EDUCATIONAL THERAPY
A Strategic Approach to Learning
What is educational therapy?
Educational therapy is a way to identify, then bridge, gaps that are impacting a person’s learning. These gaps often appear as persistent difficulties in school or work. Educational therapy can help clients with disorders in attention or executive functioning, specific learning disorders, mood disorders, or other difficulties. We typically meet with clients 1-2 hours per week in our offices, often through the academic year. We establish goals, then work toward them strategically.
Indications that educational therapy is effective will vary: for one client, it may be fewer missing assignments or “surprise” exams, another will realize quantitative gains in oral reading fluency, while another may finally “get” how to write a solid essay independently. Our approach at LA Mindworks is to leverage our clients’ strengths so that they can learn with strategies that will carry them through a range of classes or outside-of-school thinking.
What is the difference between educational therapy and tutoring?
Families often ask how educational therapy relates to tutoring. Each profession delivers a range of services, and the ranges overlap, but a guiding goal of educational therapy is to develop long-term solutions to persistent learning challenges. In contrast, tutoring is often best suited to a client who is acutely struggling in a class. Educational therapy is appropriate for complex or multi-dimensional challenges, while tutoring usually has a narrower focus.
Is educational therapy right for our family?
If you notice that your child persistently struggles with tasks that seem to come easily to their peers, educational therapy can often help. Some families come to educational therapy after a school’s learning specialist or a therapist recommends it. Neuropsychological testing is helpful, but not required, for educational therapy. Many of our clients begin without formal testing, but rather with the intuitive insight of a parent, teacher, or therapist. When testing is indicated, we are happy to help parents to find an appropriate testing psychologist. An introductory consultation can help a family to decide if educational therapy seems like a helpful approach.
Can educational therapy help me even though I’m not in school?
Taking a strategic approach to career growth is a natural extension of the work that we do with our school-age clients. We help clients through early- and mid-career transitions where they are looking for more efficient or effective ways to convert their intentions into meaningful actions. This can include determining how to work with managers and direct reports, or alignment of their job responsibilities to their team’s mission and to their own drive. We can help our clients to manage any attentional, cognitive, mood, organizational or historical limitations to their growth.