Episodes

Get .1 ASHA CEU here As the resident SLP Nerdcasters, we are doing our best to bring you interviews and other content that aligns with your learning needs and enhances your practice. Turns out sometimes that content scratches an itch deep inside our nerd brains and leads us on a crazy, sometimes circuitous, quest to learn more. Perhaps we read an article, which leads us to another article, rinse and repeat, over and over and over and…we have a conversation about said articles, and another conve...

Get .1 ASHA CEU here In this episode we had the great pleasure of welcoming Sarah Gregory, MS, CCC-SLP onto our show to discuss AAC and Inclusion in a virtual environment. Throughout she reminds us that inclusion is a mindset, not a location. She also highlights what we can do as SLPs to embrace the continuum of service delivery and collaborate with stakeholders and communication partners. You can learn more about Sarah here. _____ Inclusion of students with disabilities, specifically those wi...

Get .1 ASHA CEU here Wow. Nina Reeves comes to us by way of a listener request, and we are doubly grateful! Thank you to our listener for bringing our attention to such a fantastic resource, and so many thanks to Nina Reeves for being generous with her time and knowledge! Those of you who are regular listeners know that fluency is one of the areas Kate and Amy identify when talking about Scope of Practice versus Scope of Competence (namely that we’d both have an awful lot of professional develop...

Get .1 ASHA CEU here Episode Summary: How prevalent is CAS REALLY? Is it true that CAS is the most over-diagnosed of the speech sound disorders? How does treatment for motor speech challenges differ from “traditional” arctic treatment? The Nerd crew doesn’t dance around these hot topics in this week’s episode, although there is a catchy Kate jingle to start things off. Before you dive in, you might want to listen to a previous episode (Maybe it’s Apraxia?: diagnostic considerations for childhoo...

Get .1 ASHA CEU here Episode Summary If you’re like me, you left grad school crossing your fingers that you could avoid clinically working with fluency so the world would never know how much you don’t know. Or maybe you’re not like me, and fluency is your jam (thank you!). Either way, this episode has something for every SLP, calling out some really big elephants in the room, including how to avoid bad goal writing that leads to ineffective therapy. Nina Reeves is back with her no-nonsense appr...

Get .1 ASHA CEU here Episode Summary: In this week’s episode, guest expert Chelsea Privette helps us get real about language ideology and our responsibilities to shift the “standard” as language professionals supporting linguistically and culturally diverse communicators. There was more than one “ah-ha” moment across this Nerdcast as Chelsea helps us consider tangible strategies to shift our thinking and practice around core issues in the field. There’s also a healthy dose of challenging the st...

Get .1 ASHA CEU here Episode Summary How does the opening scene of Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan help us better understand test validity? Tune in to find out as Dr. Doug Peterson and Dr. Trina Spencer return to the Nerdcast to continue the discussion on dynamic assessment (DA). If you haven’t already, beam back to Part 1 of the series to set the scene. In this follow-up, Trina and Doug weave just the right amount of side-tracked laughter, nerdy sci-fi narrative, and evidence-based discussion t...

Get .1 ASHA CEU here Episode Summary AAC evaluations got you reaching for the Advil? Breathe, there’s a framework for that! In this week’s episode, learn how to eliminate the guesswork in AAC system decision-making as Kate and Amy tag-team Part 2 of the AAC Evaluation Basics Series. If you are new to AAC evaluations and haven’t listened to Part 1 in this series, you might want to take a quick detour to set your foundation. If your mindset is in the AAC-foundational principles zone already, jum...

Get .1 ASHA CEU here Episode Summary Let’s hear a Woot! Woot! (with an emphasis on the OT) for this week’s episode featuring Instagrammers and AAC enthusiasts, Mara Jonet (SLP) and Annabeth Knight (OT) of The Fanny Pack Therapist. This collaborative duo shares their tips and experiences tackling AAC assessment and intervention through the evidence-based practice of interdisciplinary collaboration. Learn how to utilize creative partnerships with your friendly neighborhood OT to fill the gaps in ...

Get .1 ASHA CEU here Episode Summary Pssst! SLP! Yep, you over there in the speech closet. Did you know that you are likely the most knowledgeable professional in your school when it comes to language development, assessment, and intervention? Ok, so maybe you already knew that, but do your education colleagues and administrators know? This week’s episode tackles the basics of Multi-Tiered Systems of Supports (MTSS) in schools and provides an incredibly strong argument for why SLP’s need a lead...

Get .1 ASHA CEU here Episode Summary: How common is it for children to acquire a brain injury and what does that have to do with you as a school-based SLP? Tune in this week to find out as pediatric brain injury specialist and SLP, Jenny Traver, shares her expertise in helping children and families transition back to school after brain injury. This episode is a great reminder that although you may not be a “cog-com expert” like Jenny, as an SLP with a neural base in your graduate training, you ...

Get .1 ASHA CEU here Episode Summary You’re an awesome school-based SLP, the resident language expert, the speech closet hostess with the mostest. You’re chugging along, doing your assessment thing, determining eligibility here, pushing into the classroom there, pulling kids out, chattin’ with the teacher- you’ve got this! Then BAM!! This episode comes out of nowhere and reveals an unknown blind spot in our educational system, putting a serious snag in your assessment status quo. No worries, th...

