De Facto Leaders

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 provide interventions in the schools, and it seems impossible. 
Unfortunately, that challenge has resulted in debates on whether executive functioning is more important than language and vice versa, which isn’t useful. 
You don’t have to decide which is more important. They both are. 
We need to find a way to address them both. I help clinicians do that with a concept I call “cycling”. 
What I do is teach clinicians a set of core treatment techniques that fit within a set of foundational areas that support language and executive functioning.
That’s why in this episode, I share how to target both language and executive functioning in direct intervention with enough depth that you get results. 
In this episode, I reveal:
✅ When it’s appropriate to think of language intervention in terms of working up a hierarchy of skills, and when it doesn’t.
✅ Why using treatment cycles is more effective than trying to pin down a “scope and sequence” for language and cognitive intervention.
✅ How to use intervention cycles to build a language therapy system, and eventually move on to layering in more robust executive functioning support. 
✅ Why layering other service delivery models outside of direct intervention is essential for generalization, and how to make sure support is happening outside your sessions. 
Additional resources mentioned in this episode:
Free Training: Three Shifts to Turning Your Clinical Expertise Into a Scalable Language Therapy System Link here: https://drkarenspeech.com/language
Why language therapy works better in cycles than in a linear sequence Link here: https://drkarenspeech.com/why-language-therapy-works-better-in-cycles-than-in-a-linear-sequence/
You think you need a language therapy hierarchy. That’s why your system never feels stable. Link here: https://drkarenspeech.com/you-think-you-need-a-language-therapy-hierarchy-thats-why-your-system-never-feels-stable/
How to target both language and executive functioning in therapy with enough depth to get results
Link here: https://drkarenspeech.com/how-to-target-both-language-and-executive-functioning-in-therapy-with-enough-depth-to-get-results/
In this episode, I mentioned Language Therapy Advance Foundations, my program that gives speech pathologists a scalable framework for building language skills needed to thrive in school, social situations, and daily life. You can learn more about the program here: https://drkarenspeech.com/languagetherapy
I also mentioned School of Clinical Leadership, my program that helps related service providers design scalable executive functioning interventions to ensure students get the scaffolding they need across the school day. You can learn more about the program here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/clinicalleadership

Learn more about today's sponsors, Playworks, IXL and Renaissance:
Learn more about Renaissance:
As a global leader in education technology operating in more than 110 countries, Renaissance is committed to providing educators with insights and resources to accelerate growth and help all students build a strong foundation for success. We believe that technology can unlock a more effective learning experience, ensure that students get the personalized teaching they need to thrive, and help educators and administrators to truly, fully, See Every Student. Learn more at renaissance.com.

We’re proud to be sponsored by Playworks, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with evidence-based practices that help schools improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.

If you’re a school or district leader struggling with the challenge of chronic absenteeism, as so many are across the U.S., you may not realize that structured recess is a research-backed approach to keep kids in school. In fact, a UC Berkeley study of Title I schools found that those partnering with Playworks had significantly lower chronic absenteeism rates. Further, Mathematica research demonstrated that Playworks schools spent 27% less time transitioning from recess back to learning, saving teachers valuable instructional time. 

