Why are we so obsessed with “storytelling”?

In education, we talk about it when we’re working on language and reading comprehension. 

It’s also referred to in sales and copy writing as a tool for generating more leads and customers. And of course, people writing books or films think about it all the time. 

We all know storytelling is an important life skill. But do we remember HOW MUCH it can impact our ability to communicate and function? 

And do we know how to support students who don’t have this skill?

I invited my colleague Jane Gebers to the De Facto Leaders podcast to discuss this topic. 

If you’re helping students build skills for functional daily tasks, challenging academic work, or in social situations, you won’t want to miss this conversation. 

In this first half of the interview, we talk about the “why” behind teaching narrative discourse, plus specific examples of how we’ve both used narrative structure to build our own comprehension.

Jane L. Gebers is the author of the popular resource, Books Are for Talking, Too!, first published in 1990, and now in its 4th edition as of March 2023. A practicing speech-language pathologist for over 40 years, she has worked in public school, hospital, private, and clinical settings. She has been an adjunct professor at St. Mary’s College of California and other universities where she taught Language Development, Assessment, and Intervention courses to students pursuing special education credentials. She currently holds a private practice in Northern California.

You can connect with Jane on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jane-l-gebers-53856119/

Email her at [email protected]

Learn more about her book, Books Are For Talking, Too! here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C2SG8J58?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_RR4P3SB19A92WD6FPD3R

Learn more about her storytelling resources and speech therapy services on her website here: http://soundingyourbest.com/

In this episode, I mentioned Language Therapy Advance Foundations, my program that gives speech pathologists a 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 the Art and Science of Narrative Language, my program that gives speech pathologists and educational professionals a process for evaluating and supporting narrative language. You can learn more about the program here: https://drkarenspeech.lpages.co/art-science-narratives-blog-297/

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.

If your therapy techniques only work when you’re in the room, that’s a problem.

Many therapists unintentionally “gatekeep” their expertise and miss opportunities to boost carryover.
It’s the unexpected downside of being really good at direct clinical work. 

Don’t get me wrong. Clinical judgment does matter. And some things can only be addressed by a trained clinician in a therapy room.

But when every decision depends on your personal expertise and physical presence, you’ve made yourself the bottleneck.

In this episode, I’ll share how to make the shift towards clear, repeatable systems that others can follow. When you make your methods easier to teach, you make your work scalable, easier to delegate, and far more convincing to leadership.

I’ll tackle common misconceptions like:

✅ “I can’t delegate; I don’t have direct reports.”

✅ “I don’t have time for consultation.”

✅ “We never get enough time to work on skills.”

Plus I share the three steps to making intervention “scalable” so your session plans can start doubling as consultation guides and training tools for others.

In this episode, I mentioned Language Therapy Advance Foundations, my program that gives speech pathologists a 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 the School of Clinical Leadership, my program that helps related service providers develop scalable executive functioning strategies they can turn into schoolwide initiatives. You can learn more about the program here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/clinicalleadership

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.

Where did arbitrary cut scores for norm-referenced language assessments come from, and why do they feel “safer” than relying on clinical judgement?

I discuss this question and more in this third part of a three-part series, bilingual SLPs Destiny Johnson and Tiffany Shahoumian-Ruiz join me to continue our conversation about advocating for effective language evaluation practices in schools.

Across these conversations, we explore:

• Sensitivity, specificity, reference standards, and diagnostic accuracy

• How test development has evolved over time and why this matters 

• Why the same cut-off score shouldn’t apply across all tests

• The math behind using two norm-referenced tests, and why it may complicate rather than clarify in some cases

• Other reasons we test beyond diagnosis (treatment planning, severity, monitoring progress)

• How do we do we to “sell” the concept of dynamic assessment to administrators

• Case studies that show the pitfalls of over-reliance on standardized scores

• Misconceptions clinicians often hold, and what they should know about assessment

• Differences in state eligibility standards, and what this means for service decisions

This series is part myth-busting, part practical strategies, and part advocacy playbook—perfect for clinicians who want to move beyond compliance-driven evaluations toward assessments that truly reflect students’ needs.

