Executive Functioning Coaching in Palo Alto
In-home coaching for students with ADHD, autism, dyslexia or a twice-exceptional profile, building the planning and follow-through that school expects but rarely teaches.
Bright Palo Alto students who cannot get it done
It might show up as a quiet note from a middle school teacher, or as a Sunday-night scramble you know too well. Your student gets the ideas in class. The trouble is everything between the idea and a finished, submitted assignment.
- Homework takes three hours when it should take one
- Assignments get finished but never turned in
- The backpack is a black hole of crumpled papers
- Sunday night becomes a weekly crisis
- Report cards say "not working to potential"
Where it shows up in Palo Alto
The gaps usually show up in middle school: more teachers, a locker, a portal, and homework that is suddenly the student's job to track. Gunn or Paly raises the load again, and each has its own way of offering help that a student has to know to ask for.
Whether your student has ADHD, autism, dyslexia, a twice-exceptional profile or no label at all, what breaks down is usually not ability and not willingness. It is the machinery around the work: breaking a project into steps, starting before the deadline is close, keeping track of what is due, and staying steady after a disappointing grade. That machinery is learnable, and we build it with your student at home.
What families say
From our reviews page.
You helped me out so much during the whole year when it came to catching up on my work and assignments that needed to be turned in. Honestly if it wasn't for you, I would have been stuck in summer school.
504 plans and IEPs in Palo Alto
Palo Alto Unified is in the Santa Clara County North West SELPA, and its special education serves eligible students from age 3 until their 22nd birthday. A referral for a special education assessment can come from a parent or the school team at any time, in writing or out loud. The school has 15 days to give you either an assessment plan or a written explanation of why it declined. After you sign the plan, it has 60 days to finish the assessment and hold the IEP meeting. PAUSD encourages a Student Study Team meeting first, but you can still make the referral.
The district's FAQ says a medical diagnosis is not the same as an educational evaluation, so the district may still evaluate even if you have an outside diagnosis. ADHD falls under the category of other health impairment, dyslexia, dyscalculia and dysgraphia under specific learning disability, and autism is its own category. A student who is not found eligible for special education may still qualify for a 504 plan.
PAUSD's 504 page says any person can refer a student. The school should respond within 15 days, and if no evaluation is warranted, the site lead must explain why in writing within 15 days. The district expects the whole process to finish within 60 days of the written request. Interventions and a Student Study Team cannot be used to delay a parent's request unless the parent agrees in writing to withdraw it. Each school has a named 504 site lead: an assistant principal at Gunn and Paly, a grade-level counselor at each middle school, and the school psychologist at elementary schools. A 504 plan is recorded in Infinite Campus and sent to every staff member who serves the student.
Sources (checked October 2026): PAUSD IEP, PAUSD special education FAQ, PAUSD 504 referral, PAUSD 504 leads, PAUSD 504 service plans, North West SELPA.
What support looks like at Palo Alto schools
In middle school, Greene offers a Study Skills class for seventh and eighth graders with an active IEP. It replaces one elective each semester and builds organization, academic support and self-advocacy. Greene and JLS both run a free after-school Homework Habitat in the library, and Greene and Fletcher offer AVID, a year-long class on organization and study skills.
At Gunn, the Academic Center offers free peer tutoring, requested through an application, and a tutor and student meet at least weekly. Focus on Success is a study skills class covering time management, organization and test-taking, but students who receive special education services are not eligible, because those services take its place. Gunn's Wellness Center is free and confidential, with drop-in therapist visits.
At Paly, the Tower Learning Center offers small-group tutoring by appointment, plus mentoring and goal-setting. PRIME is a weekly teacher-help period, and attendance is mandatory: a student who does not sign up is assigned to a teacher at random. Counseling runs through weekly advisory classes, and counselors work with advisors to identify students who need extra support.
All PAUSD students can use Uwill, a free teletherapy service with a 24/7 crisis line. Students 12 and older can book on their own.
