NILD Information and Westminster’s Educational Therapy and Rx Program
Westminster has an extensive NILD program that is available for children who have a
diagnosis of reading differences, ADHD, mild autism, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, and other
learning differences. We have found that nothing is comparable to NILD’s Educational
Therapy program. It truly is an all encompassing program, and recognizes that all
children are “imago dei” or “made in God’s image.” With the right intervention
strategies, (NILD’s techniques) students can excel both in and out of the classroom.
NILD and Educational Therapy has a strong foundation with decades of research that
point to excellence and dramatic improvement in a student’s test scores AND his or her
ability to “see” himself or herself as a capable learner.
“The National Institute for Learning Development (NILD) is a nonprofit organization
dedicated to training educators to work with children and adults with learning difficulties
through an individualized program of educational therapy. NILD defines educational
therapy as an intervention that first determines a student’s patterns of learning strengths
and weaknesses and then provides intense instruction in a one‐to‐one setting to
remediate the identified educational weaknesses. NILD Educational Therapy® focuses
primarily on basic academic skills such as reading, spelling, written expression, and
mathematics. Improved skills are developed to achieve grade‐level academic
proficiency using a combination of direct instruction (Carnine, Silbert, & Kameenui,
1997) and mediated‐ learning strategies (Feuerstein, 1980). NILD educational
therapists are professionals who create a supportive learning environment and offer an
intensive intervention to students with learning challenges based on the appraisal of
information received from parents, classroom teachers, and psychoeducational
evaluations.”
Westminster Christian Academy currently has three Professionally Certified Educational
Therapists (PCET) that have completed the three consecutive levels of training over the
past three summers to be fully certified in providing Tier 1 services. We also have one
of the PCETs who has received Rx therapy training in Executive Functioning, which is
also being offered to students with a diagnosis of ADD/ADHD.
If you are interested in services for your child, please contact our Director of Student Services.
*Note: Tiers for Student Services is NOT a special education program. WCA is not equipped to provide services to students with more severe learning challenges. Students with ADD/ADHD, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, various specific learning disabilities, or other similar challenges are our target group.