Destiny Johnson, M.S., CCC-SLP, is a bilingual speech-language pathologist (English/Spanish) with a deep passion for culturally responsive assessment and treatment practices, as well as advocating for policy change. She has presented on dynamic assessment at the CSHA Convergence 2024, focusing on the importance of dynamic assessment in bilingual children. Destiny has experience working as a school-based SLP, in private practice, and in early intervention. She is also the founder and CEO of Multimodal Communication Speech Clinic P.C.

Connect with Destiny on Instagram @destinyjohnsonslp, on her private practice website here, and on LinkedIn here.

Listen to Destiny’s previous episode on De Facto Leaders here: EP 187: Dynamic Assessment: Evaluations are a process, not a test (with Destiny Johnson)

Tiffany Shahoumian-Ruiz is a bilingual high school SLP from Southern California who has primarily worked in the school systems and has experience at both the elementary and secondary level. She’s also a member of Language Therapy Advance Foundations, and is involved in state and local advocacy work relating to dynamic assessments and special education eligibility.

Connect with Tiffany on Instagram @tiffany.shahoumian

Listen to Tiffany’s previous episode on De Facto Leaders here: High school language therapy: Do we still have time to make an impact? (with Tiffany Shahoumian-Ruiz)

In this episode, I mention Language Therapy Advance Foundations, my program that gives SLPs and other service providers a system for language therapy. You can learn more about the program here.

Additional Resources Mentioned in the episode:

Daub, O., Cunningham, B. J., Bagatto, M. P., Johnson, A. M., Kwok, E. Y., Smyth, R. E., & Oram Cardy, J. (2021). Adopting a conceptual validity framework for testing in speech-language pathology. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 30(4), 1894–1908. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_AJSLP-20-00032

Spaulding, T. J., Plante, E., & Farinella, K. A. (2006). Eligibility criteria for language impairment: Is the low end of normal always appropriate? Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 37(1), 61–72. https://doi.org/10.1044/0161-1461(2006/007)

DYMOND Norm-Referenced Dynamic Assessment

Bilingual English-Spanish Assessment (BESA)

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.

When we choose evaluation tools for language, are we clear on WHY we’re assessing? 

Most people think of diagnosis, but that’s not the only reason we assess students. 

I discuss this question and more in this second part of a three-part series, bilingual SLPs Destiny Johnson and Tiffany Shahoumian-Ruiz join me to continue our conversation about language evaluation practices in schools.

Across these conversations, we explore:

• Sensitivity, specificity, reference standards, and diagnostic accuracy

• How test development has evolved over time and why this matters 

• Why the same cut-off score shouldn’t apply across all tests

• The math behind using two norm-referenced tests, and why it may complicate rather than clarify in some cases

• Other reasons we test beyond diagnosis (treatment planning, severity, monitoring progress)

• How do we do we to “sell” the concept of dynamic assessment to administrators

• Case studies that show the pitfalls of over-reliance on standardized scores

• Misconceptions clinicians often hold, and what they should know about assessment

• Differences in state eligibility standards, and what this means for service decisions

This series is part myth-busting, part practical strategies, and part advocacy playbook—perfect for clinicians who want to move beyond compliance-driven evaluations toward assessments that truly reflect students’ needs.

Destiny Johnson, M.S., CCC-SLP, is a bilingual speech-language pathologist (English/Spanish) with a deep passion for culturally responsive assessment and treatment practices, as well as advocating for policy change. She has presented on dynamic assessment at the CSHA Convergence 2024, focusing on the importance of dynamic assessment in bilingual children. Destiny has experience working as a school-based SLP, in private practice, and in early intervention. She is also the founder and CEO of Multimodal Communication Speech Clinic P.C.

