Learn Smarter Podcast

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385: “I’m too busy for Educational Therapy” (Educational Therapy Series) Nov 04, 2025

Show notes

Rachel Kapp, M.Ed., BCET, and Stephanie Pitts, M.Ed., BCET discuss how important educational therapy is when learners have a busy schedule. As educational therapists, Rachel and Steph are constantly supporting busy learners who want to accomplish and engage with all the things–and look at educational therapy as a “waste” of their very valuable time. In this episode, Rachel and Steph dig into how vital it is for a busy learner to have strong executive functioning skills and that busy-ness is often a critical sign that educational therapy is necessary. Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/learnsmarterpodcast How to connect with us: Join our e-mail list Rachel’s Kapp Educational Therapy Group website Steph’s My Ed Therapist website @learnsmarterpodcast, @kappedtherapy, @myedtherapist Other episodes mentioned: Ep 297: Time Blindness (Educational Therapy Series)

384: Metacognition Formula Oct 28, 2025

Show notes

Rachel Kapp, M.Ed., BCET, and Stephanie Pitts, M.Ed., BCET discuss metacognition, which is the idea of “thinking about thinking”. The ability to reflect back and compassionately examine one's own thinking is an important skill developed in educational therapy. Rachel and Steph talk through how to develop this with learners. Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/learnsmarterpodcast How to connect with us: Join our e-mail list Rachel’s Kapp Educational Therapy Group website Steph’s My Ed Therapist website @learnsmarterpodcast, @kappedtherapy, @myedtherapist

383: Executive Functioning of Moving (Executive Functioning Series) Oct 21, 2025

Show notes

Rachel Kapp, M.Ed., BCET, and Stephanie Pitts, M.Ed., BCET share a behind the scenes episode on Steph’s executive functioning experience (nightmare?) of moving homes. She shares the challenges, overwhelm, and curveballs that occurred during her recent move and how it has helped her empathize with executive functioning skills challenges. Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/learnsmarterpodcast How to connect with us: Join our e-mail list Rachel’s Kapp Educational Therapy Group website Steph’s My Ed Therapist website @learnsmarterpodcast, @kappedtherapy, @myedtherapist Other episodes mentioned: Ep 03: The Do’s and Don’ts of Studying Ep 04: Creating a Study Plan Ep 126: How to Study for a Math Test Ep 140: The Secret to "Studying Harder" (Educational Therapy Series) Ep 160: Our #1 Study Hack (Tricks of the Trade Series)

382: Tribute to Dr. Thomas Brown Oct 14, 2025

Show notes

Rachel Kapp, M.Ed., BCET, and Stephanie Pitts, M.Ed., BCET reair episode 50 of Learn Smarter: the Educational Therapy podcast to remember their guest, Dr. Thomas Brown. To contribute to his memorial fund, click here. To read his obituary, click here. Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/learnsmarterpodcast How to connect with us: Join our e-mail list Rachel’s Kapp Educational Therapy Group website Steph’s My Ed Therapist website @learnsmarterpodcast, @kappedtherapy, @myedtherapist

381: Why Strategies Don’t Stick (Educational Therapy Series) Oct 07, 2025

Show notes

Rachel Kapp, M.Ed., BCET, and Stephanie Pitts, M.Ed., BCET discuss a major parent, learner, and educational therapist frustration today–which is why strategies don’t stick. In this episode they dig into the plethora of reasons why strategies don’t stick or rather become “generalized skills”. Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/learnsmarterpodcast How to connect with us: Join our e-mail list Rachel’s Kapp Educational Therapy Group website Steph’s My Ed Therapist website @learnsmarterpodcast, @kappedtherapy, @myedtherapist Other episodes mentioned: Ep 87: Why Every Learner Needs a Living Strategies Document (Educational Therapy Series) Ep 79: The 4 excuses kids have for not calendaring (Executive Function Series)

380: Diane Dempster and Collaborative Parent Dynamics (Local Professional Series) Sep 30, 2025

