A family in need needs answers, and I’ve had the pleasure of meeting trusted professionals over the years that can provide them!
From Educational Consultants that can help you pinpoint how your child learns, to College Consultants who can determine how best to leverage your educational dollars, the lists below are meant to jump start your search for a successful outcome!
In addition to resources for our students, we are also proud to link to local businesses that we know, have used, and highly recommend:
Do you feel distress about the direction in which your life is headed? Do you ever wonder why you can’t seem to enjoy life like others can? Are you worried about your child’s academic success and how anxiety, depression or ADD/ADHD may affect their future options? Dr. Lara offers a free initial phone consultation and can help you to understand not only why you feel debilitated and burdened, but how to overcome these challenges, and thus achieve greater balance in your life. Dr. Lara is a clinical psychologist offering individual, couple and family sessions from her Issaquah office. Additionally, she offers home visits, marathon sessions, and intensive daily therapy if desired or needed. She works with children, adolescents and adults in a variety of areas. Her orientation is eclectic, in that she uses the technique that is most pertinent to the issue at hand, but her training is primarily cognitive – behavioral, which has consistently been shown in years of research to be the most effective therapeutic modality for achieving long-lasting results.
In our fast-paced society family life can move from operating pretty smoothly to not operating smoothly at all in a very short amount of time. Or at least it seems like a short amount of time. Most probably there have been undercurrents of pressures and troubles brewing for quite a while, and then they finally bubble to the surface. “What happened?” is a common reaction. This is a great opportunity to get guidance and help from a trained professional. I am a licensed psychotherapist and substance abuse counselor in the State of Washington and I specialize in helping individuals, couples and families work through difficulties in relationships. Life can be very confusing for adolescents and pre-teens and many times working with a counselor individually or with the family can help them navigate through this time in their lives. I specialize in substance use issues, anxiety, depression, ADD/ADHD, trauma, and emotional regulation. Please call for a free phone consultation.
Dr. Madge both assesses learning challenges and provides classroom strategies who want to know more about how their child learns. After an initial intake interview, Dr. Madge conducts a comprehensive assessment (academic and cognitive). Her user friendly reports detail both the results of the testing, diagnosis and a feedback session with results and recommended strategies. Dr. Madge will also visit your child’s school to plan how results can be incorporated into your child’s overall educational program. With a background as a teacher, administrator, school psychologist and case worker for students with special needs, Dr. Madge understands and supports student learning through assessment and individualized strategies for each child.
Norma Jean Campbell, M. Ed., Educational Consultant * ABA Program Manager
You can read about Norma Jean on our Educational Consultants page, but she also provides assessment aimed at not only finding out how a child learns, but how those who serve those kids (teachers, parents, tutors) can best work with the child. Norma Jean provides one-to-one consulting, assessment and documentation analysis, and program design and implementation for children and adults. If your son or daughter is struggling to learn in school, Norma Jean will help your family fix the problem or learn to work around it. Of special value to Pacific Learning Academy students, Norma Jean is also able to then give recommendations that tutors can use to help your child succeed.
Larry, a former school administrator, provides experienced and thoughtful IEP and 504-plan support (consultation and negotiation) to families who know that complex kids require a new school of thought. With 25-plus years experience, Larry feels that no one should have have to go it alone. Also offering school selection services and experienced with AD(H)D, Autism, adoption/foster-care issues, special education law, behavior & instructional planning.
Norma Jean Campbell, M. Ed., Educational Consultant * ABA Program Manager
Serving people that struggle to learn and their families, Norma Jean provides one-to-one consulting, assessment and documentation analysis, and program design and implementation for children and adults. If your son or daughter is struggling to learn in school, Norma Jean will help your family fix the problem or learn to work around it. Of special value to The Learning Curve’s students, Norma Jean is also able to then give recommendations that tutors can use to help your child succeed.
You’ve spent years playing a pivotal role in your child’s academics, supporting an environment of engaged learning and success.
Now what?
Pacific Learning Academy recommends Educated Choices, where owner Kara Neary provides targeted, tangible guidance on next steps, without the cost or obligations of an entire program. You get as much expert advice as you need/want and can come back for more guidance at any time. Kara Neary is a college consultant and career counselor. She believes in empowering parents with as much information as they need and want, allowing them to choose how much of the college-selection process they’d like to handle.
Kara advises families on the development of their child’s high school “resume,” which includes transcript enhancement, extra-curriculars and volunteer experiences, standardized testing and more. Her knowledge of colleges, their requirements, and ways to best help your child select and be selected by the college of their choice make her an invaluable addition to any family’s academic team.
