Episode 356: State of the Podcast

Description:

Rachel and Chris reconnect to share a candid update on what’s been happening behind the scenes with Talking With Tech including changes to the production team, why episodes have been less frequent, and what listeners can expect moving forward.

They also share personal and professional updates, including how life has shaped their schedules, what Rachel is building next in her AAC training work, and what Chris has been creating with the Inclusive 365 team including new “Inclusive 52” books focused on reading and executive functioning.

Key Ideas This Week:

A heartfelt thank-you to the team that built the podcast’s sound and consistency

Chris and Rachel reflect on Luke’s long-time role as producer and Michaela’s impact as an audio engineer plus why both are stepping back (with the door still open).

Life changes don’t end the mission, they reshape the schedule

Rather than forcing a weekly cadence, the show is moving toward a more flexible rhythm: varying episode lengths, occasional “banter-only” check-ins, and interviews when timing allows.

Patreon remains the most consistent source of weekly resources

Even while the main feed has been quieter, Patreon has continued to receive frequent “nuggets” (tools, clips, bonus resources, and behind-the-scenes content).

Listeners can help shape future episodes

Listeners are invited to send topic ideas, interview suggestions, and “burning questions.”

Links Mentioned In the Episode

Transcript of the Episode

Please Note: This transcript was generated using speech recognition & AI tools reviewed by a human; it may contain some grammatical and/or spelling errors.

00:00:10 Rachel 

Welcome to Talking With Tech. 

00:00:11 Rachel 

I'm your host, Rachel Mandel, joined by Chris Bugaj. 

00:00:14 Rachel 

Chris, I'm so excited to be here. 

00:00:16 Chris 

Yeah, me too. 

00:00:16 Chris 

It's been a hot second, so it's always great to talk to you and to catch up with all the listeners. 

00:00:21 Rachel 

Yes, I am. 

00:00:23 Rachel 

I've been missing us. 

00:00:24 Rachel 

I've been missing the podcast. 

00:00:25 Rachel 

As many of our listeners know, we haven't been posting as consistently. 

00:00:29 Rachel 

There's been a lot of kind of 

00:00:31 Rachel 

changes that have happened with the podcast and just kind of our world professionally. 

00:00:36 Rachel 

And so we're like, we're still doing the podcast. 

00:00:40 Rachel 

We're just like figuring out what like this next chapter looks like. 

00:00:44 Chris 

100%. 

00:00:44 Chris 

So let's give a big thanks to Luke Padgett. 

00:00:47 Chris 

Luke being the podcast producer for many, many years, super helpful in creating the pod. 

00:00:52 Chris 

For the longest time, it was you and me and Luke and Michaela. 

00:00:56 Chris 

Luke has sort of retired from his podcasting journey with us. 

00:00:59 Chris 

I think we could always reach out to him and he'd be super helpful if we needed to. 

00:01:04 Chris 

So thank you, Luke, for the years of partnership. 

00:01:06 Chris 

Fun fact, after doing this all these years, I have still not met Luke in person. 

00:01:11 Chris 

So that day is coming someday in the 

00:01:13 Chris 

I'm going to go whatever his new venture is. 

00:01:16 Chris 

So yes, thank you, Luke. 

00:01:18 Rachel 

Yes. 

00:01:19 Rachel 

I mean, Luke has been such an incredible part of this team and it's just like, it's so cool to look back on just how our Talking With Tech team came to be. 

00:01:28 Rachel 

Like it just kind of so synchronously like came together and we all found each other and 

00:01:35 Rachel 

Yeah, it's been an incredible journey and really excited. 

00:01:38 Rachel 

Luke is actually starting a cookie business. 

00:01:41 Rachel 

He's an amazing baker. 

00:01:43 Rachel 

And so yes, I'm really pumped for him. 

00:01:47 Rachel 

And as amazing as things are, there's usually some type of natural ending and closing and shifting and changing. 

00:01:55 Rachel 

And so yeah, we're so grateful for everything that Luke has done for the podcast and excited for his new venture. 

00:02:05 Chris 

Now that brings us to Michaela. 

00:02:06 Chris 

So Michaela being the audio engineer that reached out to us back in the early days and said, hey, I have some experience with audio. 

00:02:13 Chris 

I do stuff for professional Hollywood productions. 

00:02:17 Chris 

Can I help you? 

