Adrienne Moran

Founder, Terrapin Family Services LLC

Adrienne Moran is an experienced educator, academic coach, and executive function specialist dedicated to helping students build the skills necessary to succeed in school and beyond.

Adrienne taught in the Howard County Public School System, where she worked with diverse learners across elementary and middle grades. During COVID, she designed and wrote individualized curriculum plans to support students navigating remote and hybrid learning, ensuring instruction remained rigorous, personalized, and responsive to each student’s needs. That experience strengthened her commitment to highly individualized, student-centered education.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a master’s degree as a reading specialist. Over time, she expanded her work to focus heavily on middle and high school students, recognizing that academic demands increase significantly as students advance. Many capable students struggle not because they lack intelligence, but because they lack the systems and study strategies required to manage growing complexity.

As an academic coach for middle and high school students, Adrienne specializes in executive function skill development and direct study skills instruction. She teaches students how to:

  • Initiate tasks without avoidance

  • Organize materials and assignments

  • Manage time effectively

  • Break down long-term projects

  • Study strategically for tests

  • Strengthen working memory

  • Plan and prioritize workload

  • Monitor their own progress

She works with both neurodivergent and neurotypical students, understanding that executive functioning and study skills are learned skill sets that must be explicitly taught and practiced in order to thrive in rigorous academic environments.

Adrienne currently contracts with TEAL Education Services and has extensive experience supporting students with dyslexia, ADHD, and other learning differences. She also supports neurotypical learners who need structured coaching to improve grades, increase independence, and develop sustainable academic habits.

In addition, Adrienne provides homeschool academic support, helping families bridge gaps between grade-level expectations and a student’s current reading and math needs. She believes in meeting students at their true instructional level and building forward with clarity, structure, and confidence.

Her approach is student-centered and whole-child focused. Each learner receives an individualized plan that integrates academic skill-building, executive function development, study skills instruction, emotional regulation, and confidence-building. Adrienne understands that academic success is not just about content mastery — it is about building systems, resilience, and self-awareness.

As a certified health coach through the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, she incorporates nervous system awareness, healthy habits and mindset into her work, helping students reduce academic stress and rebuild confidence.

Adrienne also offers parent coaching, equipping families with practical tools to reduce homework conflict, establish structure at home, and reinforce executive function systems between sessions.

Adrienne is the founder of Terrapin Family Services LLC, where she partners with families to design targeted, sustainable intervention plans that lead to measurable growth.

Families who work with Adrienne often see:

  • Improved grades

  • Stronger executive function skills

  • Effective study habits

  • Reduced homework stress

  • Increased independence

  • Greater academic confidence

Her mission is simple:
To help students understand how their brain works, build systems that support it, and develop the academic and executive skills they need to succeed — at their level, and beyond.