Johanna W. Villanueva Educational Therapy
Assessment, Advocacy and Intervention
415-816-4856
Evaluations
Educational Therapy Services
Advocacy
Intervention
Educational evaluations serve to pinpoint a student's academic strengths and weaknesses while examining essential skills and processes required for reading, writing, comprehension, vocabulary, and critical thinking. These evaluations can offer insight into the student's learning profile and aid in identifying needed interventions.
The evaluation process includes a review of academic records and any prior assessments, as well as a parent observation questionnaire. Testing typically spans about 4 hours, which can be broken into 2 testing sessions. A parent meeting is included following the evaluation to discuss results, determine next steps, and determine a plan for intervention if necessary.
Advocacy services vary depending on the needs of the client. Advocacy services may include a review of records and, if needed, recommendations for further batteries of testing so that outstanding questions can be answered. This can help parents understand how to best support their child, as well as determine if their student may qualify for services or accommodations at school. Following a review of records, parents oftentimes retain an educational therapist to assist them throughout the IEP process. Representation at IEP meetings by an educational therapist can help ensure a better outcome for the student, as well as ensure that goals and accommodations are established which will best fit the student's needs.
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Intervention Specialties
- Dyslexia and other language based learning differences
- Dyscalculia
- Visual processing disorders
- Short-term memory and working memory difficulties
- Handwriting
- Executive Functioning
- ADD/ADHD
Benefits of Assessments
- Understand how the student learns and processes information
- Support learning and minimize at-home frustration
- Develop a focused remediation plan
- Increase student confidence
Educational therapy sessions use research-based techniques to remediate learning differences and processing disorders. Unlike tutoring, educational therapy does not focus specifically on academic skills. Educational therapy takes a holistic approach to learning by restructuring how a student thinks and processes information, while providing the student with tools and strategies which can be independently implemented. For students with learning differences, a tutorial approach is like placing the student on a treadmill where they will constantly struggle to keep pace with the class. The best approach is to instead help these students understand how they learn, provide them with strategies and work at the processing level to restructure their thinking. Educational therapy sessions are customized to achieve these goals for each student.
Therapy sessions are 50 minutes in duration with a general frequency of 2 to 3 times per week, depending on the specific needs of the client.
"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal." –Henry Ford