00:02:17 Chris 

Because I'd like to learn about speech stuff and language stuff and AAC stuff while I'm doing the podcast. 

00:02:23 Chris 

I might as well edit it for you. 

00:02:25 Chris 

And we've become super close ever since then. 

00:02:28 Chris 

She too has decided not to retire from the podcast, but take sort of an extended break thinking, hey, 

00:02:34 Chris 

I'd like to come back when I have more time right now that life is lifing and she has a larger family, lots of kids that she is helping support through their journeys and her own with the changing professions from working in Hollywood as an audio engineer to being an assistive technology specialist and speech language pathologist and all those things. 

00:02:56 Chris 

So just life is in flux. 

00:02:58 Chris 

She doesn't want to, she said, I don't want to close a door on this chapter of my life. 

00:03:02 Chris 

I'd like to keep it cracked open with the possibility of coming 

00:03:04 Chris 

But for now, she's on sort of a extended hiatus. 

00:03:08 Rachel 

Yes, Michaela has been such an incredible part of the team and she really reached out and she's like, your audio quality is not so good. 

00:03:16 Rachel 

Like I could really help you with that. 

00:03:17 Rachel 

And we're like, great. 

00:03:19 Rachel 

We don't know what we're doing. 

00:03:21 Rachel 

So yeah, she's definitely like made this podcast so like totally up leveled it as far as the production value and just her amazing experience. 

00:03:32 Rachel 

And 

00:03:34 Rachel 

our team has been so cohesive and just such a great kind of working unit. 

00:03:39 Rachel 

And it's amazing to kind of look back on the podcast and see how much success that we've had and how much impact we've had. 

00:03:47 Rachel 

And it would not have been possible without Luke and Michaela. 

00:03:52 Chris 

And then if people are listening right now going, but the audio, it sucks right now. 

00:03:57 Chris 

It's me. 

00:03:58 Chris 

Taylor Swift will tell you, it's me. 

00:03:59 Chris 

I'm the problem. 

00:04:00 Chris 

It's me. 

00:04:01 Chris 

I'm the one doing the audio. 

00:04:03 Chris 

And so I'm doing the best I can. 

00:04:04 Chris 

I'm the JV version of Michaela. 

00:04:06 Chris 

And now we're living with generative AI that can help me. 

00:04:09 Chris 

Back in the day when I was doing the AT Tips cast, I was doing all that audio engineering by myself and it shows because I was definitely a rookie back then. 

00:04:17 Chris 

So, you know, I'm doing my best to make it work, which also 

00:04:21 Chris 

brings us to us. 

00:04:22 Chris 

Let's talk about where we've been and what we've been doing. 

00:04:25 Chris 

I know people I'm sure are wondering about your mom, Rachel, to the extent that you're comfortable. 

00:04:31 Chris 

You were talking the last time, one of the reasons we were taking a break is because you were doing a lot of care around your mom. 

00:04:37 Chris 

How are things on the mom front? 

00:04:40 Rachel 

Thanks for asking. 

00:04:41 Rachel 

And I really appreciate so many of our listeners reaching out, like checking in, like I'll go do a speaking event and someone will come up and say like, how's your mom? 

00:04:51 Rachel 

And just like, it's so meaningful and touching to me how supportive everyone has been. 

00:04:55 Rachel 

I'm happy to report that my mom is actually doing really well right now. 

00:04:59 Rachel 

Like she 

00:05:00 Rachel 

She does have stage four cancer that has spread to her brain. 

00:05:03 Rachel 

So it's like a very scary diagnosis. 

00:05:07 Rachel 

And she's had a lot of kind of ups and downs as far as her just like having impacts of having brain tumors with like vision and balance loss, memory challenges, confusion. 

00:05:19 Rachel 

Like she's had some pretty intensive treatments. 

00:05:23 Rachel 

We were like, 

00:05:24 Rachel 

thinking that she's going to have to have another brain surgery. 

00:05:27 Rachel 

So there's just been a lot of ups and downs. 

00:05:30 Rachel 

But I'm happy to report her last brain scan was stable. 

00:05:34 Rachel 

And she's actually come out of this kind of fog of confusion that I think was probably being caused by some of the inflammation from the tumors. 

00:05:42 Rachel 

And she's in a really good place. 

00:05:44 Rachel 

She's been not as confused. 

