For parents of struggling students
School can feel possible again…
I’m Melissa. At Learning, Differently, I help students who feel stuck — academically, behaviorally, or both — move through the challenge, let go of a harsh self-image, and grow more independent. The plan is created for that student, not copied from the last one.
What I do
Coaching for the student in front of me.
When school is hard, the advice is often “try harder.” Most students I meet are already trying. What’s missing is a way of working that fits how they learn — and someone who will sit with the hard part until it gets smaller.
I coach one student at a time. We look at what is actually getting in the way, then practice skills they can use in class, at the kitchen table, and on the nights homework used to take over the house.
Parents stay in the loop. You’ll know what we’re working on, why it matters, and what a good week can look like at home.
Students come to understand themselves as learners. They get routines that lower the stress, a safer feeling about taking an educational risk, and strengths they didn’t know they had. The aim is confidence, balance, and a way of learning that works with their brain, not against it.
The problems I can help with
If school has become a daily struggle, you are in the right place.
Many families arrive feeling they have already tried everything. What’s left is doubt, frustration, and the sense that nothing will help. Students start to believe they are not good enough. Parents feel overwhelmed and lost. More than one of the struggles below is common. The plan follows the student, not a single label.
Reading that gets avoided
Slow, frustrating, or easy to put down. We work on the skill and the willingness to open the book.
Work that doesn’t get finished
Lost assignments, late starts, and homework that takes over the evening without much to show for it.
Big feelings in the way
Shutdown, worry, or frustration that ends the work before it starts. Regulation is part of the plan, not an afterthought.
Writing that stalls
A blank page, ideas that won’t line up, or a draft that never quite says what they mean.
Studying that doesn’t stick
They sit down. The quiz still feels new. We build a way of practicing that actually holds.
The shame of “just try harder”
A lot of students quietly decide they are not good enough. Most of them are already trying. The missing piece is a way of working that fits them.
Philosophy
What’s getting in the way?
I start with a relationship, with your student and with you. I want to actually see them. Then we take the time school rarely has for executive function, self-regulation, and the social and emotional pieces sitting under the academic work.
Strengths and small wins come first, and we still teach the skill that is hard. One builds the student up. The other gets the assignment done. I don’t start with a program and fit the child into it.
Beyond the behavior
Beneath the emotion
Behind the fear
Parents are partners. You shouldn’t have to become the homework police to see things improve.
Process
The first step is a conversation, not a commitment.
You don’t need a diagnosis, a file of worksheets, or the right words. You need a clear picture of what’s hard, and whether I’m the right person to help.
01
Clarity meeting
A free conversation with you. I listen to what is worrying you, explain how this work is different, and describe what comes next: Exploration Days with your student, then a Pathway Meeting. No prepared speech required.
02
Exploration Days
Four sessions with your student. We get specific without turning it into a verdict.
Day 1
Who the student is.
Day 2
Learning Style, executive function, and a social-emotional inventory.
Day 3
Who the student is as a learner.
Day 4
Strategy sessions, and a plan we build together.
03
Pathway meeting
We sit down with you. I share what we found, and we settle the plan, the investment, and the next steps. You leave knowing what moving forward actually looks like.
Experience
Twenty-one years of teaching. One student at a time.
I work with struggling students on the skills that make school workable: reading, writing, executive function, study skills, self-regulation, Spanish, and the pieces in between that don’t fit a category. Parents can also get help making sense of a MET or IEP meeting.
What stays constant is the way we work. Nothing is copied from a standard program. If a strategy isn’t serving this student, we change it.
21 years of teaching
K-12 special education certification
Teacher of the Year, 2022
Private tutoring, 4 years
Holistic Neuro-Growth Learning Success Coach, 2 years
Neurodiversity Coach Certificate, June 2026
Featured twice in Parenting, Learning & Living magazine, October 2024 and June 2025
TEFL certified, 2014
B2 Spanish, and three semesters teaching introductory Spanish
Services
Areas I help with
These are starting points, not a menu you have to order from. The work follows what your student actually needs.
Reading
Fluency, comprehension, stamina, and enough confidence to stay with a page.
Writing
Getting started, organizing ideas, sentences that hold, and revision without the spiral.
Executive function
Planning, starting, keeping track, and finishing — the skills that make the rest of school possible.
Study skills
How to practice so the work stays, instead of disappearing after the session.
Self-regulation
Noticing big feelings and having a way back to the work when the day unravels.
Spanish
Support for students learning Spanish, from someone who has taught it.
MET and IEP meetings
Help for parents who need the special education process to make sense, before and after the meeting.
And more, if it’s theirs
Behavior, confidence, and the problems that don’t fit a tidy container. We follow the student, not the menu.
Book a free meeting
Start with a conversation.
Tell me what’s hard for your student. We’ll talk about fit, and you’ll leave with a possible next step either way.
A short meeting, not a sales call.
You can share as much or as little as you want.
If I’m not the right help, I’ll say so.