Behavioural Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome

Audience

This workshop is designed for Allied Health Professionals, including Occupational Therapists, Psychologists, Speech Pathologists, Physiotherapists, Social Workers, and rehabilitation practitioners.

It is particularly relevant for professionals working with adults who have experienced brain injury, neurological conditions, or psychiatric presentations where executive functioning challenges affect everyday life.

Course Description

Executive functioning skills—such as working memory, task initiation, cognitive flexibility, emotional regulation, and impulse control—are essential for participation in daily life. When disrupted, they can make even routine activities difficult and diminish quality of life.

This workshop provides allied health professionals with a clear, practical framework for understanding, assessing, and addressing executive functioning difficulties in adults. You’ll explore a blend of standardised assessments, functional tasks, interviews, and observations, learning how to identify both strengths and challenges in a meaningful way.

The workshop also introduces practical, evidence-based strategies and interventions—from environmental modifications and external aids to structured frameworks and self-regulation tools—that can be tailored to each client’s needs.

By the end of the session, you’ll have the knowledge and tools to confidently assess executive functioning and co-create strategies that enhance participation, independence, and wellbeing.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this workshop, you will be able to:

• Define executive functioning and its core component skills, including working memory, task initiation, self-monitoring, cognitive flexibility, emotional regulation, and impulse control.
• Recognise how executive dysfunction affects everyday roles such as independence, work, relationships, and psychological wellbeing.
• Identify and apply appropriate standardised and non-standardised assessments for executive functioning, including BADS, BRIEF-A, EFPT, MET, PRPP, functional observations, and interviews.
• Develop collaborative and meaningful goals with clients using frameworks such as My Big Deals, SMART goals, and Goal Attainment Scaling.
• Select and implement practical OT strategies and interventions to support executive functioning, including environmental modifications, external aids, self-regulation tools, and structured frameworks.
• Tailor assessment and intervention approaches to client strengths, needs, and environments to ensure strategies are realistic, individualised, and monitored over time.

Pre-Requisites

Confidentiality

All workshop materials, including recordings, slides, and case examples, must be treated as confidential. By enrolling, you agree to:

• Not copy, record, or distribute any part of the workshop content in any format.
• Keep your login details secure and ensure only you access the provided materials.
• Avoid showing or sharing content with colleagues, peers, or external groups unless they have purchased their own access.

Intellectual Property

All training resources, templates, workbooks, and guides are the intellectual property of Verve OT Learning. These materials are provided for your personal learning and professional development. You agree to:

• Use the content solely for your own clinical or educational purposes.
• Not reproduce, adapt, or distribute the materials without written permission from Verve OT Learning.
• Not screenshot, duplicate, or repurpose any part of the workshop materials, including video or text, for sharing with others.

Any templates or guides provided with the training are designed to support your practice. Editable versions may be supplied for you to adapt for your client work. To use these resources within a team or organisation, each professional must hold their own licence or course access.

Presenters

Nadine Holgate

Nadine Holgate is an experienced Occupational Therapist and Director of Neurolinks, a regional Victorian practice specialising in community-based ABI rehabilitation. Holding a Master’s in Clinical Family Therapy, she brings deep expertise in supporting individuals and families living with brain injury. Nadine also works as a trainer and research clinician with Monash University’s PBS+PLUS program, focusing on building self-regulation skills after brain injury.

Belinda Renison

Belinda Renison is an Occupational Therapist and Clinical Neuropsychologist with over twenty years of experience supporting people with ABI in community settings. Her doctoral research examined why pen-and-paper tests of executive function often fail to predict real-world outcomes, shaping her functional, client-centred approach to assessment and intervention. Belinda also contributes to PBS+PLUS at Monash University as a trainer and research clinician.

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