Many therapists feel as though they have limited upward mobility in their careers. Graduate programs understandably focus on direct clinical practice and understanding evidence-based practices. Unfortunately, this leaves many clinicians unprepared to navigate policy work, salary negotiations, or running a business. This makes many therapists less confident in advocating for reasonable caseloads or better compensation…
Blog
EP 193: Using Distance Learning to Increase Access and Opportunity (with Seth Fleischauer)
Most people agree that the “online learning” that happened during COVID was a challenge for many students; especially those with disabilities. However, what happened during the pandemic wasn’t a true version of what “distance learning” or “telehealth” should be. There’s a difference between leveraging technology to enhance in-person experiences vs. using it as a temporary…
EP 192: Building confidence, positive self-talk, and strategic planning skills for writing (with Dr. Nelly Kaakaty)
The writing process comes with internal resistance, even for strong writers. Most people who say they enjoy writing don’t enjoy the entire process; particularly the “getting started” part. This is why writing is a common challenge when executive functioning is impacted. Layer on issues with background knowledge, language, and decoding, and it becomes even more…
EP 191: High-impact tutoring and branding your academic coaching services (with David Schipper)
High-impact tutoring has a wide body of evidence to support its efficacy, but how do you know what is and isn’t “high-impact”? Is it better to brand yourself as an academic coach or an executive functioning coach? Should “executive functioning” be a class in school, or should it be embedded into all the classes? I…
EP 190: A behind-the-scenes look at EdTech startups and curriculum companies (with Ross Romano)
Many of my colleagues working in the public sector are skeptical of companies selling products to school districts. I’ve felt some of this skepticism myself as I’ve seen certain approaches gain traction because they’re well-marketed (yet not evidence-based). So it’s understandable to me that people would question the motives of companies selling products; especially in…
EP 189: Reframing the purpose of social narratives, video modeling, and social skills lesson plans
Many people treat social skills groups as if they’re the complete package, when in fact they’re just one part of a bigger service plan. When we “lesson plan” we can’t think of our intervention as something that starts and ends with a 20-minute therapy session. Instead, we should think of it as a “planning” or…
EP 188: Scaffolding syntax and semantics for non-readers and redefining life skills
Syntactic use is considered an “academic” skill that’s useful for reading comprehension and writing, but the impact of sentence comprehension goes way beyond school. Our ability to comprehend messages at the word and sentence level in oral and written language has a huge impact on our ability to function. So when clinicians ask me, “Should…
EP 187: Dynamic Assessment: Evaluations are a process, not a test (with Destiny Johnson)
I regularly hear from therapists who ask me questions about how to evaluate language in a way that gives detailed, meaningful, and accurate information. Most people know standardized tests only show a small fraction of what we need to know when it comes to language and cognition, yet many clinicians still don’t consistently utilize a…
EP 186: Supporting multilingual students and taking part in state and national advocacy work (with Puja Goel and Prabhu Eswaran)
Language evaluations are challenging enough; but when we’re evaluating multilingual and bilingual students, they become even more complex. Language in state education codes may not take the nuance of multilingual evaluations into account; which means they may unintentionally encourage protocols that don’t enable clinicians to conduct quality evaluations and service plans. When clinicians ask me…
EP 185: Is it a behavior issue or a language and literacy issue?
In this interview, I revisit conversations surrounding the school-to-confinement pipeline, giving students’ the language skills to understand their rights, the link between language, literacy and “behavior problems”, and how to get started with policy work. I share my commentary on the following: ✅ Why students who’ve received repeated detentions or suspensions should be screened or…