Ever feel overwhelmed being the only SLP in your district without a network of fellow clinicians for support? You're not alone; many in similar situations face these challenges.

In this episode, I’m sharing a case study of an SLP who, despite being the sole clinician in her district, felt the pressure of not having a trusted system she could rely on for language therapy. Searching for a structured, effective approach, she turned to the Language Therapy Advance Foundations program. There, she developed a reliable system she could bring to her team, transforming her therapy sessions and instilling confidence in her practice.

I also reflect on ways you can gain a sense of belonging, even if you’re the only one in your discipline.
In this episode, I’ll share:

✅ Managing the challenges and isolation of being the only SLP in a district while building a trustworthy framework for therapy.

✅ Developing a system that empowers you to handle your caseload with confidence, even without peer support.

✅ Creating a dependable, efficient approach to language therapy that benefits both the clinician's peace of mind and the students' progress.

Join us as we explore how this solo SLP navigated her unique situation and emerged with a structured system she could trust and share with her team.

In this episode, I mentioned this previous podcast interview: EP 109: Can my principal evaluate me if they’ve never done my job? (with Eric Makelky) here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/ep-109-can-my-principal-evaluate-me-if-theyve-never-done-my-job-with-eric-makelky/

This case study came from a member of Language Therapy Advance Foundations, my program that gives SLPs and other service providers create a system for language therapy. You can learn more about the program here: https://drkarenspeech.com/languagetherapy/

We’re 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.

Ever feel like you should have language therapy figured out by now, but you're still struggling? Even experienced clinicians can feel that way.

In this episode, I’m sharing a case study of a seasoned SLP who, despite years of experience, felt like she was missing a key piece of the puzzle when it came to language therapy. Battling decision fatigue and a lack of a reliable system, she joined my Language Therapy Advance Foundations program and created a reliable system that made her feel confident showing up to sessions.

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

✅ Overcoming the feeling of inadequacy as a veteran clinician and acknowledging the need for a more structured approach to language therapy.

✅ How streamlining decision-making allowed for more focused therapy sessions.

✅ Strategies for working on language skills that support executive functioning.

✅ Creating a predictable, efficient system for building language skills that support reading and writing.

This case study came from a member of Language Therapy Advance Foundations, my program that gives SLPs and other service providers create a system for language therapy. You can learn more about the program here: https://drkarenspeech.com/languagetherapy/

We’re 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.

What if choosing between language and executive functioning for your students wasn't an "either/or" decision? And how can we effectively balance academic content with broader cognitive skills? It's a complex challenge, and the answer isn't always obvious.

In this episode, I share commentary and a clip of my conversation with Jill Fahy, where we discuss the impact of executive functioning skills on the college experience.

Jill is a licensed speech-language pathologist and professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Eastern Illinois University. She is also the co-director of the Autism Center and Director of the Students with Autism Transitional Education Program, where she develops and delivers transitional programming in social skills and executive functions for college students.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

✅ Should we work on language or executive functioning first? The answer isn’t straightforward.

✅ Balancing academic content areas and broader cognitive skills: Why both parents and professionals need to learn about executive functioning as it relates to their context.

✅ Educating the public on cognition and evidence-based practices, and why it’s so easy for vulnerable individuals to grasp on to pseudoscience.

✅ How to use “asset stacking” to address the need to work on multiple interconnected areas at once (e.g., content area skills, language, cognition).

You can connect with Jill via email at jkfahy@eiu.edu. You can read her article, Assessment of Executive Functions in School-Aged Children: Challenges and Solutions for the SLP from ASHA Perspectives here: https://pubs.asha.org/doi/10.1044/sbi15.4.151

You can learn more about the Students Transitional Education Program at Eastern Illinois University here: https://www.eiu.edu/step/ and the Autism Center here: https://www.eiu.edu/autismcenter/

In this episode, I mention the School of Clinical Leadership, my program for related service providers who want to take a leadership role in implementing executive functioning support. You can learn more about the program here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/efleadership

We’re 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 episode of De Facto Leaders, I’m joined by speech-language therapist Natalie Yona from Cognishine to explore one of the most nuanced conversations happening in today: Where does AI actually belong in therapy?

Cognishine is a multilingual, multidisciplinary digital intervention platform designed for therapists, educators, and care professionals—offering a rich library of evidence-based, culturally tailored activities and tools that streamline workflows, boost engagement, and support both in-person and remote therapy without replacing clinicians.

Natalie Yona, M.A., is a Speech-Language Therapist (SLT) with over 16 years of extensive experience in pediatric and adult communication disorders, with specialization in neurological rehabilitation, early childhood development, fluency, and voice disorders. She currently holds the position of VP of Clinical Strategy, where she leads the development and integration of innovative digital tools designed to support cognitive and linguistic rehabilitation across hospitals, clinics, and community care settings. Her work emphasizes the creation of clinically grounded, accessible solutions that empower therapists and significantly enhance patient outcomes across age groups and medical conditions.

As technology becomes more embedded in clinical work, therapists and educators are facing a delicate balancing act. On one hand, AI has the potential to streamline workflows, reduce administrative burden, and alleviate the decision fatigue so many clinicians experience. On the other hand, there's growing concern about over-reliance on AI in ways that could compromise clinical judgment or even try to replace the therapist entirely.

We discuss:

✅ Why AI shouldn’t be used to make clinical decisions—and what it can do instead.

✅ How technology can serve as a delivery mechanism for interventions and parent engagement activities, rather than a substitute for human connection.

✅ What it looks like to embed AI tools in to your product development cycle while preserving clinical expertise and quality assurance.