00:05:46 Rachel 

She's been happy, waking up with energy, definitely feels like kind of has turned over this new leaf. 

00:05:54 Rachel 

it's been like stable, which, you know, it's been in July will be have been two years since she was diagnosed. 

00:06:00 Rachel 

And it's just been pretty like intense journey up and down with just the care that she's needed and all of the different kind of doctors. 

00:06:11 Rachel 

I mean, she has a team of like 15 doctors at this point, like so many incredible doctors from the University of Pennsylvania, which is where her oncology team is. 

00:06:20 Rachel 

So it's just it's been a lot. 

00:06:22 Rachel 

It's been a lot of just like 

00:06:24 Rachel 

okay, we'll wait and see for this next scan. 

00:06:27 Rachel 

Like, no, like this scan doesn't look good. 

00:06:29 Rachel 

And like, now what? 

00:06:30 Rachel 

And like, okay, it's better. 

00:06:31 Rachel 

But like, now there's a new scan and there's something new. 

00:06:34 Rachel 

Like, it's just, no one can prepare you for that level of, you know, a roller coaster ride emotionally. 

00:06:43 Rachel 

But she's such a fighter. 

00:06:45 Rachel 

She's so strong. 

00:06:46 Rachel 

I'm so proud of her. 

00:06:47 Rachel 

She's done such incredible things as far as like diet, lifestyle. 

00:06:51 Rachel 

Like she really has taken this diagnosis and like completely transformed her life in such a positive way. 

00:06:58 Rachel 

And 

00:07:00 Rachel 

I think it shows. 

00:07:01 Rachel 

I think that there's such a strong mind-body connection and believing that either you're sick and you're dying or believing that you're healing, it matters. 

00:07:11 Rachel 

And I feel like she's just been so incredible with her mindset and really just 

00:07:20 Rachel 

waking up every day and seeing life in a super positive way and despite all the challenges, showing up as the best version of herself. 

00:07:29 Rachel 

And so I'm proud of her. 

00:07:32 Rachel 

I've been there every step of the way supporting her. 

00:07:34 Rachel 

I've spent tons of time with her physically on the East Coast. 

00:07:38 Rachel 

So there's been a lot of travel on my side of the street, which makes working and running two businesses really hard. 

00:07:46 Rachel 

But 

00:07:47 Rachel 

There's a nice little reprieve right now from all of the stress and uncertainty. 

00:07:51 Rachel 

And of course, it's always kind of running in the background, which is the other thing that nobody really tells you is, oh, this is gonna just be this thing that hovers over you and wakes you up in the middle of the night sometimes with a pit in your stomach because it's still there. 

00:08:05 Rachel 

But it does feel like it's kind of leveled out a little bit, and that's nice and very welcomed because it's stressful. 

00:08:13 Chris 

Yeah, so during this little reprieve, 

00:08:16 Chris 

We immediately said, let's go record a podcast episode. 

00:08:19 Chris 

For sure. 

00:08:20 Chris 

At that time with Talking with Tech podcast episode and fill people in with what else is going on. 

00:08:25 Chris 

So that's what's going on with your mom. 

00:08:27 Chris 

What about work wise? 

00:08:29 Chris 

What's been the latest? 

00:08:30 Rachel 

You know, it's been, there's never a dull moment when you like own a practice and when, you know, I also have an online business. 

00:08:38 Rachel 

I've been trying desperately to finish my new version of AACLA assessment. 

00:08:46 Rachel 

So that course was created in 2020, and it's now 2026. 

00:08:51 Rachel 

And so a lot of the way that I operate and think about AAC assessment has changed. 

00:08:57 Rachel 

And so I was like, I need to actually make a brand new course. 

00:08:59 Rachel 

Like I'm kind of shutting down this initial course forever, and I've been working diligently on a new assessment course. 

00:09:09 Rachel 

But life's been life in. 

00:09:11 Rachel 

So I just actually sent a very vulnerable e-mail a couple of weeks ago to my e-mail list saying, hey, everyone keeps emailing me asking, when is your assessment course opening again? 

00:09:22 Rachel 

I'm a brand new AAC specialist in my district and I want to take your AAC assessment, AACLA assessment course. 

00:09:31 Rachel 

I had to just share, I want so badly for it to be done, but it hasn't been done. 

00:09:37 Rachel 

However, I've been definitely chipping away at it, and I feel like it's really close to being done. 

