Description: This 4-hour workshop, developed by Joan Toglia PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA reviews different treatment methods and approaches that can be used to promote, support, or enhance functional cognitive performance. Interventions such as cognitive adaptations, errorless learning, spaced retrieval, everyday technology, and metacognitive strategy methods will be compared, and contrasted and available evidence will be reviewed and critiqued. The advantages and limitations of each approach will be discussed along with the client characteristics, or cognitive profiles that might be best suited for different approaches. There will be an emphasis on the application of these concepts to functional activities or everyday problems observed in adults with acquired brain injury through case scenarios, video analysis, and problem-solving, however, applications across different populations (eg. dementia, mental health, developmental disabilities) will be discussed. This course requires participation in small group activities via zoom break-out rooms, completion of worksheets, polling questions, and large interactive discussions with the use of the chat feature to assess the learning outcomes stated below.
Audience: This course is designed for OTs, OTAs, PTs, and SLPs, or other licensed Health Professionals who have at least 1 year of experience working with people who have functional cognitive deficits. Prerequisite is Session 1 Functional Cognition: Overview of Executive Function (EF), Memory, Self-Awareness and Metacognition.
Content Level: Intermediate.
Faculty: Chelsea Elkind MS, OTR/L
CEUs: 4 contact hours, .4 CEUs (divided into two, 2-hour sessions). Attendance at both sessions is required for CEUs
Each course session is split into 2 days. Both days are required. Times are for New York or Eastern Time (ET)
Mon, October 6, and Tues, October 7th, 2025 (11:00 am - 1:00 pm ET). Both sessions required REGISTER HERE
Wed, November, 12th and Thurs, November 13th, 2025 (7:00 pm - 9:00 pm ET). Both sessions required REGISTER HERE
Course Fee: $115
Session 3 Course Outline
Overview and cognitive adaptations (20 min)
Errorless learning, spaced retrieval (task-specific training) (30 min)
Use of everyday technology to support or enhance cognitive function (30 min)
Application to functional problems and case scenarios and use of combined methods (40 minutes)
Overview of metacognitive strategy approaches, the Multicontext Approach, Guided learning methods (cues/prompts) and case applications (75 min)
Computerized cognitive remedial programs, virtual reality, and review of the evidence (25 min)
Synthesis, combining treatment methods, comparison, and summary of approaches (20 min)
Learning Outcome: Participants will be able to:
Select appropriate functional cognitive intervention approaches for 3 clinical scenarios based on knowledge of intervention approaches and their characteristics.
Apply knowledge of evidence-based functional cognitive treatment methods to at least 4 different written case scenarios, videos or clinical functional problems.
Provide examples of how everyday technology can optimize cognitive function for at least 3 different functional cognitive problems.
Distinguish between types of strategy training or prompting/cueing methods from at least 2 different written or video case scenarios.
Apply a combination of at least 2 different intervention methods to a case scenario or functional problem.
Sample Course Comments from Participants
The whole course was useful from knowledge, to the different treatment techniques and methods. I can apply all aspects to practice. There was a plethora of resources.
There was a lot of valuable information and I am impressed with how much I learned in such a short amount of time.!
The case discussions as a group on considerations on when to use which approach was very helpful. It helped solidify "textbook knowledge" to more clinically relevant applications.
I appreciated discussing the different approaches to treatment and how to use them in combination with each other.
This course provided access to a variety of resources and enhanced my knowledge of different treatment approaches and appropriate client populations
I really appreciated learning more approaches besides typical cognitive strategies.
The case scenarios were very helpful for understanding which tool or approach to use. The discussion on Metacognitive strategies and the use of technology was very helpful.