De Facto Leaders

Many school teams AREN’T actually working on executive functioning when they think they are.
As a result, they’re being more flexible and accommodating than ever, giving students a chance to process after behavioral escalations…
Yet they’re seeing students continue to be dysregulated. In some cases, it’s getting worse. 
The same thing goes for helping kids stay organized and manage work. 
Kids refuse to use organizers and lists, forget to use them when it’s relevant, or require a ton of adult prompting when they actually ARE using them.
In my free training, I share why these things happen. This free training, which I’ve recently updated, is called “How to Be Evidence-Based and Neurodiversity-Affirming With Executive Functioning Support”.
In the training, I cover three common mistakes school teams make when implementing “executive functioning interventions”. 
In episode 264 of De Facto Leaders, I share two of those three mistakes. 
When you listen to this episode, you’ll discover:
✅ Why students sometimes seem MORE dysregulated when asked to talk about melt downs or why they made a poor choice.
✅ The relationship between executive dysfunction, anxiety, and time perception.
✅ Why students aren’t more organized, even though you’ve giving them organizing tools like lists and planners
Plus, I share two case studies, including:
✅ The student who was melting down during passing period, and why giving him more time to process his feelings was the last thing he needed (and how we supported him)
✅ The student who could make himself throw up whenever we asked him to do a non-preferred task who became MORE distrustful of adults the more flexible we were.
In this episode, I mentioned my free training where I share three mistakes professionals make when supporting executive functioning (that result in prompt-dependence and dysregulation). 
In this training, I cover the following:
✅ Already working on executive functioning, and not seeing results? It could be because you're NOT truly working on executive functioning, even though you think you are. Learn how to make the subtle shifts that make all the difference.
✅ Are severe behaviors preventing ANY true skill development? Learn the common mistakes school teams make (related to executive functioning) that create prompt-dependence and dysregulation, and what to do instead.
✅ Are students struggling with peers, even though you're working on social skills? I'll share why "social skills groups" rarely result in good skill-transfer, and how to shift your service-deliver model to help students self-advocate and form relationships.
✅ Not sure your team will buy-in to supporting executive functioning in classrooms? Learn the 3-part framework I teach SLPs, social workers, psychologists, counselors, and other interventionists that helps them implement building-wide executive functioning intervention, even with a huge caseload.
You can sign up for this training here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/efleadership
In this episode, 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

You’ve been told that social skills interventions are ableist.
But you’ve also been told that we need to prepare students for real-world expectations. You have teachers and administrators coming to you with concerns about behavior, participation, and social interaction, and you’re expected to address it.
Then you’re told to make your intervention more “functional.” To collaborate more. To focus on generalization.
And somehow, all of that responsibility gets funneled into a 20-minute social skills group.
What are you supposed to do when you know that a short, isolated session isn’t going to result in meaningful carryover?
The issue isn’t that social skills intervention is a bad idea. The problem is we're using the wrong model to support them. 
When we think of "social skills intervention" as beginning and ending within a siloed therapy session, we'll continue to see poor skill transfer.
A therapy session with students is ONE layer. We can keep that layer, but we need to add more layers to it to bridge the gap.
In this video, I walk through how to shift from relying on one intervention bucket (a.k.a. the isolated social skills group) to building a service delivery model that frames social skills as "executive functioning for human interactions".
This episode was created based on a video I previously published on YouTube. You can view the original video here: https://youtu.be/vdpzfG5l6wo
In this episode, 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

