A while back, I heard someone refer to school administrators and other public sector leaders as “middle managers”, and it really hit home for me. As I’ve transitioned through different roles in my career, I’ve gotten into the trap of thinking that when I achieve the “next step”, I’ll finally have the influence I want. …
Author: kldudek1980
EP 172: Increasing attendance with student engagement and connectedness (with Jen Perry)
How can districts reverse chronic absenteeism and gain a deeper understanding of why students don’t come to school? Can we measure how “connected” students are to their schools? How do we impact the level of connection they feel with potential mentors in their lives? I invited Jen Perry to episode 172 of the De Facto…
EP 171: Social-emotional learning for adults (featuring Crissy Mombela, Lisa Navarra, and Dr. Theresa Melito-Conners)
Most discussions around social-emotional learning are about helping kids stay regulated, healthy, and adjusted, but we can’t forget about the adults. Being in any type of role that involves caring for others can be incredibly dysregulating; whether you’re a K-12 professional or a parent. That’s why in this episode, I’m highlighting past interview clips with…
EP 170: Making intentional decisions and leaning on the expertise of your team (with Dr. Jen Schwanke)
As a school leader, when is it best to make “top-down” decisions, and when should you make it a collaborative process? How can you tell which stakeholder input to prioritize? What’s the best way to communicate with your staff in a way that feels transparent, but doesn’t burden them with too much information? How can…
EP 169: How to support executive functioning with environmental scaffolding (self-talk, time-perception, planning)
Today, I wanted to share some FAQs that people ask about how to teach executive functioning. Some of those common questions are: How do you teach self-talk, time-perception, and strategic-planning? How do you offer help without making kids prompt-dependent?I understand that executive functioning intervention is more than just checklists and behavior charts, but what’s the…
EP 168: What do administrators need from school therapists and teachers? (featuring Eric Makelky, Jalita Johnson, and Jethro Jones)
Almost every school leader that I know has said they didn’t realize what they were getting themselves into when they started their first administrative position. In this episode, I wanted to share clips from past “De Facto Leaders” guests to showcase some of the challenges faced by school administrators (or those hoping to move into…
EP 167: A framework for executive functioning intervention: Three shifts for school teams
As a professional field, we’re getting stuck in old ways of thinking when it comes to designing services for students experiencing executive dysfunction. When we think of “therapy” the first thing that comes to mind is a clinician sitting in a chair saying things like, “And how does that make you feel?” or a clinician…
EP 166: The role of syntax in supporting language processing and executive functioning
Language and executive functioning have a bidirectional relationship (Baron & Arbel, 2022; Larson, et al., 2019). This means that building language skills can impact executive functioning, and vice versa. A significant amount of executive functioning skills are required to comprehend language-based academic tasks like reading and writing. Yet strategic thinking (which is part of executive…
EP 165: Turning litigious situations into reading reform initiatives (with Mary Saghafi and Shannon Betts)
Teacher preparation programs should equip reading teachers with the knowledge they need to provide explicit intervention for students who have dyslexia or other disabilities. But what if they don’t? Unfortunately, this situation is quite common. That’s why I invited Mary Saghafi and Shannon Betts from the Reading Teachers’ Lounge Podcast to episode 165 of the…
EP 164: The content + strategy + retrieval trifecta for language and executive functioning (with Katy Wyatt)
Is it functional to work on parts of speech? Is sentence diagramming useful? How do we improve word-retrieval in kids with developmental disabilities, and is it similar to what we’d do for an adult with a brain injury? How can we make therapy academically relevant and functional beyond just getting a good score on a…