Adena Young, Ph.D.

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Support for Students

Specialized Math Support for Struggling Students

Targeted, psychology-informed, whole-student support that helps math make sense and fosters independent learning.

Support for Students

Specialized Math Support for Struggling Students

Targeted, psychology-informed, whole-student support that helps math make sense and fosters independent learning.

Support For Students Who Need a Different Approach To Math

Psychoeducation math support (PEMS) is a specialized form of math support I developed for middle and high school students with math learning challenges.

It is a blend of individualized direct instruction, academic coaching, and social-emotional support that helps students to learn math, develop learning skills, build confidence, and advocate for their own learning needs.

Who I Help

  • Students with learning disabilities

PEMS is often a good fit for students with dyscalculia, a specific learning disability in math, or ADHD, as well as for students with other learning challenges who are needing specialized instruction in order to learn math.

  • Students with ongoing math struggles

Students come to me when they are having difficulty learning and retaining math in school despite their best efforts.  They have often received extra support from parents, teachers, and tutors, but haven’t found success yet.

  • Students who need a confidence boost

Virtually all of my students have experienced stress, anxiety, and diminishing self-confidence because of their math learning difficulties.  PEMS is great for students who are needing social-emotional support as part of their math learning experiences.

  • Middle Schoolers

Most students begin to work with me in 6th, 7th, or 8th grade, and we continue to work together through high school Pre-calculus.

What Students Gain

Build a solid foundation

Gain true understanding

Strengthen problem solving

Develop self-awareness

Master accommodations

Experience & celebrate success

Student & Parent Stories

“[Adena] didn’t expect me to memorize formulas—I actually learned how math worked. She made concepts tangible and easy to understand.”

Former Student, Grades 5–11

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“[Adena] taught me how to evaluate my understanding so I knew when I had mastered the material and when I needed to study more.”

Former Student, Grades 9–10

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“Math is still hard and stressful sometimes, but I’ve started liking it and having fun with it—and I’m proud of how far I’ve come.”

Former Student, Grades 6–12

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“Because Adena was able to fill in where there were gaps in our daughter’s math curriculum, there were times in which [our daughter] was actually tutoring other students.”

Parent of a Former Student,
Grades 5–11

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“Adena worked with my daughter … to help her learn not only how to solve math problems, but also how to manage her anxiety and emotions around math.”

Parent of a Former Student,
Grades 6-9

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“Over time, Adena’s support helped to improve my daughter’s math confidence and belief in herself which allowed my daughter to access more and more math learning.”

Parent of a Former Student,
Grades 6–12

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Getting Started

1

Exploratory Call

If you think your child could benefit from PEMS, I invite you to contact me! 

We will schedule a complimentary 25-minute phone consultation to discuss your child’s learning needs and the ways I can help.

2

Intake Process

My work with your child begins with an intial student session so that your child and I can get to know each other and confirm that we are a good fit to work together. 

I may also recommend doing a review of your child’s psychoeducational assessment reports to get a deeper understaning of their learning profile and needs. 

After that, we will have a follow-up parent consultation to discuss my recommendations and, assuming that we are a good fit, plans to get started with ongoing support.

3

Weekly Sessions

Most students meet with me once or twice per week at regularly scheduled times throughout the school year. 

Sessions are 50 minutes and are held on Zoom.

4

Ongoing Support

Most students in my practice continue with PEMS sessions year after year through high school Pre-Calculus.

Availability

I am currently accepting new students (Grades 6-8) for the ’25-’26 school year.

Students entering 6th grade in Fall 2026 are invited to join my waitlist for sessions beginning Summer/Fall 2026

Let's Talk About Your Child's Needs

Reach out to share what’s going on—we’ll clarify concerns and explore support that fits your child.

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“Before I started working with Ms. Adena, math felt impossible. I remember staring at a worksheet in second grade and just feeling completely defeated. Finishing it turned into a long, torturous process that ended with a total breakdown—I genuinely thought I’d never be able to learn multiplication. After that, I started avoiding math completely. I convinced myself I just wasn’t a math person and focused on things that felt easier, like reading and writing.