00:09:44 Rachel 

So that's what I've been working on. 

00:09:45 Rachel 

We just opened AACLA treatment, which was nice. 

00:09:48 Rachel 

So I was like, OK, I thought I was going to be opening the assessment course by now, but unfortunately, we have to keep delaying this timeline. 

00:09:55 Rachel 

But I'm trying to take a step back and realize that I'm doing the best that I can. 

00:09:59 Rachel 

I'm juggling a lot. 

00:10:01 Rachel 

And it's going to get done when it's going to get done. 

00:10:03 Rachel 

Like life has a way of just like working itself out. 

00:10:07 Rachel 

And you have to kind of prioritize the thing that's right in front of you that needs your immediate attention. 

00:10:11 Rachel 

And that, of course, has been my family and my mom. 

00:10:14 Rachel 

And so but like I'm excited. 

00:10:17 Rachel 

Like the plan is 

00:10:18 Rachel 

Crossing fingers, the plan is I'm launching it in the fall. 

00:10:21 Rachel 

So I'm very close to being done and I'm super excited. 

00:10:25 Rachel 

I feel like as I've like continued making it, I'm like, it's just like such a flow state that I get into. 

00:10:31 Rachel 

I'm like, oh, I'm like, I can't wait to teach this concept in this way. 

00:10:34 Rachel 

And like, this is an amazing video I caught from like one of my assessments. 

00:10:38 Rachel 

Like I can't wait to share this. 

00:10:40 Rachel 

So it's definitely like a labor of love. 

00:10:43 Rachel 

And it's one of my favorite things to do is like create content and teach people 

00:10:48 Rachel 

people and it's been really fun. 

00:10:50 Rachel 

And I'm really excited to like, hopefully like put a bell on it and then put it out into the world. 

00:10:58 Chris 

Well, I think most people would agree with prioritizing your family and getting what you can done done and being patient with it and not rushing and having it suck, right? 

00:11:06 Chris 

Spending the time to make it be what you want it to be. 

00:11:09 Chris 

So it's quality stuff for people. 

00:11:12 Chris 

I'm sure we've all remember or have had experiences where we've either purchased something or got something and it wasn't quite what we thought it was going to be because someone did rush it or felt incomplete. 

00:11:23 Chris 

So, you know, spending the time to get it right makes, you know, it's part of who we are, you know. 

00:11:29 Chris 

Speaking of prioritizing family, that's what I've been doing during our sort of extended break. 

00:11:34 Chris 

We have put out a handful of podcast episodes since we've been sort of on our extended break. 

00:11:40 Chris 

So that's been a little 

00:11:41 Chris 

bit of, you know, getting that done. 

00:11:42 Chris 

But family wise, my daughter is a senior in high school, so she's heading off to college, which means my wife and I are facing empty nesting and we're trying to prioritize as much time with her as possible before she leaves with although giving her a healthy amount of space, you know, my mom on my way through that, you know, trying to strike that balance. 

00:12:08 Chris 

The work front is also super busy. 

00:12:10 Chris 

there was a future episode we will talk about, I'm sure we will talk about the new accessibility law. 

00:12:16 Chris 

I don't know we've gone into that extensively here on the podcast, but that has been consuming a lot of my time as a guide to my school district. 

00:12:25 Chris 

and beyond about how to embrace this new accessibility law. 

00:12:29 Chris 

If you don't know what it is, go look it up, teaser, or you can wait maybe for when we get an episode out about it. 

00:12:36 Chris 

But then on top of that, so in the professional front, I've been working with the Inclusive 365 team to generate 4 new books. 

00:12:46 Chris 

So two of them are done and they will be out in June. 

00:12:51 Chris 

They're available for presale now, I'll put it in the show notes. 

00:12:55 Chris 

Here's the story behind that. 

00:12:56 Chris 

So the Inclusive 365 team is Mike Morata, Beth Poss, Karen Janowski, and myself. 

00:13:02 Chris 

And we wrote a book together called Inclusive Learning 365, EdTech Strategies for Every Day of the Year. 

00:13:07 Chris 

And what that is, a giant book with 366 strategies, plus a front matter about what it is to develop an inclusive mindset. 

00:13:16 Chris 

And it was pretty popular and popular enough that they asked us to write a second edition. 

