HeyJaredDe Facto Leaders
On the De Facto Leaders podcast, host Dr. Karen Dudek-Brannan helps pediatric therapists and educators become better leaders, so they can make a bigger impact with their services. With over 15 years of experience supporting school-age kids with diverse learning needs, Dr.
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 5
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- Sep 9, 2026
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- Jul 15, 2026
Latest episodes
Executive Functioning Defined, Beyond Just "Being Organized" (opens the original)
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Many people think they’re working on executive functioning, but aren’t ACTUALLY working on executive functioning . If you have students who have access to planners, visuals, lists, and other organizing tools , but still seem unorganized , this may be the case for your students. Especially if you have students who flat out refuse to use organizers , or just forget to use them. Even though people with strong executive functioning skills present on the outside as people who are “organized”, this is
Five External Signs of Executive Dysfunction That Show Up At School (opens the original)
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“Demand avoidance”, poor generalization, prompt-dependence, and social skills challenges seem like isolated issues. But often they’re not. Many times they’re tied to executive functioning challenges. That’s why when I describe “executive dysfunction”, I cluster it into five broad areas: Attention, Learning Challenges, Behavioral Issues, Organization, and Social Skills Usually, this is the point that the lightbulb goes on for a lot of clinicians and educators in the room as they realize executive
You don’t need “buy in” from teachers to get executive functioning support into classrooms. (opens the original)
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Many school clinicians know executive functioning is important. They also know that their entire team should be supporting it across general and special education settings. But they don’t always know what exactly that looks like in practice… And if they do, they don’t know HOW they can change the practices of classroom teachers. There are a lot of unanswered questions. …How can I find time to think about changing teacher’s practices when I barely have time to manage my own workload? …What is my
Working on "regulation", but seeing students get more dysregulated? Here's why that's happening. (opens the original)
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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 prom
Still trying to do social skills intervention with a 20-minute social skills group? Do this instead. (opens the original)
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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 skill
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