AAFP: Best Practices for Conducting Disability Evaluations

Presented by: Lisa Drago, PhD, ABPP

4 Hours / 4 CEs

On Demand | Self-Paced Professional Training

This on-demand professional training program on Best Practices for Conducting Disability Evaluations is presented by Lisa Drago, PhD, ABPP in partnership with the American Academy of Forensic Psychology (AAFP).

This program presents best practices for designing and conducting disability evaluations in various contexts, including disability insurance, worker's compensation, and the ADA. The focus is on describing practical strategies that lead to a comprehensive, fair, and valid assessment of the examinee's disability status, including identifying data sources, test selection, interviewing strategies, and assessment of response style. The presentation concludes with a discussion of data interpretation and analysis.

This program is intended for professionals in their early, middle, or late-career paths who have some knowledge of forensic psychology. They may be new to disability evaluation or doing disability evaluations now and are looking to hone their skills. Possibly forensic psychologists who typically do criminal work but want to expand into civil areas.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this training, participants will be able to:

1 Describe the importance of correctly identifying the context for the evaluation and the specific legal issues involved
2 Describe how condition, functional abilities, and situational demands interact in determining disability
3 Describe research-supported concepts and methods for designing a disability evaluation
4 Describe strategies for data analysis and decision-making in disability evaluations

Intended Audience

This training is designed for clinicians with a background in forensic psychology who specialize or are interested in specializing in disability evaluations. It is particularly relevant for those conducting comprehensive, fair, and valid assessments of disability in contexts such as disability insurance, workers’ compensation, or ADA-related cases.
Examples of Relevant Professionals:
- Mental Health Professionals
- Forensic Psychologists
- Clinical Psychologists
- Neuropsychologists
- Psychiatrists
- Rehabilitation Psychologists
- Disability Evaluation Specialists
Experience Level
This training is designed for licensed and pre-licensed mental health professionals with varying levels of experience in disability evaluations.
- Beginner: Participants are new to disability evaluations and seek foundational knowledge of best practices, legal contexts, and assessment strategies.
- Intermediate: Participants have some experience conducting disability evaluations and wish to deepen their skills in data collection, test selection, and nuanced analysis of functional abilities and situational demands.
- Advanced: Participants are experienced in disability or forensic evaluations and aim to refine their expertise in complex case analysis, advanced data interpretation, and integrating research-supported methods into practice.
Practice Setting

These clinicians work in medical‑legal environments where clinical assessment intersects with legal standards, conducting structured interviews, psychometric testing, comprehensive records reviews, and response‑style evaluation to determine functional limitations. They practice in multidisciplinary clinical and rehabilitation contexts as well as administrative or judicial venues, producing objective reports that guide decisions in disability insurance, workers’ compensation, and ADA cases.

Examples of Practice Settings:
- Private forensic psychology practices
- Hospital-based rehabilitation and neuropsychology services
- Academic medical centers and university clinics
- Independent Medical Examination (IME) centers
- Occupational health and workers’ compensation clinics
- Disability insurance carriers and third‑party administrators
- Government agencies (e.g., Social Security consultative exams)
- Veterans Health Administration or military evaluation programs

Presented By

Lisa Drago, PhD, ABPP Private Practice

Lisa Drago, Ph.D., ABPP, a board-certified forensic psychologist (ABPP), has been in practice for more than twenty years. Specializing in civil forensic matters, Dr. Piechowski has a particular interest in employment-related cases including disability, wrongful termination, sexual harassment, ADA, fitness for duty, and workplace violence.

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Training Outline

Key topics covered in this training include:

Identifying the context & specific legal issue of the evaluation.
Understanding the interrelationship among the 3 core elements of disability: condition, functional capacity, and situational demands.
Designing the assessment around research-supported concepts and methods utilizing multiple sources of data.
Assessing response style.
Utilizing methodical, data-centric approaches to reach opinions.

We are proud to partner with

American Academy of Forensic Psychology (AAFP)

We are proud to partner with the American Academy of Forensic Psychology (AAFP) for this training. AAFP is a non-profit organization of board-certified forensic psychologists whose mission is to contribute to the development and maintenance of forensic psychology as a specialized field of study, research, and practice. The Academy does this by providing high-quality continuing education workshops, providing a forum for the exchange of scientific information among its members, and conferring awards upon outstanding students and practitioners in the field of forensic psychology.

Learn More About Our Partner

CE Sponsorship Information

Palo Alto University, Continuing & Professional Studies (CONCEPT) is approved by, recognized by, or maintains sponsorship provider status with the following boards and agencies. We maintain responsibility for all content in our CE/CPD programs. For more information, visit here.

American Psychological Association (APA): Approved sponsor of continuing education for psychologists.
Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB): Approved continuing education provider (ACE program, Provider #1480), 11/22/2023–11/22/2026.
Canadian Psychological Association (CPA): Approved to sponsor continuing education for psychologists.
National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC): Approved Continuing Education Provider (ACEP No. 7190).

Palo Alto University, Continuing and Professional Studies (CONCEPT) is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Palo Alto University, Continuing and Professional Studies (CONCEPT) maintains responsibility for this program and its content. Palo Alto University, Continuing and Professional Studies (CONCEPT), is approved by the Canadian Psychological Association to offer continuing education for psychologists. Palo Alto University, Continuing and Professional Studies (CONCEPT), SW CPE is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0356 and the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors. #MHC-0073. Palo Alto University, Continuing and Professional Studies (CONCEPT) has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 6811. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. CONCEPT Professional Training, #1480, is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved as ACE providers. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. CONCEPT Professional Training maintains responsibility for this course. ACE provider approval period: 11/22/23-11/22/26. Social workers completing this course receive (clinical or social work ethics) continuing education credits.