What is an Educational Therapist?
An educational therapist is a clinically trained educator who is sensitively attuned to the interplay of emotions, cognition, and learning. as well as expert at helping clients gain the self-understanding needed to manage their learning challenges. We are experienced with evaluation, remediation, and case management. We develop assessment-guided interventions and are skillful communicators with families, school personnel, and allied professionals.
An educational therapist is a professional who is not merely a subject matter tutor, but a professional who demonstrates a balance of knowledge and experience in the field of developmental education, keeping abreast of current research and literature in the burgeoning fields of learning disabilities, educational diagnostic assessment, and the neurobiological and neuropsychological aspects of learning and functioning. These relevant fields of study are part of the multi-disciplinary nature of educational therapy, and help to define differential diagnoses and the co-morbidity of disorders present in the diagnostic profiles of many clients/students.
What do Educational Therapists do?
Educational therapists work with individuals across the life span who experience learning challenges, such as:
Suspected or diagnosed learning disabilities (LD)- Dyslexia
- Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)
- Non Verbal Learning Disorder (NLD)
- Difficulty with Speech and Language
- Adolescents and adults with Asperger's Disorder
We address issues with:
- General and Specific Organizational Skills
- Difficulty in the Workplace
- General and Specific Difficulty in the Classroom
- Difficulty with Executive Functioning Skills
- Difficulty with Motivation
- Low Self Esteem
How are Educational Therapists different from other education specialists?
Educational therapists offer intense intervention which includes attention to the social/emotional forces that interfere with learning, remediating academics, changing attitudes, facilitating accommodations as needed, and communicating needs. Viewing the learning issues from the various perspectives of school, parents and learner, educational therapists facilitate supportive and tolerant relationships among all involved with the client’s educational development.What is the therapeutic aspect of educational therapy?
The therapeutic aspect of educational therapy does not imply that a client/student is being offered psychotherapy. However, it does imply that an educational therapist investigates and applies techniques and methods which address a range of academic difficulties, thereby offering a sense of relief, enlightenment, and self-management to the client/student. This occurs as a result of remediation, and a comprehensive understanding of how and why the learning process is unique to each individual cognitively, socio-emotionally and neurobiologically.Glossary of Terms:
Comorbid: two or more medical conditions that exist simultaneously with and often independently of each other (e.g., ADHD, Dyslexia, Depression)Learning Disability (or disorder): impediments or a disorder in individuals of at least normal intelligence who have difficulties learning or acquiring skills, such as reading, writing, and other language based skills. This type of disability may manifest itself in the classroom, the workplace, or in social situations.
Attention Deficit Disorder: a condition which presents patterns of impulsivity, difficulty with concentration, focus, and is sometimes accompanied by hyperactivity. Individuals with ADD may have difficulty in the classroom, the workplace, or in social situations.
Gestalt: A physical, biological or psychological configuration, unified as a whole (e.g., regarding and respecting the person as a “whole”, rather than as a summation of disorders or characteristics).
Executive Functioning Skills: a set of cognitive functions that regulate other abilities and behaviours such as impulsivity, transitioning, and emotional responses (these behaviours, regarded sometimes as symptoms, are often identified in individuals with ADD and other conditions).