This past week, twenty-five students and five instructors met at Redeemer University College in Ancaster, ON for one week of residency training as a culmination of 4 weeks of online work. Participants came from as far away as El Salvador, Hong Kong, Kansas, Edmonton, Winnipeg, and Montreal as well as various cities and towns across Ontario. The demographics of our group included public and private school teachers, a vice-principal, two Montessori teachers, highly invested parents, as well as some private practice therapists. They all came to learn and understand more about how the brain processes information and how NILD Educational Therapy can meet the needs of our struggling students.

The week began with all three Levels meeting together for a Meet ‘N Greet Bingo game, gathering signatures of participants and instructors that had experienced specific events listed on the squares. For instance, did you know that Trix Bradley has been instructing our courses in Canada for over 15 years? We then separated into our groups to begin the challenging lectures on phonological processing, questioning and mediation, cognitive functions, and various other topics depending on the level of instruction. This was followed by the intimidating, but important work of practicing and perfecting the NILD explicit techniques! This is where the rubber met the road – as therapists demonstrated their skills, challenged and inspired one other as they critiqued each other’s sessions and were evaluated by their instructors. Oh yes, the amygdala was firing and participants exhibited emotional regulation as they calmed their nerves, anxiety and tension. I’m quite convinced there were new pathways created, new dendrites formed and an increase in executive function in all of these participants this week. Let’s not forget that these process were occurring in the instructors’ brains as well!

We left this place with 11 more educators trained as Intern Therapists, 6 more Registered Therapists and 8 more Certified NILD Educational Therapists. Congratulations to you ALL! These ‘master level’ courses are definitely challenging and time-intensive. Therapists, your students will benefit from all your hard work!

We would love to hear from you, the participants! How has NILD training affected your perspective on helping struggling students? Please reply to this blog with a summary sentence describing your experience of this past week.