Get .1 ASHA CEU here Episode Summary: This just in! Students do better when they are engaged and motivated! Okay... maybe that’s not a newsflash for you, but perhaps you haven’t yet thought about the role of engagement and motivation in academics, specifically writing endeavors for students who struggle with language. In this week’s episode, Dr. Robin Danzack of Emerson College in Boston floods the podcast newswaves with her expertise on the role of “authentic” student writing intervention in s...

Get .1 ASHA CEU here Episode Summary: Hey cog-com SLP’s, looking for an episode that’s just right? This one’s for you! This week, the talented, outpatient adult SLP and host of the Speech Uncensored podcast - Leigh Ann Porter-joins Kate to talk about modifying CARTs and spot on ARCS in the creation of home programs for patients with mild aphasia. I promise, it will all make sense when you listen-Leigh Ann does an awesome job explaining so that even Kate (and I) can understand (haha, a little pe...

Get .1 ASHA CEU here Episode Summary: You’re a rockstar SLP. You read the research. You eat, drink, sleep EBP- but something still feels like it’s missing... Reading the literature makes your brain hurt. You feel like you just can’t make this research-based practice stuff work. It’s like you’re jumping into the research-to-practice gap without a parachute. Enter implementation science-the game changer, your parachute. Ok, you’re probably like “Implementation what now? Never heard of it!” I’m wi...

Get .1 ASHA CEU here Episode Summary: Did you know that dyslexia not only affects literacy development but language as well? I didn’t…. But now I do (and you will too!) thanks to this week’s super cool episode with Jeannette Washington of Bearly Articulating. Jeannette has many super powers, including SLP spidey senses and mad tech skills, which she uses daily to support students with dyslexia in Detroit, Michigan. Jeannette walks us through the SLP’s role in supporting students with dyslexia u...

Get .1 ASHA CEU here Episode Summary Hey school-based SLP’s, Want to learn how to do more for your students struggling with language, using less time and less direct instruction from just you? Well then, shimmy on over to this week’s episode, where Dr. Trina Spencer and Dr. Doug Peterson return to share some “friggin awesome” intervention-focused follow-up to their previous talks on MTSS and dynamic assessment (DA). If you’ve listened to this duo on prior episodes, you know they are dynamos, de...

You asked, and we listened. Research tells us that as SLPs we rely heavily on standardized assessments, even though the samples are often biased. Not to mention, our complex learners are not represented in these samples. Standardized tests are not designed to measure individual changes in functional communication, so when we use them in assessments for complex learners we often aren’t measuring the skills that are meaningful to our clients. So the question becomes - what can we as clinicians do...

Get .1 ASHA CEU here Episode Summary In this week’s episode Uri Schneider teachers us about the importance of approaching therapy with what works for our clients, not what works for us. He reminds us how important it is to bring humanity back into our therapy rooms, and to lead with one of the most important therapy tools we have: our ability to care - to really care - about our clients. Uri walks us through the transcending stuttering approach, which we learned is built around these fundament...

Happy October! We are trying out something new - at the beginning of each month we will publish a brief preview of podcast episodes and courses to come. Let’s take a look at what’s coming in the month of October! October 3rd, 2021 Podcast Course: Unlocking the Mystery of Selective Mutism with Dr. Aimee Kotrba. In this episode we review the role of the SLP in the evaluation and treatment of children who present with selective mutism. Dr. Kotrba was an incredible guest with tons of additional ...

Get .1 ASHA CEU here Episode Summary Selective mutism: the mystery that we hear about in graduate school but most of us don’t quite know a lot about. How can we better support students with selective mutism? What is our role as SLPs on the team? What accommodations do we need to consider in a school environment? How do we communicate and work with other professionals in this area? Dr. Aimee Kotrba walks us through all this and more in this week’s episode. Learn more about Dr. Kotrba here. Cou...

Get .1 ASHA CEU here Episode Summary Wouldn’t it be cool if you could find a job that beautifully married your career and your favorite hobby? Lucky for all of us, this week’s Nerdcast guest has managed to nail this amazing mash-up and maximizes client outcomes in the process. Jenna Muri-Rosenthal is an SLP, brian injury specialist, certified Level II Cross-Fit trainer, and an adaptive and Inclusive trainer who helps brain injury survivors to “find their way back to feeling like themselves' ' i...

Get .1 ASHA CEU here Episode Summary A wise Nerd once said “Stuttering doesn’t happen in a vacuum”, and neither should our stuttering therapy. That wise “stutter nerd” is Nina Reeves and she is back on the mic for this week’s episode sharing some straight talk about the how and why of involving the whole village in intervention for students who stutter. If you haven’t already listened to the other wise stuff that Nina has shared on the podcast, check them out here. Like so many of us in the fie...

Get .1 ASHA CEU here Episode Summary What is harder (and even more rewarding, I might add) than supporting the communication development of tiny humans? Well, providing early intervention to tiny humans with complex communication needs, of course. Graduate training certainly doesn’t prepare us for everything and most SLP’s get minimal to no didactic or clinical exposure to early intervention OR supporting complex communicators, making this mash-up a true head scratcher for many of us. I had the...