Kara is a long-time Sammamish resident and graduate of the University of Washington. Her background in training, development and motivational speaking uniquely complements her expertise in the college selection and application process. In addition to her work as a college consultant and former PLA Academic Coordinator, Kara has worked extensively as a volunteer in the Issaquah School District (PTSA president, Boosters, fund-raising). She has two daughters that graduated from Skyline High School and a son who graduated from Issaquah High School.
Educated Choices is not directly affiliated with Pacific Learning Academy, but we have known Kara and her work for 10+ years. As always, Pacific Learning Academy wants the best fit for you, your child, and your family. We enjoy positive relationships with many local college consultants and will happily refer one of them if your needs change. Kara herself enjoys positive relationships with other area college consultants and will happily refer you to one of them if you have needs that are better suited to their expertise.
We feel parents deserve to know the “insider secrets” from the very beginning so that they can choose their level of involvement. Kara shares that philosophy. While PLA does not provide in-house colleges consulting, we do provide tutoring support for the application process, including essay writing.
Pacific Learning Academy recommends K.C. Thompson of College Wayfinders Educational Consulting to guide high school students through the college admissions process. K.C. offers hourly, list package, Highlands Ability Battery aptitude testing, and comprehensive package services for students in grades 8-12.
K.C. helps students to:
Select high school classes that maximize college opportunities
Increase self-awareness through the Highlands Ability Battery aptitude test
Create a college list that considers several fit factors such as geographic, financial, and academic. Students and parents will have access to Counselmore College Planning Software for one year. The college list package includes approximately 20 colleges with notes on each.
Practice their passion (e.g., job shadowing, getting an internship, choosing clubs to participate in, starting a business, a new club, writing a research paper, creating an art portfolio – summer after junior year is a student’s best opportunity to showcase their abilities in a capstone project)
Brainstorm and edit personal statements and supplemental essays to showcase the best of that student in a way that will speak to college admission professionals
Write activity lists
K.C. has a Ph.D. in Cognitive Studies in Education, a Master of Arts in Secondary Social Studies teaching and has completed the UCLA College Counseling Certificate program with distinction. She is an associate member of IECA, and member of PNACAC and SACC professional organizations and regularly tours college campuses and meets with college admissions professionals. K.C. is particularly skilled in helping students to identify their strengths and is a certified Highlands Ability Battery Consultant. She gives individual and group aptitude tests so anyone can learn more about what natural talents and abilities they have and what work/learning environments are best suited to them. She has received extensive training in a nationally known college essay writing curriculum.
KC is a long time resident of Sammamish and has deep ties to this community. Her daughter graduated from Eastside Catholic High School. KC can work with all types of students and has special experience with high achieving, neurodiverse, LGBTQ+, and students who need merit or need-based aid.
Fingerprint Marketing is a full-service, award-winning Design and Marketing Agency. They design a unique fingerprint for your business through branding, graphic and web design, online marketing and strategy.
Fingerprint Marketing is the creative team behind our branding, our website design and our print collateral.
Provides clients with systems that support their success and help bring balance into their home and work lives. Great for the businesses, and the whole family (home office, teenage study space, etc).
An award-winning local (Greater Seattle) video production company known for training videos, testimonials for your website, and unique ways to reach your customers through video production.
This is the one and only computer tech that Pacific Learning Academy uses, and for good reason! Kevin and his team have near-instantaneous call-backs, can fix problems remotely (and overnight), and have helped PLA staff find ways to help our students no matter where we are via remote log-ins. We can’t recommend CompuPane highly enough and know you’ll do the same once you’ve worked with them.
Civil law professionals specializing in justice for insurance disputes and personal injury claims. A wealth of knowledge for local families and a network of strong, ongoing relationships with other attorneys and associations if you need a referral to other specialties.
Below are professionals that we have worked with directly and not only share similar philosophies with the Academy, but also have the ethical standards that not only want us to recommend them, but shout their names from the rooftops. From Sports physicals to general wellness, nutrition to hormone issues, these three providers have our vote.
Providing Primary Care Natural Medicine in order to help patients achieve and maintain wellness on all levels.
Also provides sports physicals for the school year.
Mind + Body Elite provides health and fitness coaching and personal training services exclusively to the Snoqualmie Ridge, Issaquah and Sammamish areas. Mindy works with all ages but specializes in teens and busy parents. With a background in nutrition as well as fitness, Mindy combines the best of both worlds to help beginners to seasoned athletes reach their goals.
The Special Education Parent Liaison at OSPI provides support to families and educators of students with disabilities, including help understanding state and federal laws, rules, regulations, and providing access to training and support, technical information services, and mediation services, as appropriate.
Washington State Special Education Coalition – A parent and professional organization established to share information and advocate for all children www.wssec.org
One-Semester-of-Spanish Spanish Love Song — Just for fun, the very goofy but fun musical (YouTube) tribute to the limited expressions you learn your first year.