00:13:21 Chris 

And when we went to go, like the first edition, we were writing it during the pandemic. 

00:13:26 Chris 

So it's been a hot second and technology has changed. 

00:13:28 Chris 

Like we wrote it before, just like generative AI was just coming out and the landscape of education and technology has changed. 

00:13:36 Chris 

And so they asked us, you know, this is popular. 

00:13:38 Chris 

Can you give us a second version and second edition? 

00:13:42 Chris 

Which I have some experience with because my solo ventures, the new assistive tech is on its second edition, right? 

00:13:49 Chris 

So I know what it is to update a book. 

00:13:51 Chris 

And when we got together to talk about it, we were like, you know what? 

00:13:55 Chris 

let's not write one book with 366 strategies in it that are updated because something we noticed is that like, I'm just focused on literacy right now. 

00:14:04 Chris 

Do I need all the other strategies? 

00:14:06 Chris 

Or if I'm a general ed math teacher, can I just get to the STEM section, right? 

00:14:10 Chris 

Why am I? 

00:14:11 Chris 

So we decided to break it up into four separate books, each one with 52 strategies. 

00:14:18 Chris 

So still sticking with the theme of learning a little bit each with each segment of time instead of daily 

00:14:25 Chris 

And the first two that are done are Inclusive 52 Reading. 

00:14:30 Chris 

So Inclusive 52 Reading, weekly strategies to improve literacy for all learners, and Inclusive 52 Executive Functioning, weekly strategies to help all learners thrive. 

00:14:40 Chris 

So those are the two that are done. 

00:14:41 Chris 

When I say done, they're in the final stages of editing, but they're available for pre-sale now. 

00:14:46 Chris 

The physical books will be out at the International Society Technology Education Conference, which is coming up at the end of June. 

00:14:53 Chris 

I'll be there, by the way. 

00:14:55 Chris 

the Inclusive 365 team down in Orlando, sort of like a book launch, I guess you could call it happening there. 

00:15:02 Chris 

But like I said, I'll put it all in the show notes so people can go check out those titles if that'd be something interesting to you. 

00:15:07 Chris 

The other two books we're working on are yet to be titled, but it's gonna be Inclusive 52, something about professional learning and Inclusive 52 on the topic of writing, which is a huge topic here. 

00:15:23 Chris 

in contemporary education, especially with generative AI, how do we weave in the right way to use the technology to help kids learn how to write and it doesn't just supplant writing and what's that right mix and formula and we're excited to kind of bring that to life in our book. 

00:15:41 Chris 

So that's been keeping me busy in the free moments when we're not podcasting together. 

00:15:47 Chris 

But I will say, Rachel, that besides the listeners, I missed my Bessie, so often this podcast, one of the reasons I think it has the legs that it has over the years is that you and I get together to 

00:16:01 Chris 

talk to each other. 

00:16:03 Chris 

It's learning for ourselves. 

00:16:05 Chris 

That's learning from the people we interview. 

00:16:06 Chris 

But then, hey, Rachel, this thing happened in my life. 

00:16:09 Chris 

Can I give it to you and give me feedback and then vice versa? 

00:16:12 Chris 

And so I'm looking forward to more of that. 

00:16:16 Rachel 

Totally, Chris. 

00:16:17 Rachel 

I've been like writing down all the little moments that I've had that I'm like, I would totally go to the podcast and share this as a story. 

00:16:25 Rachel 

I'm going to eventually get to it. 

00:16:28 Rachel 

And I've definitely missed you. 

00:16:29 Rachel 

You've been super busy. 

00:16:31 Rachel 

I'm really excited about these books. 

00:16:33 Rachel 

As you were talking, I was like, oh, I want that book and I want that book and I want that book. 

00:16:38 Rachel 

And it's super interesting because you're right. 

00:16:40 Rachel 

The landscape around education is rapidly 

00:16:43 Rachel 

evolving and transforming. 

00:16:45 Rachel 

And in some ways, some people are really leaning in, and other ways, some people in districts are really leaning out. 

00:16:55 Rachel 

And so it's an interesting time, I think, to be in education. 

00:16:58 Rachel 

And so yeah, I'm really pumped to see what you guys come up with and kind of launch into the world, because I do think that there's a lot of need for guidance in this area, especially with generative AI. 

00:17:12 Rachel 

already know you and I know your stance generally on generative AI. 

