De Facto Leaders

“Accommodation” is a loaded word. On one hand, we want to provide reasonable accommodations in K-12 so kids can access their education. But determining what is “reasonable” accommodation or modification can be messy. Both parents and educators can unintentionally “overaccommodate” in the moment without realizing it, which over time can impede a child’s ability to work through daily challenges and...

Are we really “overteaching” phonics, or should there be a hard stopping point where it’s not taught past a certain grade? Are current stories trending on popular news outlets aligned with best practices for supporting dyslexic learners? Is the public becoming more educated on how we learn to read, write, and spell? I invited my colleague, Lori Josephson, an author, consultant, and former teacher...

If you’re an SLP who’s wondering how you can effectively address complex skills relating to both language and executive functioning in the school systems…  The primary challenge is that BOTH language and executive functioning are incredibly complicated. Even just focusing on one or the other can be overwhelming.  Layer on the challenges with the way related service providers are expected to provid...

In this conversation, I sat down with Kim Jenkins from Empowering Speech Services (https://www.empoweringspeechservices.com/meet-kim)  to talk about how she’s used the frameworks from Language Therapy Advance Foundations (https://drkarenspeech.com/languagetherapy/)  along with the gestalt language processing stages, for reluctant readers, and AAC users.  We also talk about how important it is for...

Clinicians who are confidently delivering language and literacy interventions haven't found the perfect "therapy curriculum".  They've learned how to build their own using three practices. In this episode, I share what those practices are, plus additional information on a free training I released that explains these concepts further.  I cover: ✅ The concept of "clinical containers", and how you c...

Recess is often thought of as an “extra” activity in the school day. Sometimes it’s even taken away from students as a punishment.  But some schools think about recess as an integral part of the school day, where students get the opportunity to connect, practice important social and problem-solving skills they’ll need for life. Others are taking it a step further and using it as a tool to help stu...

Most schools say they “collaborate.” They hold team meetings. They talk about students. They review data. But without clear infrastructure, those meetings become updates instead of decision-making engines, and multi-tiered systems of support become an extra burden for educators.  In this episode, I interview Kurtis Hewson from Jigsaw Learning to break down their Collaborative Response Team meeting...

When schools talk about improving engagement, student wellness, or school climate, it often turns into assemblies, themed weeks, or standalone initiatives.  When schools talk about community engagement, student wellness, or school climate, they often turn into assemblies, themed weeks, or standalone initiatives.  In this episode, I invited Lauren Porosoff from The Teacher Nerd to unpack why a focu...

In episode 255 of De Facto Leaders, I elaborate on the concept of using vocabulary as a large “container”, so you can design sessions efficiently without sacrificing quality. I talk about why more experienced clinicians often struggle to make their interventions scalable, and why this gets in the way of carryover. I also share the five “containers” I use in my Language Therapy Advance Foundations...

Many experienced SLPs think they just need to plan better. Tweak the activity.  Adjust the visuals. Try a new printable or protocol. But what if none of that is the real problem? What if your sessions are already so skillful that no one else can reinforce what you're doing? 🧠 What if the very clinical decision-making that gets you results is the thing preventing generalization? In episode 254 of...

“Education isn’t a business” is a thing people say when they’re upset about how the school systems are being run. But education actually IS a business. Saying otherwise isn't going to change reality. If you’re frustrated about how the school systems work, you can continue to wish this wasn’t the case… Or you can accept how things actually are and learn what to do about it.  In this podcast episode...

While virtual learning has become more prevalent since 2020, the founders of Banyan Global Learning have been offering digital learning experiences for over 20 years. Some people are excited about the possibilities technology offers. Others are backpedaling or worrying that tech does more harm than good.  Like most things, the truth lies somewhere in the middle.  The outcomes depend on how experie...

Have you met “Jessica” the virtual speech helper? I certainly remember hearing about it the first time. This concept raised a lot of questions in the clinical community. Are we trying to replace clinicians, and was that the intention behind this application? If you’ve had these questions too, you won’t want to miss this conversation.  This episode is the second half of my interview with Maura Conn...