Show notes

Rachel Kapp, M.Ed., BCET, and Stephanie Pitts, M.Ed., BCET welcome back Diane Dempster, co-founder of Impact Parents. She discusses the different flavors of parent roles in the educational therapy process (“you handle it,” “micromanager,” and “in-betweeners”). She shares about the importance of creating a relationship with parents and personalizing the relationship. She also shares a tool, AC-E (acknowledge, show compassion, wait and explore) that can help diffuse upregulated situations. They once again discuss the differences between boundaries and agreements as well as discussions about recalibration of collaborative agreements. Connect with Diane: Parenting with Impact impactparenting.com/podcast Homework Without Headaches Workshop: https://impactparents.securechkout.com/HomeworkWorkshopSpecial?orid=23056&opid=255 10 Parenting Tips for School Success: https://impactparents.pages.ontraport.net/homework-headaches-freebie?utm_campaign=imp-freebie&utm_source=learn-smarter-podcast&utm_medium=event&utm_content=hh Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/learnsmarterpodcast How to connect with us: Join our e-mail list Rachel’s Kapp Educational Therapy Group website Steph’s My Ed Therapist website @learnsmarterpodcast, @kappedtherapy, @myedtherapist Other episodes mentioned: Ep 135: Parenting your Complex Kid with Elaine Taylor-Klaus (Author Series) Ep 149: How to Prioritize while Parenting with Elaine Taylor-Klaus and Diane Dempster (Author Series) Ep 157: Anatomy of the Trigger with Diane Dempster (Parenting Series)

379: Disclosing Diagnoses – Parent Fears and Learner Realities (Educational Therapy Series) Sep 23, 2025

Show notes

Rachel Kapp, M.Ed., BCET, and Stephanie Pitts, M.Ed., BCET discuss the complex nature of disclosing diagnoses to learners. They discuss parents' fear of disclosing diagnoses versus the reality of what it actually means to share diagnostic information. Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/learnsmarterpodcast How to connect with us: Join our e-mail list Rachel’s Kapp Educational Therapy Group website Steph’s My Ed Therapist website @learnsmarterpodcast, @kappedtherapy, @myedtherapist

378: Reair – All or Nothing Brain Sep 16, 2025

Show notes

In this re-air of episode 186, Rachel Kapp, M.Ed., BCET, and Stephanie Pitts, M.Ed., BCET explore the concept of the “all or nothing brain” and how it impacts learning, school, and daily life. Rachel and Steph break down what it means, how it commonly shows up, and why recognizing this pattern is so important. Through real-world examples, they highlight the ways an all-or-nothing mindset can influence decision-making and share insights into supporting learners who think this way. Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/learnsmarterpodcast How to connect with us: Join our e-mail list Rachel’s Kapp Educational Therapy Group website Steph’s My Ed Therapist website @learnsmarterpodcast, @kappedtherapy, @myedtherapist

377: Dr. Brennan Chandler and All Things Dyslexia (Reading Series) Part 2 Sep 09, 2025

Show notes

Rachel Kapp, M.Ed., BCET, and Stephanie Pitts, M.Ed., BCET welcome Dr. Brennan Chandler, Assistant Professor at Georgia State University, for the second half of their conversation. Dr. Chandler shares what works: effective instruction and support can lead to skilled, confident readers. He discusses his role of breaking down the research and talks about the benefit of targeted, direct, explicit instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, spelling and reading fluency support. He discusses our job as interventionists is to “crack the code” coupled with a lot of feedback. He also shares practical routines and advice and emphasizes different instructional routines to meet a child’s needs. He even shares free, evidence-based researched interventions that work! He also talks about the importance of generalizing sounds to words to connected text. Sound Partners –https://www.voyagersopris.com/products/reading/sound-partners Maryanne Wolf–RAVO–https://www.maryannewolf.com/raveo-intervention Word Connections–Free online https://www.jessicatoste.com/wordconnections Rewords–Anita Archer https://www.voyagersopris.com/products/reading/rewards Connect with Dr. Chandler: BrennanChandler.com Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/learnsmarterpodcast How to connect with us: Join our e-mail list Rachel’s Kapp Educational Therapy Group website Steph’s My Ed Therapist website @learnsmarterpodcast, @kappedtherapy, @myedtherapist

376: Dr. Brennan Chandler and All Things Dyslexia – Part 1 (Reading Series) Sep 02, 2025

Show notes

Rachel Kapp, M.Ed., BCET, and Stephanie Pitts, M.Ed., BCET welcome Dr. Brennan Chandler, Assistant Professor at Georgia State University for the first part of our conversation. He defines dyslexia for us in 3 different ways (legal, medical, IDA/practical) and discusses myths of dyslexia. He discusses risk factors and protective or resilience factors which impact risk for dyslexia. He talks about how intervention needs to be maintained throughout education, not just in K-2. He shares how overaccommodation with older learners should not take the place of individualized intervention. He also shares how dyslexia impacts other domains beyond just reading. Connect with Dr. Chandler: BrennanChandler.com Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/learnsmarterpodcast How to connect with us: Join our e-mail list Rachel’s Kapp Educational Therapy Group website Steph’s My Ed Therapist website @learnsmarterpodcast, @kappedtherapy, @myedtherapist

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