✅ The book desert challenge: Does AI have a place in ensuring our clients have access to high-quality reading passages?

Whether you’re a therapist, supervisor, or administrator trying to make sense of AI’s role in mental health services, this episode offers a grounded, thoughtful look at how we can harness technology with intention.

You can learn more about Natalie’s work at Cognishine on their website here: https://www.cognishine.com/

You can listen to my episode with Dr. Karen Rose (former VP of Research and Clinical Development from Cognishine) here: EP 204: Using Digital Resources to Combat Therapist Burnout (with Dr. Karen Rose): https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/ep-204-using-digital-resources-to-improve-team-collaboration-and-combat-therapist-burnout-with-dr-karen-rose/

In this episode, I mention the School of Clinical Leadership, my program for related service providers who want to take a leadership role in implementing executive functioning support. You can learn more about the program here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/efleadership

We’re 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.

One of my favorite “hooks” or titles to use when I’m talking about executive functioning centers around the idea that executive functioning intervention is about “more than just checklists”.

I like this title so much because one of the go-to interventions or accommodations for students with executive functioning difficulties includes some type of visual strategy or “checklist” to help them remember steps to important tasks.

Yet many teams are finding that students don’t use the visuals or supports they’re given, and they still aren’t able to keep up with transitions, classroom routines, or turn their assignments in on time.

That’s why in this fifth episode of my podcast series on “Five Skills to Create Your Executive Functioning Intervention Framework”, I talked about the final skill: Encoding

What I uncover in this episode:

✅ How we use encoding when making a list or planning for the future.

✅ How weak encoding skills limit a student’s ability to use supports like visual schedules, checklists, or self-talk effectively.

✅ How adults unintentionally inhibit the development of encoding when introducing cognitive tools like planners or lists.

✅ Why students may appear unmotivated or resistant when the real issue is an inability to visualize future events and transfer that mental imagery into words.

In this episode, I mentioned my free training for school leaders who want to create a research-based executive functioning implementation plan for their school teams. You can sign up for the training here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/efleadership

We’re 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.

Every time I give a session on executive functioning, I have clinicians and teachers ask me the same thing:

“How can I motivate students who don’t seem to care or don’t want to try new things?”

Or something like “How can I convince students why this (insert task) is going to be important to them in the future?”

The short answer is that you don’t “convince” them of anything. At least not in the moment.

Instead, you create the experiences and opportunities that are going to help the student acquire the skills, experience the consequences, and develop the confidence to deal with uncertainty/unfamiliar situations.

When students appear resistant to try things, or seem to “not learn from past mistakes”, this can often be tied to weak episodic memory.

Episodic memory—the ability to see a mental picture of a past event, allows students to think back on past experiences and use them to prepare for the future.

When you struggle to do this, it’s difficult to recall past mistakes or feedback in the moment.

It’s also difficult to think back on past experiences when you might have done something well, which may make you feel less prepared for tasks that are challenging or less familiar.

This may cause nervousness or resistance toward difficult tasks if you can’t “see” back into the past (episode memory) or think into the future to know what you should be doing now (future pacing).

Unfortunately, on the surface, this may look like defiance, apathy, or lack of motivation.

That’s why in fourth episode in my “Five Skills to Create Your Executive Functioning Intervention Framework”, I discuss the fourth skill: Episodic Memory

What I’ll uncover in this episode:

✅ The critical role episodic memory plays in executive functioning: applying prior knowledge, anticipating consequences, and adjusting behavior.

✅ How difficulties with episodic memory impact a student’s confidence and willingness to try new things, or their persistence with challenging tasks.

✅ Why episodic memory interacts with other executive functioning skills, including future pacing, time perception, and self-talk.

In this episode, I mentioned my free training for school leaders who want to create a research-based executive functioning implementation plan for their school teams. You can sign up for the training here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/efleadership

We’re 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.

Students with executive functioning challenges often intend to complete tasks or meet expectations—but struggle to execute consistently.

The reason? They aren’t mentally envisioning future scenarios, predicting the steps needed to reach a goal, and thinking about what they need to be doing NOW in order to meet that goal.

This cognitive skill, called future pacing, allows students to visualize the process and outcome of their actions, building a critical link between planning and follow-through.

In the third episode in my “Five Skills to Create Your Executive Functioning Intervention Framework”, I break it down in detail.

What I’ll uncover in this episode:

✅ What future pacing is—and why it's essential for supporting goal-directed behavior and flexible thinking.

✅ How future pacing interacts with skills like time perception, self-talk, and episodic memory.

✅ Why students with executive functioning deficits often struggle to anticipate obstacles, sequence steps, or understand how present actions impact future outcomes.

✅ Practical ways to teach students how to mentally rehearse tasks—bridging the gap between knowing what to do and actually doing it.

✅ How building future pacing into interventions improves self-regulation, motivation, and task persistence.

In this episode, I mentioned my upcoming free live virtual training hosted by Parallel Learning that’s coming up on August 14, 2025 from 6:30-8:00 PM EST. It’s called “Executive Functioning: Beyond Checklists and Planners”.

You’ll earn a free CEU, get to learn about a company that offers remote work opportunities, and get to learn some of the concepts I teach in my paid programs. You can sign up for the training here: https://parallellearning-20474008.hs-sites.com/ashakickoffwebinar25?utm_source=partnership&utm_medium=partner_karen_dudek&utm_campaign=webinar_ashadrkaren_8.14.2025&utm_content=blank

I also mentioned my free training for school leaders who want to create a research-based executive functioning implementation plan for their school teams. You can sign up for the training here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/efleadership

We’re 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.