(HS Koscinski 065659 2025) Functional, Strengths-Based Assessment in Real Life
Tracking # 20-1355143
Course overview
Standardized scores are just one piece of the puzzle--and too often, they miss the most important parts of your client's story. This session will help you move beyond checklists and protocols to develop a truly functional, strengths-based understanding of your neurodivergent clients. You'll learn how to combine formal tools (like the BRIEF-2, Conners, ADOS-2, SCQ, and Sensory Profile) with observational strategies, caregiver and teacher interviews, and real-time client input. Through practical examples and case-driven discussion, you'll learn to assess executive function, interoception, emotional regulation, and sensory processing where it matters most--across the daily routines and environments your clients navigate. Most importantly, you'll strengthen your clinical reasoning: how to spot the difference between trauma, masking, executive dysfunction, and behavior that's been misread. You'll leave with tools to connect what you see to what you do next--so you can design neurodiversity-affirming plans that reflect lived experience and drive participation forward.
Subject areas
This course counts toward the state boards and subject areas below.
Arizona Board of Occupational Therapy Examiners
Occupational Therapist
Occupational Therapy Assistant
Florida Board of Occupational Therapy
Occupational Therapist
Occupational Therapy Assistant
Florida Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology
Speech-Language Pathologist
Speech-Language Pathology Assistant
Disclosure statements
Financial: Cara Koscinski is the founder of Occupational Therapy Hivemind Mentoring Circle and Executive Function Institute. She receives compensation as a presenter and royalties as a published author. Cara Koscinski receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Cara Koscinski has two sons who are autistic and have sensory regulation deficits. She is a volunteer mentor with the Texas Women's University and the University of Florida.