About Us

Integrated Learning Institute (ILI) serves students with learning disabilities from the Coachella Valley. We began this work in 1990 as The Discovery Center.

• Students from public, private, and home school settings come to our locations in Palm Desert twice a week for eighty-minute sessions. Schedules are customized to meet student needs.
• ILI uses National Institute for Learning Development (NILD) Educational Therapy techniques. See the NILD website for more information (www.nild.org).
• ILI's staff are trained and certified by National Institute for Learning Development. All ILI staff members hold undergraduate/graduate degrees in education or other related fields.
• NILD Educational Therapy is not tutoring or special education, both of which are compensatory in nature. NILD Educational Therapy works to create an independent learner who can learn in any school or work environment without special assistance.
• All NILD Educational Therapy can be conducted in a one-to-one teacher-student learning environment or in small groups.
• NILD Educational Therapy is not a quick fix, but requires three or four school years to teach a person with learning disabilities to be an independent learner in any school or workplace environment.
• Integrated Learning Institute is currently funded by tuition, an annual dinner/auction fund raiser, and a small, but growing, donor base.

Stimulation of Deficits

NILD Educational Therapy stimulates areas of weakness in perception and cognition. Through individualized intensive interactive stimulation in a one-on-one environment, students gain the skills needed to become independent learners.

How NILD Educational Therapy Works

Deficits in perception and/or cognition impact the learning process and create uneven academic performance. The learning process is represented as a wall with various components. Perceptual and cognitive skills form the foundation of the wall. If any of these areas, such as visual or auditory memory or abstract/logical thinking are weak or vulnerable, academic skills are affected.

After cognitive and perceptual deficits are strengthened, the learning process functions efficiently. Students become able to learn independently. Much like physical therapy or speech therapy, NILD Educational Therapy boosts weak, vulnerable systems.

Integrated Learning Institute - providing NILD Educational Therapy for learners of all ages since 1990