Connect with Destiny on Instagram @destinyjohnsonslp, on her private practice website here, and on LinkedIn here.

Listen to Destiny’s previous episode on De Facto Leaders here: EP 187: Dynamic Assessment: Evaluations are a process, not a test (with Destiny Johnson)

Tiffany Shahoumian-Ruiz is a bilingual high school SLP from Southern California who has primarily worked in the school systems and has experience at both the elementary and secondary level. She’s also a member of Language Therapy Advance Foundations, and is involved in state and local advocacy work relating to dynamic assessments and special education eligibility.

Connect with Tiffany on Instagram @tiffany.shahoumian

Listen to Tiffany’s previous episode on De Facto Leaders here: High school language therapy: Do we still have time to make an impact? (with Tiffany Shahoumian-Ruiz)

In this episode, I mention 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.

Additional Resources Mentioned in the episode:

Daub, O., Cunningham, B. J., Bagatto, M. P., Johnson, A. M., Kwok, E. Y., Smyth, R. E., & Oram Cardy, J. (2021). Adopting a conceptual validity framework for testing in speech-language pathology. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 30(4), 1894–1908. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_AJSLP-20-00032

Spaulding, T. J., Plante, E., & Farinella, K. A. (2006). Eligibility criteria for language impairment: Is the low end of normal always appropriate? Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 37(1), 61–72. https://doi.org/10.1044/0161-1461(2006/007)

DYMOND Norm-Referenced Dynamic Assessment

Bilingual English-Spanish Assessment (BESA)

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.

Language assessments shape who gets services, how goals are written, and how progress is measured, but there are many misconceptions about how to follow best-practices when doing an evaluation. In this three-part series, bilingual SLPs Destiny Johnson and Tiffany Shahoumian-Ruiz join me to dig into the science, the myths, and the policies that shape evaluation practices in schools.

Across these conversations, we explore:

• Sensitivity, specificity, reference standards, and diagnostic accuracy

• How test development has evolved over time and why this matters 

• Why the same cut-off score shouldn’t apply across all tests

• The math behind using two norm-referenced tests, and why it may complicate rather than clarify in some cases

• Other reasons we test beyond diagnosis (treatment planning, severity, monitoring progress)

• How do we do we to “sell” the concept of dynamic assessment to administrators

• Case studies that show the pitfalls of over-reliance on standardized scores

• Misconceptions clinicians often hold, and what they should know about assessment

• Differences in state eligibility standards, and what this means for service decisions

This series is part myth-busting, part practical strategies, and part advocacy playbook—perfect for clinicians who want to move beyond compliance-driven evaluations toward assessments that truly reflect students’ needs.

You can listen to Part 1 of the series here.

Destiny Johnson, M.S., CCC-SLP, is a bilingual speech-language pathologist (English/Spanish) with a deep passion for culturally responsive assessment and treatment practices, as well as advocating for policy change. She has presented on dynamic assessment at the CSHA Convergence 2024, focusing on the importance of dynamic assessment in bilingual children. Destiny has experience working as a school-based SLP, in private practice, and in early intervention. She is also the founder and CEO of Multimodal Communication Speech Clinic P.C.

Connect with Destiny on Instagram @destinyjohnsonslp, on her private practice website here, and on LinkedIn here.

Listen to Destiny’s previous episode on De Facto Leaders here: EP 187: Dynamic Assessment: Evaluations are a process, not a test (with Destiny Johnson)

Tiffany Shahoumian-Ruiz is a bilingual high school SLP from Southern California who has primarily worked in the school systems and has experience at both the elementary and secondary level. She’s also a member of Language Therapy Advance Foundations, and is involved in state and local advocacy work relating to dynamic assessments and special education eligibility.

Connect with Tiffany on Instagram @tiffany.shahoumian

Listen to Tiffany’s previous episode on De Facto Leaders here: High school language therapy: Do we still have time to make an impact? (with Tiffany Shahoumian-Ruiz)

In this episode, I mention 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.

