Language Therapy and Leadership for Pediatric Clinicians
One of the most disheartening things I’ve seen in clinical communities is how polarizing certain topics have become. A topic on that list would be “following directions” goals. While I’d agree that goals for following directions often end up being too compliance-focused in the way they’re implemented, I’d caution people from throwing the baby out with the…
One of my go-to, re-watchable comfort movies is High Fidelity. It’s definitely in my “all time top 5” (other High Fidelity nerds will get the reference). For those who haven’t seen it, the main character in the movie is constantly making “all time top 5” lists about various things (usually music, but sometimes career paths and other things). He…
In the month of September 2024, the Be Podcast Network partnered with Reading Is Fundamental for a campaign designed to spread awareness of effective literacy practices. As part of this effort I hosted a series of guests on De Facto Leaders to speak on topics relating to language, literacy, and advocacy. Reading Is Fundamental is…
Since I provide a lot of online content, I often get asked if people can share my information for professional presentations, with clients, or with colleagues. In this post, I wanted to share some guidelines you can use for sharing online content, as well as some things that are specific to resources I offer. If…
I offer a free training on executive functioning where I talk about the common mistakes school teams make. In this training define what executive functioning is, and some big picture ideas about how to support kids effectively. The five skills I discuss in that intervention framework are: 1. Self-talk2. Time-perception3. Future Pacing4. Episodic Memory5. Encoding Today,…
I wanted to share this episode from the De Facto Leader’s podcast to make it accessible on the blog since this is such as common question for my readers and listeners. When kids need support with language, reading/writing, and executive functioning, they often have multiple diagnoses. This makes both treatment planning, diagnosis, and determining eligibility…
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…
I’ve gotten requests from my School of Clinical Leadership members for resources that can be share with families and other professionals; and since coaching and training others is such an important part of effective executive functioning intervention, I decided to compile a list of content I’ve created on this topic. All of these things on…
“But isn’t this just forcing students to act neurotypical?” This is one of the most common objections I get when I talk about executive functioning; specifically executive functioning that impacts social relationships. Executive functioning skills are important for anyone interested in having relationships with others; neurotypical or not. Planning interventions in a way that is…
Recently in some clinical discussion groups, I’ve seen therapists asking for lesson plans to build perspective taking and situational awareness. This makes me feel optimistic, because it shows that they understand that social skills issues are related to executive functioning. But “activities” for improving perspective taking will not come from a set of materials you…