With Ms. Adena, everything changed. She didn’t expect me to memorize formulas—I actually learned how math worked. She made concepts tangible and easy to understand. If something didn’t make sense, she’d switch up her approach until it clicked, whether that meant drawing a diagram, connecting it to something I already understood, or tying it to a real-world idea. She didn’t let me fake my way through things either. I had to explain concepts back to her, which pushed me to really understand them. And she wasn’t boring like most adults—she made math feel interesting, even silly or fun sometimes, which helped me stay engaged instead of checking out like I usually did in class.

By the time I got to high school, I felt ahead of my classmates because I’d already had three years of help from Ms. Adena. She was my ultimate weapon. I’ve never felt like I learned anything from my actual math teachers—I’ve only really learned from her. I’ve gotten an A in every math class I’ve taken, and math honestly feels like my easiest subject now. Somewhere along the way, I went from hating math to actually enjoying it. Now I’m known as the “smart kid” in my math class, and I genuinely enjoy explaining math to other people. One classmate even told me she would’ve failed precalculus without my help.

I joke that I’ve turned into a crazy math nerd—I get excited over factoring and find most algebra fun. Even more complicated problems tickle my brain. Math used to feel catastrophic, but now it feels like building a puzzle: at first, I have no idea what I’m doing, but once I stare at the picture long enough, I have a foundation to work from, and then I can figure out how to put it together.”

Former Student, Grades 5–11

(Worked with Adena 2018-2025)

Story adapted from a student interview, shared with permission.

“Unlike my teachers and past tutors, Adena explained math to me in a way my brain could actually understand.

Beyond basic math, she taught me how to evaluate my understanding so I knew when I had mastered the material and when I needed to study more.

Because of Adena, I made it through Algebra and Geometry. I couldn’t have done it without her.”

Former Student, Grades 9–11

(Worked with Adena 2022-2025)

“Before I met Adena, math felt overwhelming and frustrating. I didn’t understand what we were learning in class, so I thought I wasn’t meant to understand it. There were times when I wanted to give up completely—after a few tries, I’d just stop trying to solve the problem. I kind of assumed I wasn’t going to be someone who was good at math. I just went along with things without actually understanding what we were doing.

Adena helped me go back to the basics and actually build my understanding. She was really good at figuring out what I needed, and she never made me feel like I should already know something. We slowed things down and worked through each step until it made sense. When I worked with her, I didn’t just learn how to do something—I understood why it worked.

The summer before high school, things started clicking—I was reviewing with Adena and realized, “Oh, I do know this.” Even though I was placed in a half-year pre-algebra class freshman year, I worked hard with Adena and finished both the pre-algebra course and an entire self-paced Algebra 1 course by the end of the year. From there, I kept moving up and eventually made it all the way to precalculus. I got A’s in all my math classes through Algebra 2, and even though precalc was the hardest class I’ve ever taken, I still got a B+.

Math is still hard and stressful sometimes, but I’ve started liking it and having fun with it—and I’m proud of how far I’ve come.”

Former Student, Grades 6–12

(Worked with Adena 2018-2025)

Story adapted from a student interview, shared with permission.

“We met Adena when our daughter was in the fifth grade. She had been struggling with math for a couple of years and, although she was excelling in other subjects, was about a year and a half behind in math. She struggled with basic math concepts, and was unable to even memorize the multiplication table. During a casual conversation, a fellow parent at our daughter’s school suggested we contact Adena, and noted how much her daughter achieved from working with Adena.

Through Adena’s initial neuropsychological assessment, our daughter was diagnosed with ADHD. This provided many answers but, as parents new to learning difficulties, we were at a loss as to where to even start. Finding Adena felt like a miracle.

