Laurel Black
Director of Executive Function Coaching, Brightmind Coaching
Laurel is the Director of Executive Function Coaching at the Research Institute of Learning and Development.
She oversees a team of executive function coaches to support students with learning, attention, and executive function challenges.
Laurel works with students, coaches parents, consults with special education teams, leads professional development, and designs the SMARTS EF curriculum. Her services empower people to take a self-directed approach to self-monitoring, goal-setting, and executive function strategy use.
An educator at heart, she earned “Teacher of the Year” as a high school science and special education teacher in Austin.
After earning her master’s degree, she served as a middle school learning specialist & Dean of Student Supports in Boston, overseeing all special education evaluations, IEP and 504 development, trained staff, and managed & coached all special educators.
She has spoken about motivation, self-advocacy, and emotion regulation with ADHD at the International Conference on ADHD, The Conference for Administrators of Special Education, and the Annual Executive Function Conference.
Education, Training & Certifications
Vanderbilt University-B.A., Biology
Harvard University-Ed.M., Mind Brain & Education,
ThinkKids at Massachusetts General Hospital Dept of Psychiatry-Certified Practitioner in Collaborative Problem Solving
JST Coaching: Empowering Students Through Coaching- Training Graduate