Today we’d like to introduce you to Elyse Dworin.
Hi Elyse, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
With a background in special education and nearly 20 years in the classroom, I’ve spent my career working closely with students who learn differently. After having my second child, I reached a point where I knew I needed a change. I wanted better balance and flexibility, but I also wanted to keep doing work that felt meaningful without having to fit into someone else’s definition of what education should look like.
As I began to imagine what my own practice could be, I asked myself what I had seen again and again in schools that wasn’t being adequately addressed. First, many children and teens struggle with independence, not because they lack ability, but because they’re disconnected from their bodies and brains and don’t yet know how to identify what they are experiencing, why they are struggling, or what they need in order to succeed. Second, throughout my years in the classroom, parents consistently sought my guidance on how to better support their children at home. This wasn’t due to a lack of love or effort. They simply hadn’t been given the tools or language to understand and address their child’s cues and learning needs.
Another challenge I saw was that children with complex profiles were often supported by multiple professionals who weren’t communicating with one another, creating confusion and overwhelm for families. Finally, many students with learning differences receive academic support from tutors who lack specialized training in how to truly support their needs.
Elevated Learning Solutions was built in response to these experiences. My goal was to create a holistic, collaborative model of support – one that honors the whole child, supports families, and brings clarity, connection, and confidence to the learning process.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Not at all. Building a business has been anything but smooth, but I’ve learned quickly that growth requires risk and investment, both in time and money, and that not every investment pays off. I’ve invested in team members and business ventures that ultimately didn’t work out, which was difficult but also deeply instructive.
I started Elevated Learning Solutions in 2018, and while the pandemic initially created a surge in demand for academic support, that growth wasn’t sustainable. As schools went back to “normal,” many families stepped back from the extra support they had relied on, and academic support businesses across the area felt the impact. Without a formal business background, I had to learn quickly how to market, plan for slower seasons, and adapt to economic shifts. I am still learning how to do this.
These challenges have pushed me to grow in new ways and shaped how I run my business today though. My natural inclination to understand the why behind everything has been especially helpful, allowing me to learn from setbacks and make thoughtful decisions. At the same time, I’ve had to become more flexible when things don’t go as planned. I’ve always been a creative problem solver and genuinely enjoy that aspect of entrepreneurship, but running a business has sharpened my ability to think on my feet and adapt in real time. I have also had to become increasingly open minded and flexible to shift and flow with the economy and industry so I don’t get left behind.
We’ve been impressed with Elevated Learning Solutions, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I am a holistic academic tutor and neurodivergent parent coach with a background in special education and math, and a passion for the mind-body connection. I integrate metacognition, executive function, social-emotional, and study strategies to help students build independence and confidence. I see myself as a learning detective. When supporting students and families, I focus on the underlying cause of everything my students do to understand how their brains work, what works/doesn’t work for them and why, and then I help my students to understand themselves in that way too. I am also constantly doing my best to be in tune with where my students are in the moment and follow their lead. Because of this, I have found a great deal of success with tricky learning profiles such as dyscalculia and PDA, ADHD, ASD, and dyslexia. I collaborate with families and my students’ other providers to create cohesive support system as well.
I am most proud of the difference I have been able to make through my personal and collaborative businesses. I have helped over 150 families and provided professional development and parent trainings for a variety of schools and organizations. I am the founder of Elevated Learning Solutions, a team of special educators educators who share my holistic model, and the co-founder of The Whole Child Collective, a collaborative that takes a whole-child/whole-family approach to helping families identify and address gaps in their support systems and other barriers to their child’s success. In addition to our Whole-Child Audit that identifies those barriers and case management services, which helps to address them, WCC offers something called The Roadmap to Thrive, which is a pretty unique service. We support families during the transition from PHP/IOP services back to home and school. That transition tends to happen very quickly, can be incredibly overwhelming, and there are often has gaps in communication requiring schools and families to play catch-up. We provide bridge communication, help parents and schools phase-in recommended supports and services, and any other supports the families need during that time. I founded Elevated Learning Solutions in 2018, but The Whole Child Collective is only one year old, but I find the work I do to be incredibly rewarding.
What do you like and dislike about the city?
I love the history and mixing-bowl culture of the DC area. I could do without the humidity though. I love that there are so many options of things to do and see with my family within a 2-hour drive and that they really vary (from museums and historical sites, to beaches and mountains). It really is a great place to raise kids!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.elevatedlearningsolutionsllc.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevatedlearningmd/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ElevatedLearningSolutionsllc/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elyse-dworin/
- Other: https://www.elevatedlearningsolutionsllc.com/thewcc