Ultimately, our daughter worked with Adena for seven years, and it made all the difference in both her attitude and success in high school (not just math), as well as the SAT. From very early on, we saw the positive effects of Adena’s efforts on our daughter’s math comprehension. As Adena is a trained psychologist, she understood how to approach our daughter’s math learning difficulties and how to align her instructions with our daughter’s executive functioning. Adena was able to tailor her teaching so that our daughter could easily understand the math concepts.

Almost immediately, we saw improvements in our daughter’s understanding of math. Coupled with ADHD accommodations, Adena’s guidance and tutoring gave our daughter the math comprehension that she needed, resulting in both improved math grades and an increase in self-confidence that grew rapidly and continued over the years. To note, our daughter has been earning straight A’s in math through her middle and high school years. In fact, because Adena was able to fill in where there were gaps in our daughter’s math curriculum, there were times in which she was actually tutoring other students. We’re convinced that the confidence our daughter gained from working with Adena permeated through her other studies, and contributed to her overall success in high school.

Along the way, Adena always kept us informed, suggesting additional sessions where needed, and provided objective evaluations of our daughter’s preparation. We’ve had a very productive and collaborative relationship with Adena spanning numerous years, and came to trust her implicitly. Adena always took additional time and effort to cover concepts that were foundational but not covered in school, and advised us regarding ways we could assist our daughter develop her executive functioning.

One of Adena’s best qualities (and she has many) is her disposition. Our daughter responds best to a calm voice, and Adena helped her to stay focused as she engaged in each tutoring session. The ultimate testimonial is that our daughter never missed a session and never felt unmotivated to work with Adena. If you’ve read this far, you won’t be surprised to read that we think the world of Adena, and only wish we had met her sooner. The scope of the impact her services provided cannot be overstated, and we’re exceedingly confident that each student who has the privilege of working with her would fully agree. We are thankful and appreciate all that Adena has done for our daughter.”

Parent of a Former Student, Grades 5–11

(Worked with Adena 2018-2025)

“Adena Young changed my daughter’s life!

My daughter hated math when she was in elementary school. We bought math workbooks and flash cards, but these just resulted in tears and frustration. She would write, “I hate math” on the side of her school work and began to lose her confidence. She was a smart kid so I knew there had to be some underlying reason why math was so hard for her. 

I count my lucky stars that we met Adena!

Adena assessed my daughter and diagnosed what her learning issue was with respect to math. This was certainly helpful to know, but it’s what Adena did next that changed my daughter’s life. 

Adena worked with my daughter every week to help her learn not only how to solve math problems, but also how to manage her anxiety and emotions around math. Adena knew my daughter so well and knew how to best approach learning math so that she could be successful. Slowly my daughter’s confidence with respect to math grew. She saw herself as someone who was capable of doing math because she knew how to approach the problems! My daughter loved working with Adena.

My daughter went from a girl who quite literally couldn’t add 7+5 to taking AP Calculus, earning an A and a 5 on the AP exam. Thank you so much, Adena, for all you did for my daughter!“

Parent of a Former Student, Grades 6–9

(Worked with Adena 2016-2020)

“My daughter struggled with math from the beginning of elementary school and by 6th grade, her struggles increased as the curriculum ramped up. 

We were referred to Dr. Adena Young for math support; for what I thought would be twice-weekly tutoring. While we had used tutors before, this help from Adena wasn’t “tutoring” as we knew it, it was magic! Adena quickly understood my daughter’s complex learning challenges and provided warmth, encouragement and structured support so that my daughter could slowly access some of the learning. 

Over time, Adena’s support helped to improve my daughter’s math confidence and belief in herself which allowed my daughter to access more and more math learning. Adena was adept at providing “just right support” every step of the way. 

Working together through high school allowed my daughter to develop in-depth math knowledge, confidence and the ability to solve complex problems on her own. It has been life-changing for her and a profound life-lesson; she was always smart and she is capable of anything!”

Parent of a Former Student, Grades 6–12

(Worked with Adena 2018-2025)