What is Educational Therapy?
Educational therapy...
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focuses on:
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improving academic skills
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remediating learning challenges and/or differences
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building underlying learning skills
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improving self-awareness, self-esteem, and self-confidence
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uses both formal and informal assessments to learn about a child's specific strengths and challenges, ultimately using their strengths to overcome their unique challenges
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also targets psycho-educational and social emotional goals when appropriate and when impacting academics
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considers the impact of many variables on a child's learning experience and success, including school environment, family dynamics, and community expectations
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teaches skills and strategies that will help kids better manage attention and learning while at school
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Educational Therapy is different from tutoring because:
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tutoring has been proven to be ineffective in the treatment of learning disabilities, because it typically implements the same teaching strategies used in the school setting
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tutors typically focus on one subject area, with a main focus on improving grades, reviewing coursework, and completing homework
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educational therapists create individualized treatment plans, presenting material in alternative ways to facilitate deeper, long-term learning
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educational therapists receive additional training in understanding learning disabilities, educational psychology, academic assessment, intervention strategies, and have a period of supervised therapy practice
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treats individuals with learning challenges and differences, including those with learning disabilities
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can provide intervention for children diagnosed with:
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language-based learning disabilities (dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia)
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specific learning disabilities
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ADHD
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executive functioning disorder
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autism spectrum disorder
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undiagnosed reading, writing, spelling and/or math challenges
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Who can benefit?
Educational Therapists are not tutors!
What academic skills can be targeted?
Pre-reading skills
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phonemic awareness
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phonological awareness
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print and book awareness
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letter awareness
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sound to letter correspondence
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improving vocabulary
Reading
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decoding ability
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word attack skills
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improving reading fluency
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narrative skills
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improving working memory
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reading comprehension
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improving vocabulary
writing
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writing mechanics
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prewriting skills
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organizational support
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grammatical rules
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editing and proofreading
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spelling
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writing for different purposes
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improving working memory
math
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basic math concepts
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computational math skills
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math facts automaticity
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better understanding of word problems
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math strategy and formula use
Executive Functioning
Can help in any of these areas:
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task initiation
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response inhibition
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focus
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time management
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working memory
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flexibility
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self-regulation
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emotional self-control
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organization