What is Educational Therapy?
Educational therapy is a kind of therapy used with individuals who have learning disabilities, differences and challenges. It offers a range of intensive individualized intervention designed to help address learning problems. Educational therapy addresses the underlying learning skills that affect students’ academic performance. These skills might include visual and auditory processing, attention, focus and memory skills. Educational therapy allows students to strengthen their ability to learn. Students are given activities that not only help with academics, but also with processing, focus and memory skills.
Educational therapy is different from tutoring in that it deals with processing information as well as academics, while tutoring focuses specifically on academics. An educational therapist is a professional who combines educational and therapeutic approaches for identification, evaluation, and treatment for children and adolescents with learning disabilities, learning problems, or attentional difficulties.
A child who is struggling and falling behind in school is not a happy child. Kids who have learning disorders, or attention problems that make learning unusually difficult, often suffer for several years before parents and teachers figure out that something is standing in their way.
Once a child’s learning challenges are identified, she may benefit from having an educational therapist to work with her on developing the skills she is missing and on devising learning strategies that build on her strengths and compensate for her weaknesses.
Educational therapy focuses on developing basic skills AND the thinking process. These include memory, attention, auditory processing, language comprehension, visual-motor perception, etc. As these areas are developed, individuals can be taught basic skills such as math, reading, writing, comprehension, speaking, and study skills. It is different from tutoring, which focuses primarily on basic academic skills, specific subject areas, study skills and test preparation. And, while we specialize in educational therapy, we also offer tutoring to assist with those students who need that extra help to catch up or need help in specific subjects.
Issues Addressed by Educational Therapists
- Learning Disabilities, a generic term which includes (but is not limited to):
- Dyslexia
- Dysgraphia
- Dyscalculia
- Reading, Written Language, and Math Disabilities
- Non-Verbal Learning Disorder
- Attention Deficit Disorder
- Language Processing Problems
- Memory Difficulties
- Visual Processing Problems
- Low Academic Self-esteem
- Poor Organizational and Study Skills
- School and Test Anxiety
- School Placement and Retention