If you’re reading this, there’s a pretty good chance you’re parenting a child who doesn’t fit neatly inside the walls of a traditional class or school box. Maybe your child struggles with reading or writing. Maybe you’ve sat in parent-teacher conferences and heard phrases like learning differences, processing issues, executive function challenges, or possible dyslexia, and your head is still spinning.
Welcome. You’re in good company here.
Before we ever discovered NILD Educational Therapy, before words like cognitive training or neurological intervention ever entered our vocabulary, we thought we were just a typical family, blessed to be able to send our two kids to a private school. We quickly learned that was not the case; we sat across from the teacher, who said something along the lines of “We’re trying everything… but something still isn’t clicking.”
Traditional School Tried… But It Wasn’t Enough
Our kids were in school with good people who wanted to help. They offered accommodations, but
the teachers at the private school were not equipped to teach our kids, who learned differently from typical children. The simple reality is that traditional classrooms aren’t built for kids who learn differently. They’re built for average learners in average circumstances, and our kids were anything but average.
The Exhausting Season of “Piecing It Together”
We supplemented the school accommodations with:
- tutoring
- traditional interventions
- online learning tools
- extra homework
- fewer worksheets
- more worksheets (ironically, not better)
- educational evaluations
- late-night research rabbit holes
We tried all the things. Some helped a little… most did not.
And all the while, I watched my kids slowly internalize the belief that they were “behind.” I saw their confidence shrinking. I saw the frustration, the fatigue, and the “why is this so hard for me?” questions.
Let me pause here and say this: If you’re living in this season right now — the piecing-together season, you are not failing. You are not late. You are not alone.
Honestly, I wish someone had told me that.
When God Nudges You Toward Something New
During this time, we kept praying, “Lord, show us what to do. Show us where to go. Help us help them.”
After we made the decision to pull our kids out of traditional school and homeschool them, we reached back out to one of their former teachers, who happens to be an NILD educational therapist, and asked if she would be willing to help us. She said yes, and for the past year and a half, our kids have been receiving NILD therapy twice a week. They had received NILD support back when they were in traditional school as well, but never with the level of focus and intentionality they’re getting now.
If you’re anything like me, you’re asking what NILD means. The more research I did about cognitive training, brain-based learning, and interventions that strengthen the root of learning instead of patching the symptoms, the more I felt that quiet tug, “This might be it!”
Where Our Story Goes Next
We didn’t know it then, but stepping into NILD Educational Therapy would become the long-term sacrifice that finally helped things click for our kids.
Not overnight. Not magically. Not without tears or tiredness (for them AND for us). But slowly… beautifully… things began to change.If your heart feels a tug reading this, if my words sound similar to what you are going through, then maybe this is exactly the encouragement you needed today.
You’re not alone. You’re not behind. You’re doing holy work.
And learning can click at any time. Sometimes we just have to be patient and find the right tools.
If you want more information about NILD therapy or want to talk with someone who can walk you through what it might look like for your child, feel free to reach out to Charity at (864) 675-9200. This may be the best place for you to start.