Liz Yates, a professionally certified educational therapist (PCET), holds a BA in elementary education, an
M.Ed.in special education, certified in the area of learning
disabilities and emotional disorders (K-12), and has a current license to
teach in Virginia. She taught 18 years. She is affiliated with NILD. She is also a member of LD Solutions, a group of professional educational therapists located in various towns in northern Virginia.
She is available
to schedule an initial intake meeting to listen to your concerns and
desires and to indicate whether or not educational therapy is the right
fit for the student. She is experienced in a variety of assessments to
help determine your child's current level of functioning, and has a
list of psychologists for referral for cognitive testing.
Services (see brochures below, or the updated list under the tab titled "Assessments and Fees") Discovery Therapy is a program of techniques from the National Institute for Learning Development (NILD), and consists of mediated learning by a trained educational therapist. The goal is to strengthen the areas of deficits through intensive, systematic, individualized instruction that is dynamic in design.
It is not tutoring.
It is in Discovery Therapy that a students learns HOW to learn, not just what to learn. The delivery model is two 80 minute sessions per week, before, during or after the school day. During the sessions the client develops metacognition, thinking about their own learning, via dialoging with the therapist while engaged in one of 26 different activities. The activities are tailor-made for the specific deficits that need to be strengthened, be it auditory or visual processing, working memory, attention deficit, visual-motor integration, and cognitive. The end result is a student who will learn independently with life-long skills. The therapists are privately contracted, because they are independent of the school, albeit approved by the school's Board of Directors.
How long does it take? It depends on the student and the commitment to the program. For many students the most permanent change is found at about 3 years. Some students "graduate" from the program in less or longer time.
While Discovery Therapy is the core of the program, Liz has created many programs from which to choose, depending on your child's needs.
See the Assessment and Fees tab to learn more about the various services available from Able to Learn LLC.
Search and Teach, a program for 5 and 6 year
olds, is geared toward assessing the needs of youngsters who may have
some learning needs early on. Once identified as having a need, a follow
up of specific activities are utilized to address these needs to
prepare the child for a successful school experience, especially in
reading.
What is this thing called Rhythmic Writing? Why do we do it?
Rhythmic Writing is a technique we use to integrate the brain's
communication to both hemispheres, develop attention, processing speed,
motor coordination, handwriting, sequencing and memory. Take a look at
the table to see how this extraordinary technique may benefit the
struggling learner.
Liz Yates, a professionally certified educational therapist (PCET), holds a BA in elementary education, an
M.Ed.in special education, certified in the area of learning
disabilities and emotional disorders (K-12), and has a current license to
teach in Virginia. She taught 18 years. She is affiliated with NILD. She is also a member of LD Solutions, a group of professional educational therapists located in various towns in northern Virginia.
Search and Teach, a program for 5 and 6 year
olds, is geared toward assessing the needs of youngsters who may have
some learning needs early on. Once identified as having a need, a follow
up of specific activities are utilized to address these needs to
prepare the child for a successful school experience, especially in
reading. 
Search 
NILD
NILD 
Math
Visual 
Understanding
Auditory 
Spelling