00:17:15 Rachel 

And I feel like it's an important voice to be like, here's how we utilize this technology in a really supportive way that actually helps inform and educate students on like how to harness the technology. 

00:17:27 Rachel 

Like it's not going anywhere. 

00:17:29 Rachel 

Like everything is rapidly changing in the world. 

00:17:32 Rachel 

So like education needs to rapidly change with it. 

00:17:36 Rachel 

And so yeah, I'm really excited to see what you guys come up with. 

00:17:39 Chris 

I'm very hopeful that 

00:17:42 Chris 

the changes in technology will be good for education. 

00:17:45 Chris 

I'm much more skeptical that schools will embrace it, sort of divorcing the two concepts of education and school as those are different. 

00:17:54 Chris 

And so I'm nervous about school. 

00:17:56 Chris 

Something that hasn't stopped for you or me during all this time has been the number of webinars and in-person presentations you and I presented together at ATIA. 

00:18:06 Chris 

And we're always looking for opportunities to present together in the future. 

00:18:10 Chris 

And I try and bring this up 

00:18:11 Chris 

up every time when I have an opportunity to talk about we are in an anti-ed tech movement right now, and that is devastating for people with disabilities and for people who don't have disabilities, maybe they're not identified. 

00:18:23 Chris 

So again, a whole other topic to get into that isn't right for today. 

00:18:27 Chris 

Let's talk about the future of talking with tech. 

00:18:30 Chris 

So what's the plan moving forward? 

00:18:32 Chris 

And I think it's sort of this. 

00:18:36 Chris 

We're gonna just surprise you. 

00:18:39 Rachel 

Exactly. 

00:18:39 Rachel 

We're gonna keep you on your toes. 

00:18:40 Rachel 

Like what's Talking With Tech doing this week? 

00:18:44 Rachel 

Yeah, I mean, I think the plan is to just like keep finding time to like get together and record. 

00:18:50 Rachel 

We've heard from a lot of listeners over the years that their favorite parts of the episodes oftentimes are you and I just like our little banter in the beginning. 

00:18:59 Rachel 

And so we thought, well, we can keep doing that. 

00:19:01 Rachel 

We can keep showing up and sharing some of our stories. 

00:19:06 Rachel 

we also can keep finding really incredible people to interview. 

00:19:09 Rachel 

And we can keep doing that. 

00:19:13 Rachel 

I think that it's been hard for us to kind of figure out, what does this look like? 

00:19:20 Rachel 

And so we've kind of landed, and we're just going to keep figuring it out as we go and doing the best that we can. 

00:19:26 Rachel 

And obviously, we're very dedicated to high-quality content. 

00:19:31 Rachel 

And so I think as long as that's kind of our North Star in all of this, 

00:19:36 Rachel 

The kind of execution of it all is going to take whatever shape it's going to take, but you'll still be hearing from us. 

00:19:45 Rachel 

We don't know how regularly, but we're going to do our best to keep kind of bringing you really incredible content in the topic of AAC and assistive technology. 

00:19:55 Rachel 

And so that I'm really excited about because there was a point where we're like, should we stop doing the podcast? 

00:20:01 Rachel 

what do we do about this? 

00:20:03 Rachel 

And I think we both are like, no, our heart's still in this. 

00:20:06 Rachel 

We love the podcast. 

00:20:08 Rachel 

We love all of our incredible listeners. 

00:20:10 Rachel 

We know how much of an impact this podcast has made over the years. 

00:20:13 Rachel 

And there's no reason to kind of stop doing it as long as we can kind of flow with whatever life is kind of giving us at this moment and be more flexible with kind of the execution of it all. 

00:20:27 Chris 

So I think people can expect that there won't be something every week, but keep it in your podcast feed because when something comes up, it'll show up for you. 

00:20:35 Chris 

I think people can expect varying lengths. 

00:20:38 Chris 

I think most people got accustomed to maybe an hour time frame, but the future episodes might be a little bit shorter, like just you and I talking, like you said, or they might be back to that hour where we have an interview. 

00:20:49 Chris 

There might be interviews like some of our recent episodes where we didn't have a banter. 

00:20:54 Chris 

It was just one of us 

00:20:56 Chris 

recording an introduction and getting right to the interview. 

00:20:58 Chris 

So it's why we say it's sort of a surprise each time and see what you get. 

