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Deirdre A.'s Photo
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Creative Tutor, ADHD Coach, College Applications Navigator
Deirdre A.

5.0 (271 ratings)

972 hours tutoring

Your first lesson is backed by our Good Fit Guarantee
Hourly Rate: $75
Contact Deirdre
Response time: 5 hours

About Deirdre

Bio

I love students of all shapes and sizes! I love shepherding students through the process of writing an essay or understanding the Pythagorean Theorem. I particularly enjoy helping students with executive function disorder break their work into manageable chunks and GET IT DONE with a minimum of stress. I love helping middle, high school and college students with anxiety, ASD, ADHD, or LD figure out how to successfully juggle all of their courses. My strengths seem to be in making hard...

I love students of all shapes and sizes! I love shepherding students through the process of writing an essay or understanding the Pythagorean Theorem. I particularly enjoy helping students with executive function disorder break their work into manageable chunks and GET IT DONE with a minimum of stress. I love helping middle, high school and college students with anxiety, ASD, ADHD, or LD figure out how to successfully juggle all of their courses. My strengths seem to be in making hard things easy and the daunting doable.

My introduction to teaching came through my years as an ESL instructor at the University of Maryland. I have a B.A. in English and an M.A. in Linguistics. In addition, I homeschooled my three children through high school and taught homeschool writing and history classes.

Although my primary training is in the area of English and the humanities, I can assist students in various subjects. Much of the time, I find I don't need to "teach" the subject, merely help the student find the best way to finish homework, study for tests, or complete projects to the teacher's specifications.

I have helped 40+ students apply to college. I can assist with college essays and supplemental questions. I can also oversee the entire application process. Many of my applicants have received acceptances to competitive schools, substantial merit offers and comprehensive financial aid packages. I have a subspecialty in helping students through the audition process for competitive colleges in musical theater, acting, film, screenwriting, music and voice. I also have a subspeciality in walking homeschooled students and familes through the application process.

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Education

Wellesley College and Catholic University
English
American University
Masters

Policies

  • Hourly Rate: $75
  • Rate details: I generally tutor only online now. However, I do occasionally meet students in person depending on the location and situation.
  • Lesson cancellation: 3 hours notice required

  • Background check passed on 4/24/2014

  • Your first lesson is backed by our Good Fit Guarantee

Schedule

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Approved Subjects

ACT Reading

ACT Reading

I scored very well on the college boards when I was in high school and received acceptance to an Ivy League sister school. Test-taking has always been strength of mine and I am particularly good at teaching test-taking strategies. My two eldest children have been home schooled and I was the one to prepare them for standardized testing. Both scored quite well and received numerous merit offers when applying to college. In recent years, I have assisted other students in prepping for the ACT and SAT.
ADHD

ADHD

I have home schooled my own children, two of whom have ADD/ADHD. In the course of doing so, I have read and studied extensively on the subject. I am currently a consultant for my home school umbrella group assisting members with children who have special learning needs. I have become known in this group for my success in teaching writing to middle and high school students with ADD/ADHD. Last year, I assisted three young men with ADD/ADHD in applying to college and coached one young man in effectively handling his community college courses. My eldest son is currently in school at the University of Miami and I am essentially functioning as his coach, as well.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

I have developed my expertise in autism spectrum disorder through 20+ years of parenting and homeschooling two children on the spectrum (currently 26 and 20 years of age). In my homeschool umbrella group, I served, assisted, and oversaw families who had children with ADHD, learning disabilities, and ASD. Most recently, I have been working as an executive function coach for middle, high school and college students on the spectrum.
College Counseling

College Counseling

In the past ten years, I have assisted approximately 75 students in applying to college. I have taken them through the process of picking a slate of colleges (composed of reach schools down to safety schools), filling out the Common Application, determining the requirements for each school, choosing recommenders, signing up for the SAT (or ACT) and SAT subject tests, requesting fee waivers, if necessary, sending high school transcripts and test scores, and more. My particular strength lies in helping the students determine a topic for the Common App essay and in encouraging them to write one that is very personal, creative, engaging. I assist my students in staying on top of all deadlines and encourage them to keep in close contact with their admissions counselor at each school. I also assist in arranging college visits. A number of the students I have worked with have been home schooled. I have been able to help these students effectively present themselves to colleges and have advised the parents on how to create a detailed high school transcript. Some of the students I have worked with have had challenges, such as ADHD/ADD and/or less than stellar grades. I have helped such students write essays and/or submit a separate statement explaining their specific situation. My students have received acceptances from a full range of colleges. Some examples are: the University of Michigan, American University, Brown University, the University of Maryland, Catholic University, Ithaca College, Georgia Tech, RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology), Goucher College, Penn State, the University of Miami, Hope College, and the University of Minnesota and Yale. Students have received partial to full scholarship offers. I have taken two students through the process of auditioning for theater programs across the nation and advised one student who wished to major in music (violin - focus) and so, have some knowledge of how to approach the audition process for arts majors. I have also assisted a number of students in appl
English

English

I majored in English in college and then went on to get a Masters degree in Linguistics with a focus on teaching ESL. I spent about eight years teaching English language learners to function in a college environment - writing papers, reading literature, taking notes, etc. After that, I spent many more years homeschooling my own children and teaching writing and literature classes for middle and high school students. Currently, I tutor high school and college students, mostly assisting them with their current classes. I help students to understand class assignments, structure and complete essays, divide projects into workable segments, and, simply, to succeed overall.
Homeschool

