In order to develop successful, independent learners, NILD Educational Therapy® focuses on developing four key components:

cognition

perception

academics

emotions

Our focus  is to address the underlying causes of learning difficulties rather than simply treating the symptoms. NILD educational therapy is a true therapy because it is individualized and aims the intervention just above the student’s level of functioning and raises expectations for performance. Students are trained to view themselves as competent, confident learners.

The goal of NILD Educational Therapy® is to help students develop tools of independent learning in the classroom and in life.

Our interventions can be one-on-one or small group. Each session includes a variety of techniques designed to address students’ specific areas of difficulty and to improve their overall ability to think, reason, and process information. Techniques emphasize basic skill areas such as reading, writing, spelling, and math, as well as applying reasoning skills within each area. Students are taught by highly trained NILD Educational Therapists who utilize our unique methodology.

Our commitment is to excellence as our educational therapists receive on-going, graduate level training to obtain certification, as well as regular support and professional development. Regular collaboration between the educational therapist, parents, and classroom teachers is encouraged in order to assess progress and appropriately adjust educational programs for each student.

The focus of NILD Educational Therapy® is the development of clear, efficient thinking. Students are given tools to enable them to overcome specific learning weaknesses. Tutoring typically focuses on content while educational therapy builds efficient learning processes. NILD Educational Therapy® teaches students how to think rather than what to think. NILD Educational Therapy® is skill-oriented, improving basic learning skills so students can learn and retain content.

Students become better able to:

stay focused on the teacher’s voice

accurately hear and remember what the teacher is saying

read visual information on the board, transparencies, or computer screen

understand the main points of what the teacher is saying and decide the significant information to record

remember how to spell the words being recorded

record information legibly

Educational therapists become better able to individualize intervention by:

focusing specifically on students’ areas of difficulty and dealing with problems as they arise during the actual learning process

maintaining the intensity of focus needed to help the student work through difficulties

developing the trust needed to free the student to accept and work on difficult areas

Parents become better able to:

provide structure and accountability

supervise homework

maintain regular contact with the educational therapist to increase understanding of the therapy process and collaborate in providing an effective program for their child

Potential students for this program are those experiencing obvious frustration in areas of school performance. Poor spelling, illegible handwriting, inability to express thoughts verbally or in writing, and difficulty with reading and math are common indicators of a learning disability.

Learning disabilities are diagnosed through a battery of tests that measures and compares students’ potential with their actual performance. NILD educational therapists work in conjunction with qualified examiners and can assist parents in completing appropriate psychological and educational assessments.

Students complete their programs when they become independent and successful in the regular classroom. This decision is based upon recommendations from the educational therapist, parents, and classroom teachers and usually takes a minimum of three years.

Strategies learned in educational therapy should enable students to remain independent and successful throughout their school years. They generally develop skills to pursue a career in the field of their choice. Learning disabilities can be addressed whenever they are identified, not just in childhood. The NILD techniques are effective regardless of age and can be adapted to all levels of functioning.

Research indicates that thinking can be changed through intensive, focused intervention. Students can be trained to think for themselves rather than depending upon a teacher or parent to think for them.Language and thinking skills are interdependent so that when one skill develops the other is also strengthened.

Educational therapists are trained to develop language and thinking through effective questioning.  They teach students to defend their answers and to reflect upon their thinking processes.  Students transition from dependent learners to those who think and reason independently.

Following NILD Educational Therapy® treatment few, if any, adjustments or modifications need to be made in the students’ academic programs.  Statistical data documenting program effectiveness is available from NILD. 

Several research studies are available on the program. A dissertation has been completed with statistical data documenting program effectiveness.

Our intervention is accredited by the research-based International Dyslexia Association and numerous authors and researchers in the field of educating the most vulnerable learners have seen the power of our intervention and publicly endorse our program’s effectiveness.

However, parent testimonials and success stories of students having completed the program speak for themselves. Many are achieving honor roll status and are pursuing undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degrees.