Private-school families have options too. Castilleja's learning specialist handles accommodation requests, and families can book an appointment even if unsure. The school does not permit curriculum modifications, and documentation has to be current. Palo Alto Prep says all of its students take a study skills program that builds executive functioning skills. PAUSD's special education office has a coordinator for private schools, and under federal rules the district where a private school sits must locate and evaluate students with disabilities enrolled there.
Sources (checked October 2026): Greene academic support, JLS Homework Habitat, Gunn Academic Center, Gunn programs, Paly Tower Learning Center, Paly PRIME, PAUSD Uwill, PAUSD special education team, Castilleja learning support, Palo Alto Prep support.
Parent groups
SEDAC, the district's special education advisory committee, is open to parents of students with disabilities by application and meets at least once per quarter. The North West SELPA's Community Advisory Committee is open to parents, with 2026-27 Zoom meetings on November 10, January 19, March 9 and May 11. The Palo Alto Council of PTAs has a special education committee, which is a parent organization, not a district office.
Sources (checked October 2026): PAUSD SEDAC, North West SELPA parents and community, Palo Alto Council of PTAs special education.
Coaching alongside school support in Palo Alto
A study skills class, a tutoring center or a 504 plan changes what happens at school. A coach works on what happens after the bell, at home. We read the plan your student already has and help turn it into routines: checking the gradebook on the same day each week, planning long assignments backward from the due date, and practicing the short conversation that gets an accommodation used.
Some of Palo Alto's help only works if a student plans ahead. At Paly, a student who signs up for PRIME chooses the teacher, and one who does not is assigned at random. At Gunn, the peer tutoring center needs an application. Those are planning habits a coach can build before the week gets away from your student.
We talk with teachers when you want us to, and your coach can attend an IEP or 504 meeting at your invitation. We do not represent families in those meetings and we do not offer legal advice; for questions about your rights, the procedural safeguards notice and the county SELPA are the right sources.
Three steps, then it is weekly
Free assessment
A 30-minute conversation about your student, their school and what is getting in the way. No pitch.
Matched, usually within a week
We propose the coach, a written plan around the first two or three priorities, and a weekly time. You meet the coach before the first session. If a match will take longer, we tell you on the call.
Weekly coaching in Palo Alto
60-minute sessions in your home or online, the same coach every week, and a monthly check-in with you.
No pitch on the call. If coaching is not the right fit for your student, we say so.
Per week
Or $215 a week online. Save more with a semester commitment. A coach and a subject tutor can work from one plan, at the same rates.
Common Questions
Do you come to our home in Palo Alto?
Yes. Most coaching happens at your kitchen table or your student's desk, because that is where the homework lives and where the systems have to work. Online sessions are available too, and some families mix the two.
Can you work with our student's 504 plan or IEP?
Yes. We work from the supports already in place, communicate with teachers when you want us to, and join IEP or 504 meetings at your invitation. We do not represent families in those meetings, and we do not diagnose or provide therapy.
We have a private diagnosis. Does Gunn or Paly still have to evaluate?
A medical diagnosis is not the same as an educational evaluation, so the district may still evaluate. A referral can be made at any time, in writing or out loud, and the school has 15 days to respond with an assessment plan or a written explanation.
Can the school hold up my request for a 504 plan by starting a Student Study Team?
PAUSD's 504 referral page says interventions and a Student Study Team cannot be used to delay a parent's evaluation request, unless the parent agrees in writing to withdraw it.
Can my teen with an IEP take Gunn's study skills class?
Gunn's Focus on Success class is not open to students who receive special education services, because those services take its place. Greene's Study Skills class, in middle school, is for students with an active IEP.
Is this tutoring?
No. Tutoring teaches the content. Executive functioning coaching builds the systems that let your student get the content done and turned in: starting, planning, tracking, following through, and asking for help. Families who want a coach and a subject tutor working from one plan can have both, at the same rates.
Who are the coaches?
Plato+ EF coaches are deeply experienced educators who understand learning differences, with years of work with ADHD, autism, dyslexia and twice-exceptional students. Our founder matches your student to one coach after the free assessment, and that coach stays with your student.
Ready to talk?
No commitment, no pressure. Just an honest conversation about what would help your student in Palo Alto.