This innovative program has been in operation
since the 1960's and is internationally recognized. It can be found in
many private schools world-wide and is also offered through private
practice therapists. NILD was established to help students who
struggle with learning disabilities. Although these students have
average to superior ability, they experience difficulty learning with
traditional methods. Studies have shown that NILD therapy makes a
profound difference with these students, helping them to become
successful, independent learners. NILD currently have over 1500
trained
therapists
offering their program across the US and in 46 countries.
NILD was established in 1982 to assist schools, organizations, and
individuals in the development of programs for students with specific
learning disabilities.
The NILD Educational Therapy; model was developed in the 1960s by
Deborah Zimmerman, a nurse and educator. Many of her techniques were
developed through her work with pioneers of the early research in
learning disabilities, Drs. Archie Silver, M.D. and Rosa Hagin, Ph.D.
at Bellevue Medical Center in New York. In 1973, her techniques were
introduced into a school setting and the National Institute for
Learning Disabilities (NILD) was formed in 1982. With
headquarters in the Discovery Center in Norfolk, Virginia, NILD's
ever-widening ministry continues to serve educators around the world.
The NILD Educational Therapy program is based on the principle of
stimulation of cognitive processing through a variety of techniques
designed to improve academic and perceptual functioning.
NILD Educational Therapy is one-on-one, non-tutorial intervention
in which an NILD educational therapist directs students' thinking
processes through guided questioning and interactive language.
In this program, a student works with a therapist twice a week for one
hour and twenty minutes. Because it is a therapy program, rather than
remedial or tutorial, it can be individually tailored to strengthen
areas of perception and cognition. Interactive language is also key in
developing a more efficient way of processing information, making the
student an active learner rather than a passive student learning by
rote.
