What is Integrated Learning Therapy?
If you are reading this, the chances are that you have a child who is struggling at school.
We have found that there is no ‘silver bullet’ that can promise a quick cure but by tracing aspects of a child’s neurodevelopment within his or her environment, we generally are able to help overcome problems to a significant degree and to prevent problems in pre-school and primary school children.
“By means of careful and thorough investigation, ILT practitioners try to unravel the underlying causes of a child’s difficulties.
Integrated Learning Therapy (ILT) helps get to the bottom of these problems by considering the child in totality.
We look forward to being of assistance”
Not all children thrive at school
- Maybe he or she is finding it difficult to master skills such as reading, writing, maths or spelling.
- Maybe he or she can do all these things but comes home with reports about unfinished work, or work left at home.
- The teacher complains about him or her being disorganised, untidy or even aggressive towards other children.
- Or maybe he or she is described as being unfocused and a daydreamer who never seems to listen.
- And maybe you agree with the teacher because you see the same behaviour at home.
Labels such as ADHD, Dyslexia, Auditory Processing Problems, Sensory Processing Disorder are mentioned. What’s going on?
ILT practitioners try to avoid using labels. Labelling might be useful as a kind of shortcut to describing the symptoms that a child might show but does nothing to explain why the child is struggling to learn or behave appropriately. Many children may be labelled as, for example, ADHD, but the underlying causes of their similar symptoms may vary greatly. Our job is to find the real reason for the clues they give us in their daily lives and this enables us to see the child in a very different light.
Understanding Learning Difficulties
Schools expect children to be able to learn. When children can’t learn something fairly easily, and they aren’t ‘backward’ or clearly brain damaged, some part of the learning process isn’t happening according to plan.
Understanding Learning Readiness
All children can learn and their mental development, seen by the changes in ability that they show from infancy to adulthood, is due to their immense capacity for learning. The stage at which children are thought to be learning ready and so ready to benefit form formal or academic education, usually around the age of 6 or 7 years, is decided by normal mental and physical development.
What does learning involve?
All learning requires a process made up of three basic steps.
To simplify, we receive input, process the input and then show a response (output). This somewhat simplified version nevertheless explains how the nervous system works.
The role of nutrition.
Some people find it difficult to believe that the lists of symptoms of a child not learning or concentrating, are very often related to food intolerances and/or poor gut health. There is, however, a dawning realisation that the brain is dependent on the health of the digestive system for efficient functioning.
Why make use of an ILT Practictioner?
Integrated Learning Therapy (ILT) helps get to the bottom of these problems by considering the child in totality. By means of careful and thorough investigation, ILT practitioners try to unravel the underlying causes of a child’s difficulties.
We have found that there is no ‘silver bullet’ that can promise a quick cure but by tracing aspects of a child’s neurodevelopment within his or her environment, we generally are able to help overcome problems to a significant degree and to prevent problems in pre-school and primary school children.
Case Studies
Read our Case Studies in order to see how ILT has assisted, and how we can assist you.
Watch more videos
Dr Shirley Kokot explains more about ILT and the approach and ways of helping.
Our Approach & Philosophy
Our focus is on neurodevelopment and the brain’s ability to learn.
Children’s development during the early years is influenced by their neurophysiology, neurochemistry and neuroanatomy.
Often the difficulties they experience with school learning and socially accepted behaviours can be traced to some or other irregularities in one or more of these areas.
ILT uses this knowledge to help pinpoint the possible causes of problems associated with the demands of school and society and helps to overcome them.
As such, it is a neurodevelopmental, eco-systemic approach. Using information from related fields of study and practice makes it a multi-disciplinary approach as well.
Our Practitioners can assist.
By means of careful and thorough investigation, ILT practitioners try to unravel the underlying causes of a child’s difficulties.
We have Practitioners situated across South Africa, as well as in Botswana, Zamibia and Zimbabwe.
We also have practitioners in France and China.
Latest News and Articles
Our news and articles are updated weekly.
Some underlying causes of learning difficulties
Integrated Learning Therapy (ILT) is a neurodevelopmental approach that takes note of all the factors that can interfere with a child’s ability to cope with learning and living. This means that we aim for an holistic view of the child rather than focusing on a narrow...
Growing a healthy gut garden
Integrated Learning Therapy places great value on a healthy digestive system. Our knowledge about the importance of nutrition for brain health naturally evolved into a concern for the state of our clients’ guts. More specifically, for the contents of their guts. ...
Thoughts on teaching handwriting
Education departments in some countries have expressed the opinion that there is no longer a need to teach children cursive (joined up letters) writing. This is because there is a decreasing need to write at all thanks to the use of computers, i-pads, cell phones and...
Learning Programmes
To widen the network of help available to children, ILT offers learning programmes to psychologists, other therapists, teachers and interested parents
ILT Colour Me Able
This ILT Learning Programme consists of two parts; the Wired to Learn and Colour Me Able. This programme is completed over distance (i.e. a correspondence course – no class time required).
Wired to Learn
Ensuring learning readiness in the school beginner: A Learning Programme offered over distance (i.e. a correspondence course – no class time required).