00:21:03 Chris 

What's coming up this week on Talking with Tech, or this time I should say, not this week with Talking with Tech. 

00:21:08 Chris 

Something that has been consistent though throughout the entire time off has been our Patreon. 

00:21:14 Chris 

There has been almost every week a new Patreon nugget 

00:21:20 Chris 

being shared on Fridays where it is either a behind the scenes podcast that you recorded that wasn't talking with tech, but you were a guest on somebody else's podcast, or I was, or a recording from a video that we did, or some technology tool that we found, or there's always a surprise there. 

00:21:39 Chris 

I think people are getting a lot of high quality content over there. 

00:21:42 Chris 

Rachel, tell them where we can get the Patreon content. 

00:21:47 Rachel 

Yes, patreon.com/talkingwithtech is where you can find our Patreon. 

00:21:52 Rachel 

And I just want to say like, thank you so much to people for being part of our Patreon. 

00:21:58 Rachel 

Like you literally are the like lifeline of this podcast. 

00:22:02 Rachel 

Like you pay to basically keep this podcast running. 

00:22:06 Rachel 

Like it's not free to host a podcast. 

00:22:09 Rachel 

And obviously our time is involved, but like we actually have real costs and expenses. 

00:22:14 Rachel 

And so our Patreon has been just so 

00:22:17 Rachel 

incredible. 

00:22:18 Rachel 

And there's tons of great resources. 

00:22:20 Rachel 

Like Chris had mentioned, we have been very consistently posting on Patreon. 

00:22:24 Rachel 

If you're like, Patreon, should I sign up? 

00:22:26 Rachel 

Years and years of like content. 

00:22:30 Rachel 

I oftentimes will share some of my resources and therapy ideas and, you know, little small clips of an interview. 

00:22:38 Rachel 

And so for sure, if you are looking for more from Talking With Tech, like the Patreon is an amazing place to go. 

00:22:47 Rachel 

And just so grateful for the Patreon. 

00:22:49 Rachel 

Like every time I'm like, wow, these ride or dies like really are the lifeline of this podcast. 

00:22:56 Rachel 

And we're just so grateful. 

00:22:58 Rachel 

Like we really are. 

00:22:59 Rachel 

And you are the reason this exists. 

00:23:01 Rachel 

And we're just, yeah, I'm just, I'm so grateful for the Patreon. 

00:23:05 Rachel 

And we have been like very consistently still posting on that. 

00:23:10 Chris 

So with that said, is there anything you'd like to say to kind of wrap us up here for this episode? 

00:23:15 Rachel 

I mean, at this point, like everyone's kind of wrapping up the end of the school year. 

00:23:20 Rachel 

And so hopefully you guys are just getting like a nice summer break. 

00:23:25 Rachel 

If you're in the schools, if you're like me in private practice, maybe not. 

00:23:28 Rachel 

Maybe you're doing intensivists over the summer. 

00:23:31 Rachel 

But either way, like we are so excited to be back. 

00:23:36 Rachel 

And if there's anything you want to see, like we love getting messages from people saying like, oh, you should interview this person or like, how about you talk about this? 

00:23:45 Rachel 

Talking with Tech is open to whatever you want to see. 

00:23:51 Rachel 

It helps guide our conversations, the podcast episode ideas. 

00:23:55 Rachel 

And so talkingwithtech at gmail.com is our e-mail. 

00:23:58 Rachel 

And please don't hesitate to reach out because we want to hear from you. 

00:24:01 Rachel 

We want to hear what you guys are interested in. 

00:24:05 Rachel 

And so I would say don't be a stranger. 

00:24:07 Rachel 

Like definitely reach out. 

00:24:09 Rachel 

And if you have any ideas or questions, I also love our questions that we get from listeners. 

00:24:14 Rachel 

Like those make really incredible episodes. 

00:24:16 Rachel 

So if you have a burning question, you're like, oh, I have this one case or this one kid. 

00:24:22 Rachel 

Don't hesitate to reach out because like, again, like we're just like, we're flexible with what this is gonna look like in the future. 

00:24:29 Chris 

Well said, Rachel, well said. 

00:24:30 Chris 

So with that in mind, I'm Chris Bougay. 

00:24:32 Rachel 

I'm Rachel Madel. 

00:24:34 Chris 

We'll see you next time. 

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Episode 355: Building an Inclusive Playground and Community