These results are possible for your students, too. Learn how Playworks can help you improve student-educator relationships, belonging, and attendance by signing up for a quick no-obligation conversation. 
We’re also 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 technology
Save teachers’ time
Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
Improve 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 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 to think flexibly with how they apply frameworks in therapy so they can pull from multiple sources to come up with their own personal protocols that work for their caseload. 
We also chat about other topics such as what “alter ego” we want to emulate when we’re going through a challenge, social media strategies and mindset, our dogs, and how to draw parallels between language therapy, clinical practice, fitness, tips for learning how to do pull-ups, and other areas of life. 
Kim Jenkins is a neurodiversity-affirming speech therapist who is passionate about helping neurodivergent children and their families flourish.  Empowering Speech Services was built on the idea that authentic and meaningful communication can be achieved by focusing on a child's strengths, meeting their sensory needs, following their lead, and empowering family members in the process. Serving the Milton and Alpharetta areas of Georgia, she takes the time to truly get to know her clients, their joys, interests, unique strengths, and individual challenges. 
In this conversation, we discuss:
✅ How Kim uses semantic features and syntactic study with AAC users
✅ Using the “Essential 5” framework from Language Therapy Advance Foundations with students who use a lot of scripting and gestalts
✅ Engaging a reluctant reader literacy and vocabulary work
✅ Parallels between life, language therapy, fitness, and social media marketing
Learn more about Kim’s private practice on her website here: https://www.empoweringspeechservices.com/
Visit her on TikTok here: https://www.tiktok.com/@empoweringspeechservices@UCSeGnUyaf6NBHJFBuoUFUTA 
Visit her on Instagram @empoweringspeechservices
Connect with her on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberly-jenkins-a0288796/
Check out her TeachersPayTeachers store here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/empowering-speech-services
I mentioned the following previous De Facto Leaders Podcast interviews:
EP 205: Using the Essential 5 to Build Vocabulary and Syntax in Secondary School (with Amy Baugh) here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/ep-205-using-the-essential-5-to-build-vocabulary-and-syntax-in-secondary-school-with-amy-baugh/
EP 140: Creating an Intentional Career and Life with Alter Egos (with Meg Niman) here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/ep-140-creating-an-intentional-career-and-life-with-alter-egos-with-meg-niman/
EP 154: Therapy Session Structure, Narrative Language, and Commentary on Gestalt Language Processing here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/ep-154-therapy-session-structure-narrative-language-and-commentary-on-gestalt-language-processing/
Also mentioned in this episode:
”Stories that Stick” by Kindra Hall here: https://www.storiesthatstick.com/
Sarah Brashears from Social Mogules: @socialmoguls
In this episode, I mentioned Language Therapy Advance Foundations, my program that gives speech pathologists a scalable framework for building language skills needed to thrive in school, social situations, and daily life. You can learn more about the program here: https://drkarenspeech.com/languagetherapy

Learn more about today's sponsors, Playworks, IXL and Renaissance:
Learn more about Renaissance:
As a global leader in education technology operating in more than 110 countries, Renaissance is committed to providing educators with insights and resources to accelerate growth and help all students build a strong foundation for success. We believe that technology can unlock a more effective learning experience, ensure that students get the personalized teaching they need to thrive, and help educators and administrators to truly, fully, See Every Student. Learn more at renaissance.com.

We’re proud to be sponsored by Playworks, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with evidence-based practices that help schools improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.

If you’re a school or district leader struggling with the challenge of chronic absenteeism, as so many are across the U.S., you may not realize that structured recess is a research-backed approach to keep kids in school. In fact, a UC Berkeley study of Title I schools found that those partnering with Playworks had significantly lower chronic absenteeism rates. Further, Mathematica research demonstrated that Playworks schools spent 27% less time transitioning from recess back to learning, saving teachers valuable instructional time. 

These results are possible for your students, too. Learn how Playworks can help you improve student-educator relationships, belonging, and attendance by signing up for a quick no-obligation conversation. 
We’re also 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 technology
Save teachers’ time
Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
Improve 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.

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 can use them to design your language therapy system, informed by my doctoral research and experience working in the schools for 10+ years.
✅ How to fill those linguistic containers over time using "asset stacking", so you're strategically adding layers of complexity one at a time.
✅ How to structure your planning so it fits into a realistic schedule, so each block of "plan" time you get moves you towards building your complete language therapy system. 
In this episode, I mentioned Language Therapy Advance Foundations, my program that gives speech pathologists a scalable framework for building language skills needed to thrive in school, social situations, and daily life. You can learn more about the program here: https://drkarenspeech.com/languagetherapy
I also mentioned my free training called “Three Practices to Turn Your Clinical Expertise Into a Scalable Language Therapy System”. You can register for the training here: https://drkarenspeech.com/language

Learn more about today's sponsors, Playworks, IXL and Renaissance:
Learn more about Renaissance:
As a global leader in education technology operating in more than 110 countries, Renaissance is committed to providing educators with insights and resources to accelerate growth and help all students build a strong foundation for success. We believe that technology can unlock a more effective learning experience, ensure that students get the personalized teaching they need to thrive, and help educators and administrators to truly, fully, See Every Student. Learn more at renaissance.com.

