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

Executive Functioning Summer Camp (with Eric Smith)

In this episode, I sit down with Eric Smith from GrowNOW ADHD, to explore innovative approaches to social skills and executive functioning through the lens of a commun...

A Speech Pathologist's Journey Through Brain Surgery and Recovery (with Ana Hernandez)

In this powerful episode, I sit down with Ana Hernandez, a speech pathologist who found herself on the other side of the therapy room after undergoing brain surgery. A...

SEEing to Lead: Collaborating for Better Literacy (with Karen Dudek-Brannan)

This week, I’m sharing an interview I did with another host on the BE podcast network because I think it’s something you’ll really enjoy. The episode is going live in ...

Re-Release: ADHD and the Appeal to Nature Fallacy

In light of the mass amount of misinformation about ADHD, particularly regarding medication, I thought it was time to do a re-release of this past episode.*Disclaimer,...

The Art of Decluttering and Habit Stacking for Clinicians (with Marisha Mets)

I remember the first time I “Marie Kondoed” my therapy room and got rid of materials that were published before I was born. There were shelves of things I never used, ...

More Episodes »