EXECUTIVE FUNCTION SUPPORT THAT MAKES SENSE
Understand what's happening.
Know what to do next.
From assessment to treatment, you’ll find practical, neurodiversity-affirming tools that help you understand executive function, interoception, and regulation; identify what may be contributing to a child's struggles; and know where to begin.
Executive Function • Interoception • Regulation • Clinical Reasoning
Executive Function Is More Than a Set of Skills
Executive function is influenced by the interaction of internal body signals, regulation, relationships, environmental demands, and available supports. At the Executive Function Institute, we help professionals understand these influences so they can make
This broader perspective moves beyond measuring skills alone to understanding why executive function changes.
Executive function is invisible.
Interoception is internal.
Behavior has many causes.
Regulation is complex.
A child's experience may be difficult to put into words, so...
...we make it visible.
At the Executive Function Institute, we help you look beyond what you see on the surface. Our tools make complex, often invisible processes easier to understand, so you can make informed clinical decisions and provide individualized, neurodiversity-affirming support.
From assessment to treatment, you have the tools you need.
So many more behavior referrals lately. What's the reason?
You shouldn't have to piece together executive function, interoception, regulation, behavior, and participation from different approaches and resources.
At the Executive Function Institute™, you'll find practical tools that help you assess, understand, and support the whole student, and turn what you learn into meaningful treatment.
ASSESS
Identify patterns of executive function access
Use the EFX-AP™ to identify strengths, access patterns, and factors that may be influencing participation, including searching for the 'why' behind behavior.
UNDERSTAND
See the whole student
Behavior referrals are pouring in. Enter what you're seeing and get automatic, instant results!
Use a body-first approach. Bring executive function, interoception, regulation, sensory processing, relationships, environment, and task demands together to better understand participation.
TREAT
Know what to do next
Turn what you're seeing into individualized treatment plans, supports, teaching strategies, meaningful SMART goals, and progress monitoring with EFX-TB™.
Know what to do next.
Meet the Executive Function Treatment Builder™ App
You bring the clinical expertise. EFX-TB™ App helps you organize what you're seeing, think through what may be influencing participation, and turn your clinical reasoning into an individualized plan.
Built around the Executive Function Institute approach, EFX-TB™ brings executive function, interoception, regulation, strengths, context, and participation together to help you move from concern to meaningful treatment.
Enter your concerns, get treatment plans, observation help, SMART goals, present levels, and so much more... right at your fingertips. Anytime - Anywhere
One student. One evolving clinical story.
Student → Concern → Clinical Reasoning → Treatment Plan → Goal → Progress Check
Keep each student's work together over time as you explore new concerns, build treatment plans, create meaningful goals, and track progress, all within the same case.
There's more to executive function than what we see.
When a student has difficulty starting, shifting, remembering, planning, persisting, or participating, it can be tempting to focus only on the executive function skill.
But what you see on the outside is only part of the picture. Interoception helps you understand what may be happening on the inside.
Body signals, regulation, sensory experiences, relationships, environment, and task demands can all influence the executive function skills available in a particular moment, and a student's readiness to learn and develop new skills.
That's why interoception isn't an add-on at the Executive Function Institute...
...it's part of how we understand the whole student.
Our From Roots to Fruit™ clinical approach helps you look beneath what you see, understand the systems supporting participation, and determine where meaningful support can begin.
Common EF Approaches
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Focus on behavior first
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Focus primarily on executive function skills
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Teach strategies for planning, organization, memory, and inhibition
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Look at performance without always considering internal state
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May address regulation and interoception separately
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Focus on building skills and independence
The Executive Function Institute EFX™ Approach
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Looks at the whole student, not just the EF skill
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Recognizes that executive function access changes
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Integrates interoception, regulation, and executive function
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Considers strengths, environment, relationships, and task demands
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Supports access and teaches skills
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Focuses on meaningful participation
Created by a clinician who understands the work.
I'm Dr. Cara Koscinski, a pediatric occupational therapist, author, educator, and the founder of the Executive Function Institute.
For almost 30 years, I've worked alongside children, families, therapists, and educators, and I've seen how complicated executive function can become when we try to understand it through skills or behavior alone.
I created the Executive Function Institute to give you something different: practical, neurodiversity-affirming tools that bring executive function, interoception, regulation, and participation together.
My goal is simple: to help you understand what you're seeing, strengthen your clinical reasoning, and feel more confident about what to do next.
New to Executive Function Institute? Start Here.
Start with our free guide introducing the body-first principles that shape our approach to executive function.
Whether you're a therapist, educator, or parent, this free guide will help you begin seeing executive function through a body-first lens.
Move the Body, Support the Brain
A free guide with practical body-first strategies to support attention, organization, emotional regulation, and participation.
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