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

Using AI to write IEP goals and manage service plans (with Sean Klamm)

No one working in special ed has ever said, “I chose this career so I could do paperwork all evening and weekend.”Yet many realize after getting into the field that ad...

Becoming a literacy leader and advocating for the right to read (with Brianna Guild)

Related service providers are often considered subject matter experts. Our role is to support other members of multidisciplinary teams like teachers, parents and admin...

Therapy session structure, narrative language, and commentary on gestalt language processing

In this episode, I share a special Q & A session I did with the members of Language Therapy Advance Foundations; my program that provides service providers with a rese...

Debriefing, de-escalation, and relationship repair (with Crissy Mombela)

Our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors don’t have to define us. This is an important thing to remember for adults dealing with professional burnout and compassion fatig...

The cost of caring: Compassion fatigue in education and healthcare (with Crissy Mombela)

People working in school or medical settings are in a position to be caring for others in their professional lives; which makes it difficult to leave work at work.When...

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