When I first started working in the schools in the early 2000s, there was a push for integrating technology into classrooms and therapy sessions It was even a box that got checked on my employee evaluation. Now there’s a defined space referred to as “EdTech”.  It took me a while to realize that this was a thing, and I didn’t even realize I was a part of it until someone referred to me as the “EdTe...

When everything depends on your real-time decisions, you can’t replicate the progress, scale the outcomes, or lead others through your process.  Even when it’s working. In this episode, I share what that looked like in my own career. As a speech-language pathologist in the schools, I had the training and instincts to support students with complex language and learning needs. But when referrals sur...

In this episode, I’m sharing my top resources for clinicians to explain why we do what we do in language therapy, and how parents and colleagues can support skills outside of sessions. I share: How to answer the dreaded “Is there an app for that?” question.  Why language therapy doesn’t come in a standard curriculum (plus resources you can share to explain the essentials behind vocabulary interven...

When you’re teaching storytelling with students, do your lessons feel kind of…random? I used to feel like this a lot when I was a school SLP, so if you’ve ever had a “throw spaghetti at the wall” therapy session that felt all over the place, I get it. The truth is, repetition and drill is not the enemy. If you ONLY focus on unstructured activities, you’re probably seeing students getting overwhelm...

Why are we so obsessed with “storytelling” ? In education, we talk about it when we’re working on language and reading comprehension.  It’s also referred to in sales and copy writing as a tool for generating more leads and customers . And of course, people writing books or films think about it all the time.  We all know storytelling is an important life skill. But do we remember HOW MUCH it can im...

If your therapy techniques only work when you’re in the room, that’s a problem. Many therapists unintentionally “gatekeep” their expertise and miss opportunities to boost carryover. It’s the unexpected downside of being really good at direct clinical work.  Don’t get me wrong. Clinical judgment does matter. And some things can only be addressed by a trained clinician in a therapy room. But when ev...

Where did arbitrary cut scores for norm-referenced language assessments come from, and why do they feel “safer” than relying on clinical judgement? I discuss this question and more in this third part of a three-part series, bilingual SLPs Destiny Johnson and Tiffany Shahoumian-Ruiz join me to continue our conversation about advocating for effective language evaluation practices in schools. Across...

When we choose evaluation tools for language, are we clear on WHY we’re assessing?  Most people think of diagnosis, but that’s not the only reason we assess students .  I discuss this question and more in this second part of a t hree-part series, bilingual SLPs Destiny Johnson and Tiffany Shahoumian-Ruiz join me to continue our conversation about language evaluation practices in schools. Across th...

Language assessments shape who gets services, how goals are written, and how progress is measured, but there are many misconceptions about how to follow best-practices when doing an evaluation . In this three-part series, bilingual SLPs Destiny Johnson and Tiffany Shahoumian-Ruiz join me to dig into the science, the myths, and the policies that shape evaluation practices in schools. Across these c...

Every few years, conversations about education in the U.S. circle back to the same refrain: Why can’t we be more like Finland? In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Chrishawn Finister from Your Joy Psychological, PLLC to unpack this comparison. We dig into the nuanced relationship between educational eligibility and clinical diagnosis, which often overlap but aren’t interchangeable. From there, we...

Most of us know that it’s important to work on vocabulary in language and literacy intervention. But how do we know what words to pick? Should we be working on specific words, or should we be focusing on strategies? If we DO work on words, how can we possibly keep up with the pace of the curriculum (and should we even try)? I get these questions ALL the time from SLPs and other professionals suppo...

Every time I look into research on the summer slide, I get more confused. It’s no wonder professionals and families are scrambling every May as they think about how kids should be spending their time in the summer.  I’ve intended to do a deep dive into the research and gain a better understanding of how significant the “slide” is, for who, and what, exactly, is sliding. At the time I’m writing thi...