Additional Resources Mentioned in the episode:

Daub, O., Cunningham, B. J., Bagatto, M. P., Johnson, A. M., Kwok, E. Y., Smyth, R. E., & Oram Cardy, J. (2021). Adopting a conceptual validity framework for testing in speech-language pathology. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 30(4), 1894–1908. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_AJSLP-20-00032

Spaulding, T. J., Plante, E., & Farinella, K. A. (2006). Eligibility criteria for language impairment: Is the low end of normal always appropriate? Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 37(1), 61–72. https://doi.org/10.1044/0161-1461(2006/007)

DYMOND Norm-Referenced Dynamic Assessment

Bilingual English-Spanish Assessment (BESA)

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 few years, conversations about education in the U.S. circle back to the same refrain: Why can’t we be more like Finland?

In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Chrishawn Finister from Your Joy Psychological, PLLC to unpack this comparison.

We dig into the nuanced relationship between educational eligibility and clinical diagnosis, which often overlap but aren’t interchangeable. From there, we widen the lens to explore the broader systems-level challenges that shape how students are identified, supported, and served.

Some key themes we discuss:

✅ Orthographic density and literacy: Why differences in written language systems matter when comparing reading outcomes across countries.

✅ Population homogeneity and “education tracks”: When we look at instructional outcomes data, the students included in the education system and the numbers matter. Are the same individuals “counting” when we compare results across countries? 

✅ Teacher pay and professional identity: What Finland’s investment in teacher preparation and salary looks like compared to the U.S. (spoiler alert: Dr. Finister and I both think the US should be more like Finland on this one). 

✅ Cultural perceptions of medicine vs. education: Why recommendations from evaluations are perceived differently depending on the setting and who is making decisions about services.

✅ Housing instability and socioeconomic factors: We’re educating students with complex needs in the US who have varying experiences outside of school. With this in mind, has the education system made more progress than what the media is saying? 

Rather than looking for a one-size-fits-all solution, we highlight why U.S. educators, policymakers, and clinicians need to understand the challenges and opportunities when designing systems of support.

If you’ve ever wondered where the lines between clinical diagnosis and educational eligibility blur, this conversation will give you a grounded perspective.

Dr. Chrishawn Finister is an Independent Practicing Licensed Psychological Associate and a Licensed Specialist in School Psychology, possessing over a decade of experience in the role of School Psychologist. Recognized as a Nationally Certified School Psychologist, she is committed to utilizing diagnostically sound assessments to identify learning barriers and implementing research-based interventions to amend challenging behaviors effectively. Dr. Finister is an advocate of culturally competent practices and is dedicated to training future practitioners in the field. She received her foundational training in psychological pedagogy and assessments at Texas Woman’s University, where she completed her Master’s degree in 2010. While working in a prominent North Texas public school district, she advanced her education by earning a Doctoral degree in Educational Leadership and Policy from the University of Texas at Arlington in 2019. Her contributions to the field extend to academia, where she has served as a guest lecturer at the College of Education at Texas Christian University.

Places to connect with Dr. Finister:

Her private practice, Your Joy Psychological, PLLC

Website: https://yourjoypsych.com/

Business Instagram: @yourjoypsych

Her NonProfit, Texas Psychological Hive: https://thetexaspsychhive.org/

Non-profit Instagram: @texaxpsychhive

Additional Resources Mentioned in this episode:

Steven Pinker: https://stevenpinker.com/

Mark Manson: https://markmanson.net/

Dr. Tim Shanahan: https://www.shanahanonliteracy.com/

In this episode, I mention Language Therapy Advance Foundations, my program that gives SLPs and other service providers 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.

Most of us know that it’s important to work on vocabulary in language and literacy intervention.

But how do we know what words to pick? Should we be working on specific words, or should we be focusing on strategies?

If we DO work on words, how can we possibly keep up with the pace of the curriculum (and should we even try)?

