Deirdre Allen Coaching
deirdreallencoaching@gmail.com
240-888-8152
My Approach
My approach can best be described as personal, collaborative, creative and organic:
As a college essay coach, I work to assist students in sharing their own uniqueness. The essays my students produce tend to be fresh, honest, and distinctive. My strengths lie in helping students weave diverse elements of their lives into an essay that presents an integrated whole.
As a college application mentor, I strive to guide my students with a mixture of hope and realism. I suggest students consider not simply “the best school,” but the best school FOR THEM. All my students hear my little talk on how there are 4,000 colleges in the U.S. - approx. â…” of which are 4 -year and â…“ 2-year - and my claim that there is a school for everyone. I encourage each student to aim high and produce an excellent application to each school while remembering that their worth is more than their gpa, SAT score or college acceptance list.
As an executive function/ADHD tutor, my first step is to build relationship with each student and establish trust. Many of my students are filled with shame, frustration and anxiety regarding their struggles with organization, work completion and academic achievement. I have found the key elements to working with such students are: respect, respect, and respect coupled with compassion, hope, encouragement and a sense of humor! The students I work with are unbelievably bright, unfailingly interesting, refreshingly candid, and astonishingly courageous. These students have much to offer and bright futures ahead. I enjoy supporting them in reaching their potential.
Experienced With:
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Students with attention disorders
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Students with learning disabilities
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Students with anxiety
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Students in school refusal
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LGBTQ+ students
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ASD students (verbal w/low support needs)
About Me
I am an east coast native, a mother to three young adults, and a lifelong educator. My career has included being an ESL teacher at the University of Maryland, a homeschooling stay-at-home mom, a writing and literature teacher for homeschooled students, a private tutor in the greater Washington DC area, and now a college application mentor and an executive-function tutor for ADHD students.
I have an undergraduate degree in English from Catholic University and a graduate degree in Teaching English as a Second Language from American University. After spending five wonderful years on the campus of The University of Maryland teaching English to students from around the world, I moved to being a stay-at-home mom and eventually a homeschooling mom.
Educating my own neurodivergent children as well as teaching many other neurodivergent children in my homeschool literature and writing classes gave me a crash course in all things ADHD/ADD, ASD, and LD and propelled me into the realm of executive function tutoring.
After assisting my eldest (homeschooled) student apply to college, I used the knowledge gained to assist other homeschoolers with their applications. Over time, I branched out from the homeschool community to work with public and private schooled students in the DC metropolitan area as an executive function tutor, a college essay coach, and a college application mentor.
My husband and I have recently downsized and followed our creative offspring out to Los Angeles. In my free time, I enjoy exploring the LA area, finding gluten-free baked goods, walking on the beach, reading and recommending YA lit, and snuggling with our labradoodle puppy, Winona Sue!