I’m so glad you’re here.
Welcome to The Learning Collective . I’m Megan Barnett— Lead Executive Function Coach and Founder of The Learning Collective.
I began my journey in 2015 as a tutor and homeschool teacher for neurodivergent children in the small surf town of Nosara, Costa Rica. Growing up, I suffered from crippling anxiety, high sensitivity, and perfectionism, and always felt helpless in the 21st-century school paradigm. When I moved to Costa Rica, I realized that in my adult life I could become the compassionate, thoughtful, and innovative advocate and teacher I had so desperately needed as a child.
My support style is neurodiversity-affirming, polyvagal-informed, trauma-informed, and grounded in neuroscience, cognitive diversity, family/child psychology, and ADHD studies. I specialize in executive function support for students with ADHD and a wide range of neurodivergent learning profiles including autism, twice-exceptionality (2e), giftedness, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, and those who experience OCD, anxiety, perfectionism, depression and high sensitivity.
As The Learning Collective has grown, I have built a small team of executive function coaches who share these same values and training. Families may work directly with me, or with one of our coaches who is carefully matched to your child’s needs, learning profile, personality, and schedule. I remain closely connected to each student’s journey through collaboration, supervision, and team consultation, ensuring every family receives the same thoughtful, whole-child approach.
What sets our work apart is that we look at the whole student. We take into account a student’s neuropsychological profile, strengths, interests, talents, family life, nervous system regulation needs, sleep, movement and nutrition, and preferred learning environments. From there, we partner with students and families to design personalized executive function strategies that honor the student’s unique learning profile.
From my experience, real change takes time, consistency, and a collective approach that brings together parents, therapists, and teachers. We typically recommend a 12-week program with weekly student executive function coaching sessions, along with parent support meetings that I personally facilitate, with the option to continue services throughout the school year as needed.
Ultimately, my intention is to create a steady foundation of safety and resources to help students and parents build individualized executive function support approaches. Together, we uncover strategies and learning environments that honor the student’s unique brain and strengths, helping neurodivergent students thrive in school and beyond.
Credentials
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Masters of Education in Cognitive Diversity from the Bridges Graduate School of Cognitive Diversity in Education, with a focus on 2e and ADHD learners. This graduate degree embraces the philosophy of celebrating human cognitive diversity and the belief that education should be strength-based and talent-focused.
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Trained to recognize cognitive patterns of students with diverse minds (gifted and talented, attention deficit, autism, and specific learning disabilities), understand the importance of identifying, and assessing strengths, talents, and interests and to design learning environments based on theories of strength based, talent focused education.
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ADDCA is a global leader and pioneer in the specialty arena of ADHD Coach Training and Education. ADDCA is the first and largest comprehensive ADHD Coach Training Program.
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Studied with Parent Coach Cindy Goldrich (8 Keys to Parenting Children with ADHD) to guide parents in supporting their child’s Executive Function skills, encouraging independence, resilience, and self-regulation.
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Trained by the Stephen Porges Polyvagal Institute. Completed the 35 hour Polyvagal Certificate Course: Safety, Connection, and the Human Experience.
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Completed a training workshop taught by Dr. Eli Lebowitz of the Yale Child Study Center in the methodology of SPACE treatment (Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions).
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Level 1 Dyslexia Remediation Trained from the Dyslexia Training Institute