I get these questions ALL the time from SLPs and other professionals supporting language and literacy, which is why this is something I help you navigate in both my Vocabulary Foundation and Language Therapy Advance Foundations program.

In episode 240 of De Facto Leaders, I share how I answer these questions about prioritization, vocabulary selection, and word-learning strategies. 

In this episode, I mentioned Language Therapy Advance Foundations, my program that helps SLPs and other service providers create a system for language therapy. You can learn more about the program here: https://drkarenspeech.com/languagetherapy/

You can check out the Vocabulary Foundation and other programs in my language therapy suite on my products and services page here: https://drkarenspeech.com/products-and-services/

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 look into research on the summer slide, I get more confused. It’s no wonder professionals and families are scrambling every May as they think about how kids should be spending their time in the summer. 

I’ve intended to do a deep dive into the research and gain a better understanding of how significant the “slide” is, for who, and what, exactly, is sliding. At the time I’m writing this, I still don’t feel I’ve done that. 

What I can do is speak to what I DO understand, which is why I wanted to share my commentary and a clip from my interview with my colleague, David Schipper, as we discuss our conclusions on the “summer slide”. 

At the end of the interview, I ended up with more questions than answers, but we both came to the conclusion that kids who are already behind will benefit from consistent, explicit intervention, and that we’d both want to take advantage of time available to close gaps in students who are already behind at the end of the school year. 

David Schipper is the director of Strategic Learning Clinic, a position he has held since 2013. David obtained a B.A. in English Literature from Concordia University in 1998 as well as a B.Ed. in Secondary Education (English and History) from McGill University in 2002. After some work as a local teacher in Montreal, David founded 2Torial Educational Centre in 2007. Aside from his ability to put both parents and students at ease, David is able to help families get to the root of the problem(s) and propose the most suitable programs to resolve these issues. As a father of two children, David knows how to relate to the concerns of parents and as an experienced educator and passionately understands the struggles of students. His passion and dedication to teaching and learning is second to none.

Here are some questions and discussion points from this episode:

✅ Why we need to think about the summer in the preceding fall, not in May.

✅ Looking at cumulative gains over the entire year rather than focusing on ONE time period.

✅ Some students are already behind when summer starts. So how much time should we spend debating if a “slide” exists”? 

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

I also mentioned Language Therapy Advance Foundations, my program that gives SLPs and other service providers a system for language therapy. You can learn more about the program here: https://drkarenspeech.com/languagetherapy/

You can connect with David on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-schipper-1537972a/

You can learn more about Strategic Learning Clinic on their website here: https://strategiclearning.ca/, on their Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/SLCStrategicLearningClinic, or on Instagram @strategiclearningclinic (https://www.instagram.com/strategiclearningclinic/).

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.

The idea that exposing kids to enriching literacy and play-based experiences will effectively teach them to read and write sounds nice on paper.

Unfortunately, it’s not in-line with the large and growing body of evidence that suggests that kids need direct, explicit instruction to learn to read, write, and spell. 

Sure, a select group of fortunate students will learn to read and write implicitly through exposure alone. But curricular decisions shouldn’t be based on what benefits a small percentage of their student population. 

That’s why in this episode, I share a clip and my commentary on my interview with Dr. Pamela Snow. 

Pamela Snow is a Professor of Cognitive Psychology in the School of Education at the Bendigo campus of La Trobe University, Australia. She is also Co-Director of the Science of Language and Reading (SOLAR) Lab. Pamela is a registered psychologist, having qualified originally in speech-language pathology and has taught a wide range of undergraduate and postgraduate education and health professionals. Her research has been funded by nationally competitive schemes such as the ARC Discovery Program, ARC Linkage Program, and the Criminology Research Council, and concerns the role of language and literacy skills as academic and mental health protective factors in childhood and adolescence. She has conducted research on the profiles and needs of high-risk groups such as youth offenders, children and adolescents in the state care system and flexible education systems, as well as research advancing evidence in the language-to-literacy transition in the early years of school. 

