Marker Learning is a New York-based company that makes learning-disability evaluations more accessible and less time-consuming. Founded by Stefan Bauer and Emily Yudofsky - both diagnosed with dyslexia as children - the company began by bringing remote, lower-cost psychological assessments for conditions like dyslexia and ADHD to families and schools. It has since built an AI-assisted report-writing platform for special education teams and school psychologists that turns referral and assessment documents into structured, citation-backed draft reports, cutting report writing from hours to minutes while keeping clinical judgment with the evaluator.
Cliff Weitzman is the founder and CEO of Speechify, the text-to-speech app that reads anything aloud in natural AI voices and now serves over 56 million users in 200+ languages. Diagnosed with dyslexia in third grade, he taught himself English by replaying a Harry Potter audiobook 22 times, then built the software he wished he'd had to keep up with the reading load at Brown University. What began as a personal hack for one dyslexic student became a Forbes 30 Under 30 company and an Apple Design Award winner.
Scientific Learning, now part of Carnegie Learning, builds neuroscience-based reading and language software that rewires how struggling readers process language. Its flagship Fast ForWord program treats reading difficulty at its root - the brain's ability to process sound and sequence information - rather than drilling worksheets. Born from lab research by four scientists in 1996 and acquired by Carnegie Learning in 2020, the company has delivered cognitive-skills and reading interventions to students in more than 40 countries, backed by decades of peer-reviewed research.
Parallel (Parallel Learning) is a New York-based special education company that connects school districts with licensed clinicians - school psychologists, speech-language pathologists, behavioral counselors, and specialized instructors - through a proprietary teletherapy and case-management platform. Founded in 2021 by Diana Heldfond, who was diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia as a child, Parallel helps schools deliver legally required IEP services to students with learning and thinking differences when in-person staff are scarce. The company has raised about $48.9 million and reported that 98% of its students met or exceeded their IEP goals in the 2024-2025 school year.
Diana Heldfond DiGia is the founder and CEO of Parallel, the first tech-forward provider of special education care in the United States. Diagnosed with severe dyslexia and ADHD at seven, she built Parallel to deliver virtual psychoeducational assessments, teletherapy, and specialized instruction to K-12 school districts. The company now serves more than 10,000 students across 25 states, has raised $48.9M including a $20M Series B led by Valspring Capital, and reports that 98% of its students meet or exceed their IEP goals. She is a Forbes 30 Under 30 (Education, 2024) honoree.