Today we’d like to introduce you to Cara Koscinski.
Cara is passionate and excited about providing quality treatment to children with special needs. This is evident by her additional training and drive to seek new and fun ways to help children to achieve their goals. By forming a partnership with the caregiver, goals for therapy can be met faster and while everyone is having fun!
She has her Master’s degree in Occupational Therapy and has been a therapist since 1997. She is a homeschooling mother to her own two children with autism and sensory processing disorder. Her younger son is tube fed due to mitochondrial disease.
After Cara’s children were diagnosed with autism, Cara sought out services to benefit the boys. She could not find a therapy center that provided both quality therapy for autism and Sensory Processing Disorder AND that provided direct education to parents for carryover of treatment. So, she decided to create her own! She was the Co-Founder of Aspire Pediatric Therapy, LLC which quickly grew to provide therapy at schools, in homes, and in centers located around the Pittsburgh area.
In the meantime, Cara developed CDs for children with fear of loud noises (auditory sensitivity) since her children had difficulty tolerating noises such as thunder, fireworks, and sirens/fire drills. Cara and her sister, a music therapist, purchased high-quality recordings and wrote lyrics and rhythms. The CDs are a fun way to be able to hear and “control” the volume of sounds! Cara began selling them locally and then in several national catalogues for special needs. The CDs that Cara created, Sound-Eaze and School-Eaze can be found on Amazon, The Therapy Shoppe, and Achievement products. She sells the CDs under the company name, Route2Greatness since her older son enjoys drawing routes, maps, and is on his way to doing great things!
Cara provides occupational therapy services, advocacy, and consultations as The Pocket Occupational Therapist. Cara enjoys speaking to therapists, teachers, and special needs organizations across the US at conferences such as the Trauma-Informed Schools Conference, Future Horizons, and The Autism Society of America’s Annual Conference. She presents continuing education courses for OccupationalTherapy.com, Home CEU Connection. and many universities and groups across the US. Her courses on Learning Disorders and ADHD are available in the UK via OfCourse Learning. She specializes in autism, Sensory Processing Disorder, behavior, holistic OT, trauma-informed care, and social skills training.
She frequently writes articles and has been published in AutismAsperger’s Digest, Autism Spectrum Quarterly, AutismFile, APFED, ADDitude, Autism Parenting Magazine, Something Special Magazine, Parents, San Francisco Parent, and NewsLine, among others. Ms. Koscinski is an advisor to AutismAsperger’s Digest Magazine. She was named as one of Jennifer O’Toole’s Asperkids Advisors of Awesomeness. Cara was the recipient of the Duquesne University’s Innovative Practice Entrepreneur Award and has served as an adjunct clinical instructor for the Duquesne University Occupational Therapy program. She has extensive training in sensory processing disorder, pediatric feeding techniques, core muscle considerations, autism, gastrointestinal disorders, upper extremity treatment, handwriting, Therapeutic Listening, caregiver stressors and support, visual perception, and business/private practice topics. Cara has recently become a certified IRLEN Screener.
Cara has served as a board member and marketing director of the newly-formed Lowcountry Special Needs Network. She happily created and maintains their website.
In 2012, she was a featured guest for the ANDERSON Cooper national television show discussing eosinophilic disorders. Cara is a member of the American Occupational Therapy Association and is registered by the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy.
This spring, she will begin working on her Doctorate in Occupational Therapy degree. She will continue full-time work teaching courses nationwide while in school.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It’s been quite a difficult road. People always ask me which came first, my boys or my occupational therapy work? I was an OT before my sons were born. When they were diagnosed, I sought out to learn all I could to help them. Ask any parent of a child(ren) with special needs how stressful life can be and they will agree that it’s quite stressful. Many parents struggle and eventually divorce. Special needs can tear families apart! The constant stress and worry about our children’s future is magnified with autism. We are always wondering what we can do to get our children as functional as possible. Many of our children struggle with daily life tasks such as brushing teeth or getting a bath. Dressing and changes between activities can also be tough. Add on the difficulty in school or bullying and parents, like me really worry.
Also, families looking for a reason why their children have special needs. Sometimes, this can cause partners to blame each other’s genetics and background. I’ve even experienced families who believed the mother did something wrong when she was pregnant. The pressure can be huge.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with The Pocket Occupational Therapist – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
I’ve published five books for caregivers, therapists, and teachers of children with autism and special needs. I enjoy speaking across the US. Through my blog, books, conferences, and courses I try to give hands-on activities that can be used immediately. If I have tried it on my own children and in my clinic, I can feel confident recommending it in my books. Then are hands-on books designed to keep with you in your back pocket, ready to help you at any time you need them!
The biggest thing about my work is that I’m a parent too. I can truly empathize and connect with my clients and audience because they understand that I’ve been through similar things as they have. Just today, I had a parent contact me to see if I understood her son’s issues because she couldn’t find anyone to truly say, “I get it and there is a help!” Many times as parents, we just want to be heard.
Also, my most important goal is to give my readers and clients immediate strategies that they can use in their homes. My activities are tried and true and I would never recommend anything I haven’t tried on my own children. Each of my books is written in question and answer format with many activities they can try. There are charts, handouts, and visuals to help caregivers to succeed.
The biggest feedback I get from my conferences and courses is that I’m quite passionate about what I do. It’s because I love OT and enjoy helping others. There’s a certain joy that comes when someone has tried out an activity that I taught them and it worked! It can’t get better than that.
I have two books published with Future Horizons and Sensory World in Arlington. They are the Special Needs School Survival Guide and the Sensorimotor Interventions books. I also speak at conferences about autism across the United States. One of the awesome things I get to do for Future Horizons is to write articles and be an OT advisor for the Autism Asperger Digest Magazine.
My work at HomeCEU Connection, Plano, includes recording and teaching continuing educational seminars for occupational therapists. The courses are from two to three hours in length and attendees can view them at their convenience or at scheduled times when I’m available to answer questions live. It’s very fun to record the sessions and the company is stellar!
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
I’m currently working to obtain my Doctorate in Occupational Therapy with a focus on Education. It’s been a passion of mine to teach at a University setting. Both my son and I will be in college in the next few years so things should be exciting…… and expensive!
We are also expanding the website to begin OT 2 OT program which will include mentoring OTs and unique products created for therapists, by therapists. It’s a big project but a well-needed one.
Pricing:
- Each of my six books is under $20.00 to make them more affordable to caregivers.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.PocketOT.com
- Email: [email protected]
Image Credit:
Future Horizons, Inc. Arlington, TX, the late Wayne Gilpin, founder of Future Horizons
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