How Can NILD Help My Child?

There are two basic approaches to dealing with learning disabilities – compensation and direct intervention.

Compensation

The first and most common is compensation – helping students work around their deficit areas by using their strengths. In an academic setting, this usually takes the form of tutoring and classroom modifications, such as untimed tests and reduced workload. Compensation allows students to succeed with outside help, but leaves them limited in what they can do on their own.

Direct Intervention

The second approach is direct intervention – helping students strengthen their areas of deficit so they are no longer handicapped by them. Teaching students HOW to learn allows students the eventual freedom of succeeding on their own as independent learners.

Both approaches are generally necessary in dealing effectively with a learning disability. Compensation allows students to succeed academically until the necessary skills are developed for independence. Direct intervention and the resulting competence and confidence allow students to gain the skills needed to become independent learners for a lifetime.

NILD Educational Therapy® is a direct, language-based intervention for students with learning difficulties similar to occupational and speech therapies. Our focus is to strengthen the underlying causes of learning difficulties rather than simply treating the symptoms. Our therapy 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.