“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 solve problems on their own. 
This can be in the context of adding too many “cookie-cutter” accommodations on a 504 Plan or IEP, or it can be unofficial accommodations in the way we interact with kids. 
My colleagues who work on college campuses are seeing the impact of this “overhelping” in K-12. 
And it’s not just kids with neurodevelopmental disorders. It’s the neurotypical kids too. 
That’s why I invited my colleague, Jill Fahy, back to De Facto Leaders to talk about the state of college readiness, the upstream impacts of what’s happening in K-12 on success both during and after college. 
Jill Fahy, Professor in the Department of Communication Disorders & Sciences, serves as the Director of STEP, a transitional education program for EIU students with autism. STEP programming supports the development of executive functions, social communication, self-appraisal, and self-regulatory skills to facilitate students' management of their academic and university living demands. Ms. Fahy specializes in the assessment of executive dysfunction, particularly as it is associated with concomitant disorders of language, cognition, or social/pragmatics. She is a widely-known lecturer in the area of executive functions, speaking nationally and internationally on aspects of evaluation and treatment of executive dysfunction, and the role of language in executive functions. Ms. Fahy is co-author of The Source for Development of Executive Functions, 2nd edition, and various articles on self-talk and executive functions.  Ms. Fahy teaches graduate courses in Aphasia/Right Hemisphere Dysfunction,  Cognitive-Communication and Executive Function Disorders, and Medical Grand Rounds. She previously taught undergraduate courses in Neurology and Advanced Clinical Practicum and Diagnostics. Prior to teaching at EIU, Ms. Fahy worked for several years as a medical SLP providing services for patients with acquired neurological deficits resulting from stroke and TBI, including those in acute care, inpatient and day rehabilitation, and home health. 
In this conversation, we discuss:
✅ The difference between accommodations and modifications, what “overhelping” looks like, and why it impedes development of important metacognitive skills.
✅ The state of college student mental health, and how it relates to the opportunities students have to practice self-regulation and experiencing failure.
✅ Skills many college students are lacking, including managing due dates, extended writing assignments, study skills, working through conflict, and managing their daily life.
✅ How and when to start fading supports, and how to recognize if you’ve been “overaccommodating” for a student
You can connect with Jill at jkfahy@eiu.edu or on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jill-fahy-250478b/
Learn more about the Students with Autism Transitional Education Program (STEP) Program at Eastern Illinois University here: https://www.eiu.edu/step/
Be sure to listen to my first interview with Jill on De Facto Leaders here: Executive Functioning for College Students: Beyond Checklists and Planners (with Jill Fahy)
Link here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/ep-122-executive-functioning-for-college-students-beyond-checklists-and-planners-with-jill-fahy/
You can also listen to my commentary on her first interview in this episode: Balancing Language, Academic Content Areas, and Executive Functioning (featuring Jill Fahy)
Link here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/ep-232-balancing-language-academic-content-areas-and-executive-functioning-featuring-jill-fahy/
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

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 to discuss these questions. 
In this episode, we discuss:
✅ Common literacy “urban legends”, including “Dyslexia is seeing words backwards” and “look at the picture and guess the word”
✅ Why phonics gets a bad wrap and where the Science of Reading is often misunderstood
✅ Handwriting, keyboarding, and how they relate to neural connections
✅Making instruction more effective by integrating language, print, spelling, and executive functioning instead of siloing.
Lori Josephson is an Author, Dyslexia Specialist, and Educational Consultant who is a  Fellow of the Orton-Gillingham Academy, a retired Wilson Language Trainer, and holds a Master’s Degree in Special Education-Learning Disabilities. She has had the privilege of teaching hundreds of struggling students how to make sense of print and text, as well as the honor of working with thousands of teachers training them how to teach and reach their students using methods based upon the complex brain processes involved in attaining literacy, the body of knowledge referred to as the Science of Reading. Her recently published book, “Calling All Neurons! How Reading and Spelling Happen”, explains how the human brain attains literacy in a fun, easy to understand manner where specialized neurons take the stage to provide this explanation. Lori serves as a Moderator of the wildly popular Facebook Group, Science of Reading-What I Should Have Learned in College, and is on the Advisory Council of The Northern Ohio Branch of The Dyslexia Association.
You can connect with Lori in the following places:
o Website: lorijosephson.com
o LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lori-josephson/
o X: @lorijosephson2
o Facebook: Lori Josephson
o Instagram: @calling_all_neurons
o Medium: https://lorijosephson.medium.com/
o Substack: @lorijosephson686067
We mentioned the following resources in this episode:
Lori’s book, “Calling All Neurons! How Reading and Spelling Happen”: https://lorijosephson.com/calling-all-neurons-how-reading-and-spelling-happen/
The Cost of Over-Teaching Phonics by “Liana Loewus”: http://bit.ly/4eIKJAQ
Has Technology “Broken” an Education System That was “Just Fine”? by Natalie Wexler: https://nataliewexler.substack.com/p/has-technology-broken-an-education
“Don’t Blame Technology” by Holly Korbeyhttps://hollykorbey.substack.com/p/dont-blame-technology
The Digital Delusion: How Classroom Technology Harms our Kids’ Learning-And How to Help Them Thrive Again: https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Delusion-Classroom-Technology-Learning/dp/B0G5622DQQ
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

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