Interoception in Practice The Missing Link for Function, Behavior
& Self-Regulation
For years, support for children with ADHD, autism, and emotional-behavioral differences has centered on shaping behavior, reinforcing what's seen as "appropriate" and trying to reduce what's not. But when behavior is the only lens, we miss the deeper "why" behind it.
What if a child's outburst was hunger or sensory overload? What if a "meltdown" was really a nervous system in fight-or-flight? What if refusal wasn't defiance at all, but a body struggling to recognize or express its own internal signals?
This training moves beyond behavior-only models to help you work with children, not on them. You'll discover how to integrate comfort, preferences, and communication supports so you can co-regulate, widen their window of tolerance, and guide them into a state where learning, participation, and connection naturally grow -- without the constant battles that leave everyone exhausted.
You'll gain practical, neurodiversity-affirming strategies to:
- - Spot red flags quickly when behavior-based tools aren't working and uncover what's really driving dysregulation
- - Incorporate strengths, preferences, and communication supports into treatment plans for better buy-in and participation
- - Co-regulate with kids and self-regulate as a clinician to model calm and set sessions up for success
- - Use emotional check-ins, theory of mind activities, and language-building supports to help kids understand and express what they feel
- - Address post-COVID dysregulation with sensory, emotional, and communication-based strategies
- - Partner with kids and families to turn challenges into opportunities for connection and growth
Through case studies, interactive skill-building activities, and ready-to-use tools, you'll leave with a complete toolkit to start every session strong -- and finally see progress where behavior-only approaches have fallen short.
- - Highly interactive format
- - Archive recording for 90 days
- - Up to 7.5 CE hours
- - Available now
- - Unlimited recording access
- - Up to 7.5 CE hours
Interoception in Practice: Course Outline
November 10, 2026 · 8-5 PM ET · Live Webinar
- - Map the insula and brain hierarchy to connect body signals to function
- - Explore theory of mind -- why kids must know their own feelings before connecting with others
- - See how posture, tone, and autonomic balance shape interoceptive input
- - Identify barriers like trauma, sensory over/under-responsivity, and chronic stress
- - Shift from a behavior lens to an interoception lens to uncover body signals and underlying needs
- - Learn quick positional, sensory, and "organ friends" questions to screen in minutes
- - Spot red flags in feeding, dressing, toileting, pain reporting, and emotional awareness
- - Practice guided body awareness scans you can use with any client, in any setting
- - Break down how clients miss or misinterpret hunger, thirst, pain, fatigue, and temperature
- - Link poor interoception to anxiety, meltdowns, shutdowns, and big emotions
- - Teach clients to recognize anger, fear, sadness, and calm using body signals
- - Reframe your role as building accurate brain-body mapping to restore participation
- - Explore breathing as a bridge to interoception and self-regulation
- - Practice co-regulation strategies to get kids learning-ready while keeping yourself grounded
- - Practice belly, rectangle, elevator, and sensory breathing for all ages
- - Play with pinwheels, bubbles, and tactile cues to make breathing exercises engaging
- - Understand how the brain amplifies pain and distress signals
- - Guide patients through graded exposure and reframing to lower threat perception
- - Use pain chips, visual scales, and structured exercises to make progress tangible
- - Design multisensory activities to strengthen body awareness
- - Pair emotional vocabulary with matching physical sensations for better self-regulation
- - Build toileting programs that teach internal cues, timing, and wiping skills
- - Create sensory diets for home, school, or facilities to support regulation all day
- - Get sample goals, CPT code suggestions, and progress tracking templates
- - Take home scripts and caregiver handouts to boost buy-in
- - Plan how to integrate interoception work into your caseload on Monday morning
A Lens Shift That Changes Everything
Clinicians from OT, PT, and SLP all left this training saying the same thing: they finally had a framework -- and the words -- to explain what they'd always sensed was true about their clients.
Here's what they went back to do on Monday morning:
- - Coach parents on reading their child's body signals -- replacing guesswork with a shared language
- - Rewrite their therapy goals through an interoception lens -- getting buy-in from teams and insurance alike
- - Educate teachers and staff on the "why" behind behaviors -- turning skeptics into partners
- - Use body scanning and emotional check-ins as session-starters that actually work
- - Design sensory diets for home, school, and clinic that address regulation at the root level
- - Help kids and families name feelings using body cues -- before the meltdown happens
Attendees Will Walk Away Ready To...
Practical skills you can apply in your very next session -- across OT, PT, and SLP settings.
What Clinicians Are Saying
Direct from post-training evaluations -- unedited, unfiltered, from your peers.
"The presenter was clearly very informed and well-experienced in this content area, providing both anecdotal/clinical experience and research evidence. She was kind and sensitive to trauma and neurodiversity. She is very passionate about this topic and wants to share her knowledge to better support more patients."
"This is one of the best webinars I have attended. The manual was professionally made, perfectly presented. The presenter did a perfect job -- very professional, passionate, and generous with all the information she shared with us."
"Best course I have taken in a while! Will use info immediately! This course gave me insight into behaviors and scripts for helping co-regulate and support my clients -- I was unsure before how to best support them with interoceptive challenges."
"Cara was very knowledgeable and wonderful at presenting her information in an easy-to-understand manner. A two-day course would be great for her to maximize all the info she has to share!"
"Cara is AMAZING!! The content could warrant a 2-day course because of how much she packs in -- a really, really good presentation. I will use this in my sessions and for family education around toileting, social interactions, executive function, and sensory regulation."
"Cara was pleasant to listen to as a speaker -- thorough and knowledgeable. I will change my focus to assisting children with identification and interpretation of their interoception, to attain better self-regulation and higher cognitive skills."
Dr. Cara Koscinski
Dr. Cara Koscinski is an occupational therapist with over 25 years of experience and the founder of The Executive Function Institute, where she translates years of research into practical tools to support children, families, and professionals. She developed the Executive Function Express Program -- a transformative model built on a child's unique strengths that combines sensory regulation, movement, body awareness, and interoception as the foundation for planning, organization, time management, and metacognition.
An engaging speaker, she presents nationally on executive function, interoception, behavior, and self-regulation. Cara has authored seven books for caregivers and therapists and leads the largest pediatric OT Facebook group with more than 52,000 members worldwide. As the mother of an autistic adult son, she brings both professional expertise and personal insight to her work.
Click here for information about Cara Koscinski
"I've packed this course with the tools I wish I'd had early in my career -- so you can skip years of trial and error and help your clients thrive in school, therapy, and daily life."
-- Cara Koscinski, OTD, MOT, OTR/L, CAS- - Highly interactive format
- - Archive recording for 90 days
- - Up to 7.5 CE hours
- - Available now
- - Unlimited recording access
- - Up to 7.5 CE hours
Group Registration
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Questions about group registration? Call us: 800-844-8260