🎙 [00:00]
Hey everyone, and welcome to The Principal’s Handbook. I’m your host, Barb Flowers—a principal, life coach, and advocate for confident, balanced leadership.

In today’s episode, I’m excited to be joined by Dr. Karen Dudek-Brannan. She’s the founder of Dr. Karen, LLC, a company that empowers therapists and educators to design interventions supporting language, literacy, and executive functioning. Karen has a doctorate in special education along with credentials in assistive technology and special ed administration from Illinois State University. She also has a background as a speech-language pathologist and spent 14 years working in schools and higher education.

Karen is also the host of the DeFacto Leaders Podcast and a fellow member of the Bee Podcast Network. In this episode, she shares how multidisciplinary teams can work together to create effective service models for students on IEPs—while also reducing overwhelm and improving collaboration.

Whether you’re navigating conflicting schedules, trying to support students with multiple needs, or simply want to improve how your team communicates—this episode is packed with actionable insight. Let’s dive in!

🎙 [01:00]
Barb: Karen, welcome! I’m so glad you’re here. Can you start by telling our listeners a little more about yourself?

Karen: Thank you so much, Barb. I’m excited to be here! I’ll try to give you the short version. I’m a licensed speech-language pathologist, and I spent 14 years working in schools while also earning my doctorate in special ed and my director of special ed credential. During that time, I also supervised clinicians and educators in training.

Eventually, I decided not to pursue a traditional admin role or private practice but instead created online programs to help SLPs better understand their role in language and literacy—especially around the science of reading and executive functioning. These are areas where SLPs often feel underprepared.

Over the last five years, I’ve developed courses not only for SLPs, but also for teachers and school leaders. Most recently, I started working in child welfare as a product manager for preventative services. And, as you mentioned, I host The DeFacto Leaders Podcast, where I talk about supporting multidisciplinary teams in both education and healthcare.

Structuring Collaborative Teams

Barb: You have so much experience! One area I wanted to focus on today is how multidisciplinary teams—especially those serving students with IEPs—can collaborate better. How can principals structure their teams to support students effectively, especially when so many moving parts are involved?

Karen: Great question. One of the biggest mindset shifts teams need is moving from planning for instruction to planning for service delivery. Early in your career, it makes sense to focus on your specific role—what curriculum or protocols you’re using, how you run therapy or lessons. But once you’re confident in that, it’s time to zoom out.

You need to consider how your work fits into the larger support system for the student. How are they being supported throughout the day—not just in your room? That’s when real collaboration starts to happen.

This is also where administrators play a key role. Principals have that bird’s-eye view and can ensure each team member feels confident in their area so they have the bandwidth to collaborate more effectively.

From Therapy Planning to Service Delivery

Karen: It’s also about shifting from the “pull-out” medical model of therapy to a more integrated service approach. That doesn’t mean pull-out is wrong—but it needs to be part of a bigger plan that includes generalization and collaboration.

One example: when I worked with a student who needed behavior and communication support, I regularly consulted with the aide who worked with him. Sometimes she even joined my therapy sessions so I could train her directly. That’s what real service delivery looks like—everyone on the same page, supporting the student beyond their IEP minutes.

Compliance vs. Reality

Barb: I love that! It’s so practical. But how do you balance what’s written on the IEP with what’s actually best for the student—especially when time is limited?

Karen: First, you have to know your compliance requirements. You must honor what’s written in the IEP. But within that, there’s often flexibility—like using consult minutes to support generalization across settings.

For example, if you’re doing social skills instruction, the lesson alone isn’t enough. Students need practice in real-world situations. Your direct therapy can prep them, but it’s the follow-through during recess, in the classroom, or with a trained aide that ensures the learning sticks.

Team Communication and Co-Teaching

Barb: That brings up another challenge—how to encourage collaboration when team members have very different schedules or preferences for service delivery. What advice do you have for principals navigating that?

Karen: Start by building trust. Some SLPs, for example, may be nervous about co-teaching because they worry it will dilute the quality of their therapy. They don’t want to feel like a glorified helper.

That’s where intentional planning comes in. Effective co-teaching means true collaboration—taking turns leading instruction, shared planning, mutual respect. If a team hasn’t tried it before, pilot it. Start with one teacher, one student, and see how it goes. Don’t force full-scale changes overnight. Let it grow organically.

Supporting Diverse Learners Through Universal Design

Barb: You’ve also talked about universal design for learning (UDL). How can principals and teams use UDL to better support all students—not just those with IEPs?

Karen: Yes! Executive functioning is a great example. Skills like task initiation, time management, and self-talk benefit every student—not just those with a diagnosis.

Teachers can use visual schedules, model metacognition, and embed small supports into daily instruction. That helps reduce behavior issues, increases student independence, and lightens the load for everyone—because you’re not scrambling with one-off fixes.

Principals should support training in these strategies. It’s an up-front investment that pays off long-term.

🎙 [27:00]
Barb: That’s such a powerful message. Our goal as principals is to make things less stressful for everyone—teachers, teams, and ultimately our students. And I love that your approach helps with exactly that.

Karen, thank you so much for joining me today. Where can people connect with you or learn more about your resources?

Karen: Absolutely! School leaders can schedule a call with me at teachingwell.life/call to talk about team support. I also have a free bundle of resources available at teachingwell.life/bundle, which includes tools for collaboration and service delivery. And of course, you can find all my content at teachingwell.life.

Thanks again, Karen, and thank you to everyone for tuning in to another episode of The Principal’s Handbook. If you found this episode helpful, be sure to leave a review on Apple Podcasts and share it with a colleague.

We’ll see you next time!