In this conversation, we discuss the need for nuance as it pertains to practices such as play-based instruction and project-based learning, and why these methods should be used in conjunction with direct reading instruction, not instead of. 

Dr. Snow also explains the difference between biologically primary and biologically secondary skills, and why this distinction matters when it comes to literacy instruction.

Discussion points from this episode:

✅ Play-based learning vs. early reading instruction: Why they aren’t in opposition.

✅ Using explicit instruction to build skills needed for problem-solving and successful project-based learning.

✅ Whose job is it to work on reading? How much is the responsibility of the schools, and what is the parent’s job?

You can listen to my original interview with Dr. Snow on the De Facto Leaders podcast here: EP 158: Literacy and background knowledge: Essential skills for life (with Dr. Pamela Snow) Link here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/ep-158-literacy-and-background-knowledge-essential-skills-for-life-with-dr-pamela-snow/

You can connect with Dr. Snow on X (formerly Twitter) @pamelasnow2 (https://twitter.com/PamelaSnow2) or on her blog at: http://pamelasnow.blogspot.com/

You can also learn more about her work on her La Trobe University page at: https://scholars.latrobe.edu.au/pcsnow

You can learn more about the Science of Language and Reading (SOLAR) lab at: https://www.latrobe.edu.au/school-education/about/spotlight

In this episode, I mention Language Therapy Advance Foundations, my program that helps 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.

When schools respond to “behavior problems” in students, the focus is often on the symptom, not the cause. 

Failing to look beyond the surface behavior does a disservice to students, which is why in this episode I share commentary and a clip from my conversation with Dr. Shameka Stewart on the school-to-confinement pipeline. 

Dr. Shameka Stewart is an Associate Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders and the Juvenile Forensic Speech-Language Pathologist(r). Dr. Stewart is also a special education advocate trained by the Wright’s Law training center. Dr. Stewart’s clinical and scholarly work specializes in Juvenile Forensics, Law Enforcement Interaction with youth with CD, child language disorders, and augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Her primary research focuses on the Confluence and Impact of cognitive and communication disorders on the school-to-confinement pipeline, status offenses, involvement with the criminal justice system, law enforcement interaction, and criminal recidivism in youth placed at-risk for delinquency and crime (especially Black and Brown youth from under-resourced areas). Dr. Stewart is also a clinically certified and licensed speech-language pathologist and is licensed to practice in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and multiple other states. Through her work, Dr. Stewart has created cutting edge social justice and juvenile justice specialty courses for graduate CSD students, nationally known training programs for law enforcement and legal counsel, and national and international CE workshops and training for licensed SLP clinicians, students, and families of children with special needs.

Discussion points from this episode include: 

✅The relationship between reading challenges and the school-to-confinement pipeline.

✅Why “behavior problems” could be related to language processing, reading, or writing challenges.

✅“They should know better”: Why we can’t assume kids comprehend language in the school discipline handbook. 

If you’re working with students in K-12 of any age, this episode is a must-listen. 

You can listen to the original interview with Dr. Stewart on the De Facto Leaders podcast here: EP 180: The relationship of literacy and language skills and involvement with the justice system (with Dr. Shameka Stewart) Link here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/ep-180-the-relationship-of-literacy-and-language-skills-and-involvement-with-the-justice-system-with-dr-shameka-stewart/

You can connect with Dr. Stewart on her website here: www.juvforensicslp.com

Connect with her on Instagram @drjuvenile_forensicslp (link here: http://drjuvenile_forensicslp/)

Join her Facebook group SLPs 4 Juvenile Justice here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1226771284165745/members

In this episode, I mention Language Therapy Advance Foundations, my program that helps SLPs and other service providers create a system for language therapy. You can learn more about the program here: https://drkarenspeech.com/languagetherapy/

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