Homeschool

I homeschooled all three of my children from kindergarten through high school. Two have graduated from college and the third is a junior. For many years, I taught writing and literature classes for homeschoolers. I can support homeschooling families in a variety of ways - from picking curriculum, to teaching specific subjects, to supporting struggling students taking homeschool classes. My particular speciality involves aiding homeschool high school students with all types of writing assignments - including essays, research papers, and long term writing projects. I have supported a number of homeschool students involved in dual enrollement college classes as well.
Literature

Literature

I have a BA in English and an MA in Linguistics. I have taught literature in a number of situations, from ESL classes with university students at the University of Maryland to classes composed of middle school and high school home-schoolers. I currently function primarily as an executive function coach - assisting ADHD high school and college students with their overall academic load. This often involves providing support with assignments in literature classes. I can assist students with the comprehension and analysis of literature as well as the enjoyment of literature. In addition, I can assist students with the writing assignments that are commonly assigned in literature classes.
Reading

Reading

I have home schooled my three children and taught all of them to read. My daughter is learning disabled and needed extensive help and a different methodology than my sons. I prefer working with middle, high school and even college students who struggle with reading. I enjoy helping those types of students to find strategies to assist them in their struggles.
Study Skills

Study Skills

Over the past ten years, I have primarily been working as an executive function coach, assisting ADHD high school and college students with their overall academic loads. As a part of this, I need to teach student skills such as notetaking, outlining, how to review material, and how to use flashcards and mnemonics to memorize information. I also guide them in setting up an effective study schedule so that material is reviewed incrementally over a period of days, rather than studied at the last minute.
American History
ASVAB
GED
Geometry
Philosophy
Physical Science
Prealgebra
PSAT
SAT Math
SAT Reading
SAT Writing
World History
Writing

Examples of Expertise

Deirdre has provided examples of their subject expertise by answering 1 question submitted by students on Wyzant’s Ask an Expert.

See all of Deirdre ’s answers ›
Deirdre A.'s Photo

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Response time: 5 hours

Ratings and Reviews

Rating

5.0 (271 ratings)
5 star
(267)
4 star
(4)
3 star
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1 star
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Reviews

Caring and supportive tutor/coach

Deirdre has been incredibly helpful to our student to help her get and stay organized and on track to successfully complete her assignments. Deirdre is very responsive and also proactive with tips and suggestions to help our student have positive communications with her teachers.

Adrienne, 1 lesson with Deirdre

I think she’s great

Although Deirdre is a bit pricey, she can worthwhile once you get to know her and begin the tutoring. She’s very helpful and patient, keep in mind, however, that instead of using Wyzant to talk to students she either uses FaceTime or zoom for doing tutoring work

Emily, 3 lessons with Deirdre

College Essay

Saige left the writing session feeling really engaged! Thank you so much for the session, she has some brainstorm to do and we as a family will work with her to come up with some adjectives. We will be in touch for the next steps!

Joanne, 5 lessons with Deirdre

Knowledgeable and very flexible

I have been looking for someone like Deirdre for years. She is perfect for my HS aged son. She helps him understand how to schedule, plan, and study for his upcoming assignments. She knows how to manage ADHD and has very practical advice. I really value her and hope to utilize her even more in the future.

Judi, 7 lessons with Deirdre

Daughter loves working with Deirdre

My daughter loves working with Deirdre and she has been a huge help in a dual enrollment college English 101 class being taken in High School. She has been a true savior.

Robin, 10 lessons with Deirdre

Excellent

Deirdre worked well with my son and motivated him to work on his own. She even sent me a detailed message on her time with him and her thoughts. She was great! Thanks

Sindu, 2 lessons with Deirdre

Super Academic Coach and Learning Support Guru!!!

Excellent academic coach and learning support specialist for our college freshman son. Deirdre's patience and encouragement have made immediate changes in our son's lack of commitment to study and study skills. She connected immediately with him and meticulously reviewed his schedule. We are seeing positive changes.

Sharen, 8 lessons with Deirdre

Kind and knowledgeable tutor

It was the initial meeting with her for my son. Since it was the first meeting, I talked mostly with her discussing about my son’s current issues with his school work/grade and organization skill in general. She was living far from our place, but she was still willing to come to help him. She was very knowledgeable and kind.

Ju, 1 lesson with Deirdre

Definitely a great find and a great start

We just had our 1st class and hope more to come. Deirdre is very passionate about kids' issues and she has a very positive and workable view on ADHD issues. My daughter was all smiles after Deirdre left. Deirdre had to drive quite a long way to get to our place on a extremely cold morning. We definitely would like to work out more classes with flexible arrangement out of her schedule.

Shirley, 28 lessons with Deirdre

Saved Our Summer

Deirdre helped my son write his college essays, including all of those short answer questions. My son has a lot of trouble putting his thoughts on a page, and somehow Deirdre teased a really good essay out of him. She put a lot of thought into what the schools were looking for. She was really flexible about meeting times and places—she often met my son at a library that was much closer to our house than hers—and they also had a few online sessions. I highly recommend her. She did an outstanding job.

Scott, 15 lessons with Deirdre
Hourly Rate: $75
Response time: 5 hours
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