Aron Boxer, M.Ed., S.P.E.

From Midtown to the classroom

Aron did not start out in education. His first career was in financial services in Midtown Manhattan, where he spent five years before deciding the work he cared about was happening in classrooms. He went back to school, earned his M.Ed. in Special Education with a specialization in learning disabilities, and became a Connecticut-certified special education teacher.

He spent seven years teaching special education in the Greenwich Public Schools, working with students with ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dysgraphia, anxiety, and executive function challenges, then served as Director of Special Services at Greenwich Catholic School. In 2009 he founded Diversified Education Services, which has grown from a one-person practice into a team of more than fifty special education certified coaches and professional tutors serving families across Connecticut, New York, New England, and South Florida.

How he thinks about the work

Executive function coaching, in its simplest form, is about sequencing.

Aron’s approach is practical. A student who cannot get started, cannot keep track of what is due, or cannot finish what he begins does not need a lecture about motivation. He needs a plan he can actually follow, someone to help him start, and someone who will check back in. Aron puts it plainly: ninety percent of the work is built on the relationship. The best plan goes nowhere without the right fit between coach and student.

Three ideas run through everything he does: structure over dependency, accountability with empathy, and long-term independence. Support is scaffolding, and scaffolding is built to come down. That conviction is also the thesis of his book in progress, Surrender to Win, on how well-meaning parents can over-help their children right out of the skills they need.

Greenwich, then and now

Aron grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut, raised by a single mother who ran her own practice as a learning specialist. He attended Greenwich Public Schools and then Brunswick School for middle and upper school, where he wrestled. He has lived in Greenwich his whole life, and his work in the town’s schools has come full circle: he now serves as Chair of the Greenwich Special Education Advisory Council and sits on the board of Greenwich Together, a community coalition focused on preventing substance misuse and supporting youth mental health.

He splits his time between Greenwich and New York City with his wife, two stepchildren, and two poodle-mix dogs. Supporting children with complex learning and developmental needs inside his own blended family has shaped how he talks to parents: with directness, and without judgment. Outside of work he is a lifelong martial artist and a guitar player who picked up the instrument as an adult, which he considers proof that it is never too late to learn something hard.

In the national conversation

Aron is a regular voice on education for national and regional outlets, including FOX News, FOX Weather, CBS New York, NBC, NTD News, Scripps News, Bloomberg, NPR, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, Education Week, and The Hill. As a member of the Forbes Coaches Council he contributes to Forbes expert panels on leadership and coaching. His writing has appeared in Solutions Review, Greenwich Free Press, Living Greenwich, and Moffly Media. See his media appearances, or visit the press kit for bios and a downloadable headshot.