Holistic OT Practitioner Directory

Cara Koscinski has her Master’s degree in Occupational Therapy and has been a therapist since 1997. She is a homeschooling mother to her own children with special needs.

After both of Cara’s children were born 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, Abilitations, 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.  She is a speaker for continuing education trainings for Future Horizons, OccupationalTherapy.com and Home CEU Connection. She specializes in autism, Sensory Processing Disorder, behavior, and social skills training.

Cara frequently writes articles and has been published in AutismAsperger’s Digest, Autism Spectrum Quarterly, AutismFile, APFED, 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, Handwriting Without Tears, pediatric feeding techniques, core muscle considerations, autism, gastro-intestional disorders, upper extremity treatment, handwriting, Therapeutic Listening, caregiver stressors and support, visual perception, rhythmic movement, reflex integration. Cara has recently become a certified IRLEN Screener.

Mandy Lubas, OTR/L is a registered and licensed Occupational Therapist who has been in the field of medicine for 11 years working with the pediatric, adults, and geriatric population. Mandy’s healing journey has continued to unfold and has moved quite rapidly since she began her yoga journey of healing in June 2011 by participating in a 200 hour beginner teacher training program with Kim Valeri through Yogaspirit Studios. Mandy is continuing her studies with Kim Valeri at the 500 and 1000 hour levels to become a yoga therapist. She is attending Kerala Ayurveda Academy’s webinar program along with classroom studies here on the North Shore which will provide her with the knowledge that she needs to become an Ayurvedic Wellness Practitioner and a Yoga Therapist. In addition she is working towards her certification in craniosacral therapy. With these studies she will continue to practice as a holistic occupational therapist incorporating alternative therapies into her scope of practice to improve the health and well-being of her clients for preventive purposes and long lasting health.