WHILDE: Helping Neurodivergent Students Discover, Evolve, and Flourish

In today’s climate of student stress, educational inequity, and rising diagnoses of ADHD, autism, anxiety, and dyslexia, a Maine-grown company is making national waves by doing something revolutionary: building a learning model around the needs of neurodivergent students.

Founded by educator, neurodiversity advocate, and innovator Jessica Molloy, M.Ed., WHILDE (Whole Child Education) is not just a coaching service or private school. It’s a movement to redesign education from the inside out, specifically for the students it has historically failed.

Seeing the Whole Student — Especially the Ones Most Often Missed

Ask any WHILDE family what makes the program different, and you’ll hear it again and again: “They see my child.”

At WHILDE, seeing means understanding every part of a learner, not just academics, but emotional rhythms, sensory sensitivities, energy patterns, sleep cycles, behavior triggers, and executive function gaps. It’s a deeply individualized, neurodivergent-affirming approach — and it’s where the WHILDE Method begins.

Developed by Molloy through her lived experience and clinical training in social work, education, and behavioral therapy, the WHILDE Method follows three key stages: Discover. Evolve. Flourish. Every service — whether one-on-one coaching, personalized neurodevelopmental evaluations, or school enrollment — begins by mapping the student’s whole self through the B·A·I·N·E·S framework: Behavior, Aspiration, Interests, Nutrition, Exercise, and Sleep.

This holistic model honors the complexity of neurodivergent brains while giving students and families something they rarely get from traditional systems: a clear, compassionate starting point.

“We’re not here to fix kids,” says Molloy. “We’re here to uncover who they are, help them see it too, and give them the tools to lead themselves forward.”

PHOTO Courtesy of WHILDE LLC

Jessica and the class board a bus for a field trip to Pleasant Mountain

Understanding the WHILDE Method

The WHILDE Method is more than a framework. It’s a radically inclusive system designed around neurodivergent learning — backed by science, powered by empathy, and tailored to the realities of today’s students.

WHILDE’s three-stage journey supports neurodivergent learners in becoming confident, capable, and self-led.

Discover — WHILDE uses interviews, observational data, and family input to create a profile that pinpoints how each student thinks, feels, and functions across the B·A·I·N·E·S domains.
Evolve — Coaching begins here. Students learn to work with their brain, not against it. They develop executive function, emotional regulation, and confidence — not through pressure or performance, but through trust and strategy.
Flourish — This is when students begin to self-direct. They apply tools and confidence to lead their own lives — academically, socially, and emotionally.

Rooted in research from neuropsychology, executive function science, sensory integration, and strength-based education, the WHILDE Method isn’t a one-size-fits-all fix. It’s a flexible, affirming lens that evolves with the learner and invites families and educators to grow alongside them.

Whether applied through coaching, schooling, or at home, it helps students stop surviving school and start building lives.

The Confidence Gap: A Crisis for Neurodivergent Learners

WHILDE was founded to solve a heartbreaking pattern: students arriving with therapy notes, failed IEPs, and diagnoses — yet still feeling broken and behind.

This “Confidence Gap” is the space between their real ability and what they believe they can do — and WHILDE made it their mission to close it.

To do that, they created the Confidence Index to track growth in confidence, executive function, self-advocacy, and emotional regulation. It’s more than a metric — it’s a mirror. It shows growth and gives students a language for their success.

“When neurodivergent kids believe they’re capable, everything changes,” says Molloy. “Confidence is the turning point.”

What WHILDE LLC Offers: Services Designed for Neurodivergent Minds

WHILDE LLC, led by Jessica’s husband and co-founder, Danny Molloy, offers in-person and virtual services for students across the U.S. — all grounded in the WHILDE Method and optimized for neurodivergent learning profiles.

Evaluations

WHILDE Evaluations — Key to our discovery phase, these personalized assessments uncover patterns, behaviors, and unseen obstacles shaping your child’s life, offering clarity and direction. When students understand who they are and how they operate, everything shifts. They stop guessing, stop hiding — and start showing up.

One-on-One Coaching

Executive Function Coaching — For students struggling with planning, prioritization, or follow-through. WHILDE coaches co-regulate and build structure that sticks for ADHD, anxiety, and sensory-sensitive learners.
Diverse Learning Coaching — WHILDE celebrates neurological differences. Whether it’s autism, dyslexia, ADHD, Anxiety, or twice-exceptionality, WHILDE coaches build with, not around, each student’s brain-turning difference into design.
Parent Coaching — Designed for parents raising neurodivergent children, navigating school systems, or navigating daily demands. The goal? A confident, supported family system.

Community & Learning

WHILDE University — Online courses for families and professionals, designed to demystify executive function, behavior, and regulation in neurodivergent youth.
WHILDE Connect (Coming Soon) — A live community platform for strategy sharing, expert workshops, and coaching clinics.

Unlike tutoring, WHILDE doesn’t focus on drilling content. The focus is on capability over curriculum. Students learn how to learn, how to bounce back, structure their week, set boundaries, and advocate for themselves. They gain tools for life, not just for class.

The WHILDE School: A Haven for Neurodivergent Learners

Families looking for a full-time, affirming alternative to traditional school find it in The WHILDE School, a nonprofit micro-school in Yarmouth, Maine.

Built entirely around neurodivergent students, The WHILDE School offers rigorous academics in an environment where sensory needs, emotional regulation, and diverse communication styles are supported, not shamed.

With multi-age pods, project-based learning, and integrated emotional coaching, students are not expected to conform — they’re empowered to belong. Daily wellness practices, creative challenges, and peer leadership build more than skills — they build community.

“The WHILDE School didn’t just help our daughter,” shared one parent. “It helped our whole family heal.”

PHOTO Courtesy of WHILDE LLC

At our End of Year Ceremony, each Student receives recognition.

A Founder Forged by Neurodiversity

Jessica Molloy’s story is the WHILDE story. Diagnosed with dyslexia in early childhood, Jessica endured a system that constantly missed her strengths. She was placed in special-ed rooms, left behind academically, and burdened by shame — until one college professor taught her through visuals, not text. That one shift changed everything.

She went on to earn degrees in social work, special education, and education leadership, became a behavioral therapist, and raised four daughters, two of whom are autistic, and one who is dyslexic. Her life and career revealed one truth: the education system wasn’t made for kids like hers — so she created one that was.

Today, she serves as Headmaster of The WHILDE School, Clinical Training Director for Maine LEND (Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities) at the University of New England, and sits on the Board of the Autism Society of Maine. Her work has become a movement — and a message of hope to families everywhere.

A Movement for Maine — and Beyond

Though WHILDE began on an island off Casco Bay, its reach now spans coast to coast. Families across the country — from California to Maine, turn to WHILDE when traditional systems fall short. Professionals train in the WHILDE Method, and a neurodivergent-led educational model is proving not only possible, but powerful.

WHILDE is also expanding into wellness products, educator training, and national advocacy — proof that its impact goes far beyond Maine.

“We’re not reforming education,” says Molloy. “We’re redefining it — for every student whose brilliance has been overlooked.”

A Final Word from Jessica Molloy

Every neurodivergent student deserves to be seen, not for who the system expects, but for who they are. At WHILDE, we build around the student. When we do that, confidence grows, learning happens, and transformation begins. That’s not just our promise — it’s our purpose.

— Jessica Molloy, M.Ed., Founder of WHILDE

Ready to reimagine learning? Start your WHILDE journey at whilde.com and whildeschool.org

The three stages—Discover, Evolve, and Flourish—represent a learner’s journey from awareness to action to transformation.

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