Hi there, I’m Karen Dudek-Brannan!

I’m a Professional Development Specialist, SLP, and founder/owner/operate of Dr. Karen, LLC, a company focused on empowering therapists and educators to design interventions that support language, literacy, and executive functioning. In my current role, I develop engaging professional development and products that help school teams work together to get better results.

On the De Facto Leaders Podcast, I share up-to-date evidence-based practices, my own experience, and guest interviews designed to help pediatric therapists, educators, and aspiring school leaders design services that support social, emotional, and academic growth and set kids up for success in adulthood. Whether you want to learn effective strategies for your therapy session or classroom, be an influential leader on your team, or find creative ways to use your skills to advance in your career, I’ve got you covered. You can listen to the De Facto Leaders podcast on most popular podcast directories, and can scroll through past episodes on this page here.

Latest Episodes

What's the point of teaching storytelling? (with Jane Gebers)

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 ...

Not seeing generalization? You might be the bottleneck.

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 boo...

Part 3: What’s the Point of a Language Evaluation? Breaking Down Diagnostic Accuracy, Standards, and Scores (with Destiny Johnson and Tiffany Shahoumian-Ruiz)

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 quest...

Part 2: What’s the Point of a Language Evaluation? Breaking Down Diagnostic Accuracy, Standards, and Scores (with Destiny Johnson and Tiffany Shahoumian-Ruiz)

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...

Part 1: What’s the Point of a Language Evaluation? Breaking Down Diagnostic Accuracy, Standards, and Scores (with Destiny Johnson and Tiffany Shahoumian-Ruiz)

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...

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