We’re proud to be sponsored by Playworks, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with evidence-based practices that help schools improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.

If you’re a school or district leader struggling with the challenge of chronic absenteeism, as so many are across the U.S., you may not realize that structured recess is a research-backed approach to keep kids in school. In fact, a UC Berkeley study of Title I schools found that those partnering with Playworks had significantly lower chronic absenteeism rates. Further, Mathematica research demonstrated that Playworks schools spent 27% less time transitioning from recess back to learning, saving teachers valuable instructional time. 

These results are possible for your students, too. Learn how Playworks can help you improve student-educator relationships, belonging, and attendance by signing up for a quick no-obligation conversation. 
We’re also 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 technology
Save teachers’ time
Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
Improve 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.

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 students feel more connected to their school experience, and to decrease chronic absenteeism and establish a school culture where kids feel like they belong at school. 
That’s why I was so excited to connect with Elizabeth Cushing from Playworks.
Elizabeth Cushing is CEO of Playworks, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to using the power of play to bring out the best in every child. Elizabeth joined Playworks in 2004 and was named President and COO in 2011 and CEO in 2020. She leads Playworks' Executive Team and is responsible for the organization's strategy, operations and fiscal health. During her tenure Elizabeth has played a lead role in designing Playworks’ national scaling strategy including engaging national investors. Alongside founder, Jill Vialet, Elizabeth led the organization through a sustained period of growth from a San Francisco Bay Area-focus to a national organization with 14 teams across the country. As a result of strategic expansion, Playworks shares its unique brand of play and physical activity with 1,000 elementary schools reaching more than 1M children annually. For more than 30 years Elizabeth has served in leadership roles in nonprofit organizations focused on youth development, children's advocacy and women's issues. Elizabeth is a product of Oregon public schools, Stanford University and the Coro Fellows Program in Public Affairs.
In this conversation, we discuss:
✅ Simple ways educators can set expectations and rules to create structure and a sense of safety around recess
✅ How to use play as a reset and a preventative measure, instead of something that’s taken away from kids as a punishment
✅ How training kids as peer coaches can help decrease disruptive behaviors and help kids discover their own leadership potential
You can learn more about Playworks on their website at: https://www.playworks.org/
Resources mentioned in this interview include:
Comprehensive Game Guide that Outlines Games Across Grade Levels: https://www.playworks.org/indiana/game-guide/
The sister website for Playworks with tools for assessing the health of your school’s recess: https://www.recesslab.org/
In this conversation, I mentioned School of Clinical Leadership, my program that helps related service providers design scalable executive functioning interventions to ensure students get the scaffolding they need across the school day. You can learn more about the program here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/clinicalleadership

Learn more about today's sponsors, Playworks, IXL and Renaissance:
Learn more about Renaissance:
As a global leader in education technology operating in more than 110 countries, Renaissance is committed to providing educators with insights and resources to accelerate growth and help all students build a strong foundation for success. We believe that technology can unlock a more effective learning experience, ensure that students get the personalized teaching they need to thrive, and help educators and administrators to truly, fully, See Every Student. Learn more at renaissance.com.

We’re proud to be sponsored by Playworks, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with evidence-based practices that help schools improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.

If you’re a school or district leader struggling with the challenge of chronic absenteeism, as so many are across the U.S., you may not realize that structured recess is a research-backed approach to keep kids in school. In fact, a UC Berkeley study of Title I schools found that those partnering with Playworks had significantly lower chronic absenteeism rates. Further, Mathematica research demonstrated that Playworks schools spent 27% less time transitioning from recess back to learning, saving teachers valuable instructional time. 

