Fundamental (RIF). De Facto L