Executive Functioning Coaching in Portola Valley
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 Portola Valley students who cannot get it done
It might show up as a quiet note from a Corte Madera 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 Portola Valley
Portola Valley School District is small: Ormondale through third grade and Corte Madera from fourth through eighth. A student can spend five years on one campus with the same few adults. Then comes a high school such as Woodside High, where ninth graders take six classes and may add a seventh, with more teachers, more portals and more due dates at once.
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.
From the very first session, Aidan took the time to understand & relate to my son. This was very important for us because my kid is like a brick wall Gen z teen.
504 plans and IEPs in Portola Valley
The Portola Valley School District describes special education as a continuum: general education instruction first, then supplemental services at each school. Student Study Teams at each school can recommend accommodations or learning plans before any evaluation referral, and a referral usually starts with the Student Study Team. After an evaluation, an IEP team meets. If the student qualifies, a case manager is assigned as the main special education contact, usually a resource specialist, a special education teacher or a speech-language specialist. The IEP is reviewed every year and re-evaluated every three years.
For a 504 plan, the district's page says the student needs a documented impairment that substantially affects one or more major life activities, and that a 504 plan does not mean a student is eligible for special education. Eligibility is decided through the Student Study Team process at each school, and families are told to contact the school counselor. The district pages list no timelines or request form, so ask the counselor how it works.
At Corte Madera, the counselor handles individual check-ins on social-emotional and academic challenges and Student Study Team meetings where staff and parents strategize. Seventh and eighth graders can take a Study Hall elective to catch up on homework or get extra support, and teachers use Google Classroom, where parents can get a daily or weekly email summary that includes missing work.
Sources (checked October 2026): PVSD special education services, PVSD special education process, PVSD 504 plan, Corte Madera counseling, Corte Madera electives, Corte Madera Google Classroom.
What support looks like after Corte Madera
Woodside High lists three supports in special education: Specialized Academic Instruction, which includes study skills classes and co-taught courses; Independent Living Skills; and the STARS therapeutic program. There are Study Skills sections in every grade from 9 to 12, taught by special education teachers, and co-taught Biology, English, Algebra I, Chemistry, Government and Economics, and Ethnic Studies.
Woodside's 2026-27 schedule has a 40-minute Tutorial on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, a workspace where all students can get academic support. Wednesday is an early dismissal with no Tutorial. Peer tutoring needs an application and training, and families use a student agreement form. Woodside's AVID program has run since 1997, and about 40% of class time is collaborative tutorial groups. The school also posts a 9th Grade Family Night each fall. Each Sequoia Union high school has a site 504 coordinator listed on the district's 504 page.
Woodside Priory's Office of Learning Support offers academic and executive functioning support to all middle and upper school students, and writes accommodation plans for students with documented mild to moderate learning differences, ADHD, or diagnoses that affect learning. Documentation has to come from a licensed clinician, and the director reviews it within two weeks of receipt. Examples of accommodations include extended time, a quiet testing room, text-to-speech and noise-canceling headphones, though not every recommended accommodation is included. The office helps upper school students apply for College Board and ACT accommodations, and Priory has a Neurodiversity Affinity Group.
Woodland School's counseling offers weekly classes and one-on-one sessions for eighth graders as they choose a high school. Neighboring Woodside Elementary School District, for TK through eighth grade, uses a Student Success Team that a staff member or parent can start, and lists its Student Services Director or Lower School Principal as the 504 contact.
Sources (checked October 2026): Woodside High special education, Woodside High Tutorial, Woodside High academic support, Woodside High AVID, Sequoia Union Section 504, Woodside Priory learning support, Woodside Priory accommodations, Woodland School high school placement, Woodside Elementary Student Success Teams, Woodside Elementary 504 plans.
Coaching alongside school support in Portola Valley
A study hall, a Tutorial block and a 504 plan each cover part of the week. None of them sits beside your student at home, looks at the whole week across six classes, and decides what gets started tonight.
The move from Corte Madera to a high school is the year we watch most closely. Coaching through it gives your student one steady adult who keeps routines going while the new plan, the new staff and the new schedule settle in. At Woodside, where Tutorial is a workspace and not a class, using it well is a skill a coach can practice with 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 Portola Valley
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 Portola Valley?
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.
Where do I start at Corte Madera?
With the school counselor. The district says Student Study Teams at each school can recommend accommodations before any evaluation referral, and that 504 eligibility is decided through that same process. The district pages list no timelines or request form, so the counselor is the person to ask.
If we choose Woodside Priory, what documents do we need?
Priory asks for documentation from a licensed clinician, such as a psycho-educational, neuropsychological, medical or psychiatric report, which the director reviews within two weeks of receipt. Not every recommended accommodation is included.
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 Portola Valley.