Structure of Intellect or SOI is a helpful diagnostic tool for identifying weaknesses and giftedness that contribute to a student’s ability to learn effectively. Learn more by visiting the SOI Systems website.

The SOI portion is largely workbook based.

Integrated Practice Protocol or IPP is an expanded SOI program. It is a sophisticated brain-based program that gets to the root problems of learning difficulties. The goal of IPP is to enable students to integrate messages from all the senses. IPP includes physical ad visual exercises.

SEARCH is a 20-minute individual test designed to:

Identify children vulnerable to learning difficulties

Provide a clear profile of strengths and weaknesses in neuropsychological skills, 

basic to reading and the language arts

Provide a structure to guide appropriate intervention before failure has occurred

SEARCH was developed as a screening instrument for children ages 63-80 months.

SEARCH is based on both clinical and statistical research that focuses on neuropsychological skills basic to reading and the language arts. The importance of these skills was determined via a 2-year intensive interdisciplinary study that examined 1st graders neurologically, psychiatrically, perceptually, psychologically and educationally. Results of this study revealed that those children vulnerable to learning failure lagged in developing skills relating to spatial orientation and temporal organization. A follow-up of the original group of children, validated the clinical judgment that reading failure is associated with specific types of perceptual immaturity—namely, in visual, auditory, and body-image immaturity—all relating to orientation in space and organization in time. SEARCH uses the results of this research to formulate its program, making early identification of learning disorders in children key to overcoming potential failure.

TEACH is a resource book of instructional methods and fifty-five task cards that builds a child’s pre-academic skills specific to reading and the language arts. As the companion instructional element of the SEARCH & TEACH program, TEACH provides the rationale, the step by step methodology, and the teaching materials necessary for intervention with children who are found to be vulnerable to learning failure as determined by SEARCH. TEACH organizes a program of learning according to an individual child’sSEARCH profile. As such, TEACH considers a child’s strong and weak academic areas and prescribes appropriate instructional tasks basic to reading and the language arts.

The TEACH program prioritizes pre-reading tasks from simple to complex and organizes them into a practical plan of five clusters as ascertained by the results of the SEARCH test. These clusters include:

Visual

Visual-motor

Auditory

Body-image

Intermodal skill clusters

Typically, students that participate in the TEACH program meet two to three times per week. The intervention can be geared towards an individual student or a group of students. The program consists of a total of fifty 30-minute sessions

Rx for Discovery Reading is a reading program designed for children ages 6-18 who struggle to read.

The Rx for Discovery Reading focuses on the five essential components of reading – phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and reading comprehension.  It uses NILD materials and methodology to teach students how to effectively and efficiently develop their decoding and encoding skills.

Typically, students that participate in the TEACH program meet two to three times per week. The intervention can be geared towards an individual student or a group of students. The program consists of a total of fifty 30-minute sessions.

Rx for Discovery Writing is specifically intended for students in grades 4-12 whose basic written expression skills are below expected standards as determined by a local educational agency.  

It is designed to build and strengthen grammar and writing mechanics, semantics, syntax, and composition writing skills with an emphasis on the writing process.

Students will be challenged to apply their growing understanding of grammar to the creation of sentences, paragraphs, and compositions. Students will be implementing grammar, spelling and usage rules when editing their own written work as well as the written work of others. Language and higher-level thinking skills will be developed  and   supported in this interactive, small-group intervention that covers research-based writing content while mediation, Socratic questioning, and the strengthening of cognitive functions will serve as the core methodology. In this dynamic intervention, students’ written expression skills will be honed while their thinking and language skills will be strengthened, all within an atmosphere where writing skills are explicitly taught so anxiety and reluctance to write are reduced and thinking is maximized.

Though handwriting and spelling skills are utilized and applied, these skills are not explicitly taught in this intervention.

Students who need to master basic grammar and writing skills will most benefit from this program..

This intervention can happen within three 40-minute, weekly small group sessions or two 60-minute, weekly small group sessions.  The complete program is made up of fifty sessions.