These results are possible for your students, too. Learn how Playworks can help you improve student-educator relationships, belonging, and attendance by signing up for a quick no-obligation conversation. 
We’re also 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 technology
Save teachers’ time
Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
Improve 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.

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 format and explain why effective collaboration requires structure and not just good intentions. From who is in the room to how documents are used before, during, and after the meeting, they share the operational backbone that makes collaboration actually move student outcomes.
Kurtis Hewson is an award-winning former administrator and teacher, as well as post-secondary teaching faculty. He is the co-founder of Jigsaw Learning and co-author of Collaborative Response: Three Foundational Components That Transform How We Respond to the Needs of Learners (Corwin, 2022). Kurtis works with districts and schools nationally and internationally to establish Collaborative Response frameworks and interacts with thousands of educators each year.
If you care about MTSS, intervention systems, or building-level leadership, this episode will shift how you think about team meetings and collaboration. 
In this interview, we discuss: 
✅ Why the Collaborative Team Meeting framework helps educators move from between “talking about students” to making strategic, forward progress that changes school-wide practice
✅ How structured documents before, during, and after meetings create clarity and accountability and psychological safety
✅ How to capture action items in real time and encourage innovative thinking
✅ Why the Collaborative Team Meeting requires specific roles, and how these roles  determine whether a meeting moves forward or feels like busywork
If you’re leading multi-tiered supports in K–12 education or trying to strengthen how your teams collaborate, this episode offers practical insight into building the infrastructure that makes collaboration sustainable, focused, and impactful.
You can learn more about the Collaborative Response Framework free resources here: https://www.jigsawlearning.ca/free
Read about the Overview of Collaborative Response here: https://bit.ly/CR-overview 
Read the Introductory Chapter of the text Collaborative Response – https://bit.ly/CR-intro
Get the Collaborative Team Meeting Starter Kit here: https://www.jigsawlearningonline.com/ctm-starter-kit-podcast
Learn about the Layers of Collaborative Teams Here: https://www.jigsawlearning.ca/publications/blog-posts/scaffolding-our-collaborative-response-purposeful-layering-t
Learn the Five Considerations to Transform Your Team Meetings here:  https://www.jigsawlearningonline.com/five-planning-considerations-to-transform-your-team-meetings
In this episode, I mentioned Language Therapy Advance Foundations, my program that gives speech pathologists a scalable framework for building language skills needed to thrive in school, social situations, and daily life. You can learn more about the program here: https://drkarenspeech.com/languagetherapy
I also mentioned the School of Clinical Leadership, my program that helps related service providers design an executive functioning implementation plan for their school teams. You can learn more about the program here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/clinicalleadership

Learn more about today's sponsors, Playworks, IXL and Renaissance:
Learn more about Renaissance:
As a global leader in education technology operating in more than 110 countries, Renaissance is committed to providing educators with insights and resources to accelerate growth and help all students build a strong foundation for success. We believe that technology can unlock a more effective learning experience, ensure that students get the personalized teaching they need to thrive, and help educators and administrators to truly, fully, See Every Student. Learn more at renaissance.com.

We’re proud to be sponsored by Playworks, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with evidence-based practices that help schools improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.

If you’re a school or district leader struggling with the challenge of chronic absenteeism, as so many are across the U.S., you may not realize that structured recess is a research-backed approach to keep kids in school. In fact, a UC Berkeley study of Title I schools found that those partnering with Playworks had significantly lower chronic absenteeism rates. Further, Mathematica research demonstrated that Playworks schools spent 27% less time transitioning from recess back to learning, saving teachers valuable instructional time. 

These results are possible for your students, too. Learn how Playworks can help you improve student-educator relationships, belonging, and attendance by signing up for a quick no-obligation conversation. 
We’re also 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 technology
Save teachers’ time
Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
Improve 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.