How can a simple tool can strengthen complex clinical decision-making?

Guests: Kelly Kleinhans, PhD, CCC-SLP, and Courtney Richards, MS, CCC-SLP, CLC

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Kelly and Courtney share how mind maps and case-based learning are used in graduate training to help learners organize complex information, recognize patterns, and connect assessment findings to meaningful intervention planning. Explore how these strategies can support diverse learning styles while also strengthening supervision and mentoring conversations. Use these tools to help students make sense of complex PFD cases and translate knowledge into confident, thoughtful clinical decisions.

About the Guests: Dr. Kelly Kleinhans is a professor, program director, and clinical education enthusiast who is passionate about helping graduate students become confident, compassionate, and practice-ready SLPs. She leads the Master of Speech-Language Pathology program at Austin Peay State University.

Courtney Richards, MS, CCC-SLP, CLC, is the Lead Feeding Therapist at Advanced Therapy Solutions (ATS) in Clarksville, TN, where she oversees the feeding program across three clinics.

Show Notes:

Bridging Pedagogy and Practice: Case-Based Learning and Mind Maps by Kelly Kleinhans, Courtney Richards, and Alison Desomma

Supplemental Material

APSU Speech-Language & Swallowing Community Clinic

Feeding Therapy Sweatshirt - Courtney’s Etsy Store

Feeding Matters Power of Two Program

Support Feeding Matters

Related Course: Research to "Chew On" with Dr. Amy Delaney

RAM Clinics

Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ by Giulia Enders

If Disney Ran Your Hospital: 9 1/2 Things You Would Do Differently by Fred Lee

Mentioned in this episode:

Register for the School-based Feeding and Swallowing Masterclass

How can we strengthen and mentor the next generation of clinicians?

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Michelle Dawson, MS, CCC-SLP, CLC, BCS-S, FNAP welcomes Belinda Daughrity, PhD, CCC-SLP, Anita Fitzgerald, PhD, RN, AGNP, and Sharon Konrad, DNP, RN, ACNS-BC, CNE to this episode of First Bite for a powerful conversation on mentoring a healthy professional identity in future colleagues. Together, these SLPs and nurses demonstrate why interprofessional education across allied health professions is not optional, it is essential. The conversation unpacks what “professional identity” really means in clinical education, why it matters for long-term career resilience, and how intentional mentoring shapes confident, ethical SLPs.

About the Guests: Belinda Daughrity, PhD, CCC-SLP, Anita Fitzgerald, PhD, RN, AGNP, and Sharon Konrad, DNP, RN, ACNS-BC, CNE are a powerhouse group from California State University Long Beach who bring research from the fields of nursing and social work and pour that wisdom directly into speech-language pathology to strengthen how we prepare and mentor the next generation of clinicians.

Show Notes:

Read the journal article, "Professional Identity in Speech-Language Pathology Students"

Support The National Student Speech Language Hearing Association (NSSLHA)

Support your local Domestic Abuse Shelter

Support Beach Food Pantry

Mentioned in this episode:

Register for the School-based Feeding and Swallowing Masterclass

What does trauma-sensitive care look like in Pediatric Feeding?

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In this episode of First Bite, Michelle Dawson, MS, CCC-SLP, CLC, BCS-S, is grateful to host Lauren Thompson, MEd, CCC-SLP, CLC, for a powerful conversation about trauma and Pediatric Feeding Disorder (PFD). Healing trauma takes time, compassion, and the willingness to move through fear in order to better understand what “trauma” is, especially as it relates to pediatric feeding. Together, Michelle and Lauren differentiate between “trauma-informed” and “trauma-sensitive” care, and Lauren offers thoughtful, practical strategies to help SLPs create trauma-sensitive feeding environments for those they are called to serve.

This is part one of a two-part conversation. Part two will be released in April 2026.

About the Guest(s): Lauren Thompson, M.Ed., CCC-SLP, CLC, is the owner of Well Fed Feeding & Swallowing Therapy in Londonderry, New Hampshire. Since 2012, she has supported infants and children with PFD, dysphagia, lactation challenges, ARFID, and feeding-related trauma across inpatient rehabilitation, hospital-based outpatient care, Level II and III NICUs, and public schools. Lauren blends trauma-sensitive care, connection-focused interventions, and play-based approaches to help families build safe, joyful, and pressure-free mealtime experiences.

Show Notes:

Contact Lauren: @laurenteetheslp on Instagram

Lauren’s Private Practice: Well Fed Feeding Therapy

Love Money Cause: Feeding Matters

Related Course: Allyship and Advocacy in Pediatric Feeding Disorder with Tracy Camille Johnson

Mentioned in this episode:

Register for the School-based Feeding and Swallowing Masterclass