From Classroom Exhaustion to Category Leadership
Lisa Mihalich Quinn spent her evenings the way too many special educators do: hunched over a laptop, manually adapting tomorrow’s lessons for her nonspeaking autistic students. Three hours. Every night. After teaching all day.
It was 2023 when she asked her friend Jefferson Stovall a simple question during a conversation about emerging AI tools: “Could AI do this?”
That question launched Adaptiverse. But the real story starts much earlier.
Twenty Years in the Making
Lisa’s journey to co-founding Adaptiverse began two decades ago as a public school special education teacher in Maryland. Like 85% of special education teachers working with autistic students, she reported feeling overwhelmed by daily responsibilities. Like 40% of beginning special education teachers, she almost became a statistic—another educator leaving within the first three years.
Instead, she founded Reach Every Voice.
For over a decade, REV has quietly revolutionized how educators approach nonspeaking autistic learners. No venture capital. No aggressive marketing. Just methodical development of scaffolding strategies that actually work, tested with hundreds of learners, refined through thousands of lessons, validated by 500+ trained educators.
“I wasn’t trying to build a company,” Lisa reflects. “I was trying to solve a problem that was destroying talented educators and failing brilliant students. Every adaptation I created by hand, every hour spent cutting and pasting, every evening away from my family—I knew there had to be a better way.”
The Network That Changed Everything
By 2023, the Reach Every Voice network included:
- 400+ educators trained in the scaffolding methodology
- 2,700+ lessons and guides downloaded and implemented
- Practitioners across multiple states and internationally
- Invitations from the Maryland State Department of Education to deliver statewide trainings on Communicative Competence
This wasn’t theoretical expertise. This was battle-tested, classroom-proven methodology that consistently delivered results for nonspeaking learners.
But it was trapped in manual processes.
Enter Technology, Respectfully
Jefferson Stovall brought 15+ years of technology leadership, but more importantly, he brought humility. “I could build the platform,” he explains, “but I couldn’t presume to understand the nuances of serving nonspeaking learners. That expertise took Lisa twenty years to develop. My job was to translate it into technology without losing what made it work.”
For eight months, they refined the AI framework:
- 15+ pages of specialized prompting
- Countless iterations with REV network educators
- Working with real content, real educators, real students
- Rejecting shortcuts that compromised educational quality
We Didn’t Study This Population—We’ve Lived It
Here’s what makes Adaptiverse different: we’re not outsiders who identified a market opportunity. We’re insiders who lived the problem.
- Lisa has spent thousands of hours with nonspeaking learners
- Our methodology emerged from real classrooms, not academic theories
- Our network includes practitioners who’ve dedicated careers to this population
- Our refinements come from educators who use the platform daily
When 69 unique active users generate 800+ lessons on our platform, we don’t just see usage metrics. We see Mrs. Chen finally making it to her daughter’s soccer game. We see Mr. Rodriguez focusing on relationship-building instead of paperwork. We see parents feeling equipped rather than overwhelmed.
The Power of Starting with Why
Most EdTech starts with “what”—what features, what technology, what metrics. We started with why.
Why do 25% of special education teachers leave annually? Why do educators spend 3-4 hours daily on documentation rather than instruction? Why do nonspeaking learners receive simplified content rather than sophisticated supports? Why do parents feel forced to choose between quality and accessibility?
Every feature in Adaptiverse traces back to these why questions. Every decision reflects twenty years of understanding the answers.
Building with, Not For
Our development process embodies a fundamental principle: nothing about us without us.
- Educators shape our roadmap through regular feedback sessions
- Our 60+ person waitlist isn’t just waiting—they’re contributing ideas
- Feature requests from our active users drive development priorities
- The REV network provides continuous validation and refinement – this includes feedback directly from our nonspeaking autistic learners. Nothing we build would have value if we built it without their input.
When users suggest improvements, they’re not talking to customer service—they’re talking to Lisa, who’s lived their challenges. When they report issues, they’re heard by educators who understand the stakes.
From Manual to Magical, Maintaining the Mission
Today’s Adaptiverse generates lessons in an average of 30.76 seconds that previously took hours to create. But speed isn’t the achievement we’re proudest of. It’s that educators tell us our AI-generated lessons are often better than what they created manually—not because we’re replacing their expertise, but because we’re amplifying it.
The Future, Grounded in History
As we grow, we carry forward twenty years of lessons learned:
- Technology serves pedagogy, never the reverse
- Community wisdom exceeds individual brilliance
- Authentic expertise takes time to develop
- Trust is earned through consistency, not promised through marketing
- Every decision impacts a vulnerable learner
Join Educators Who Understand
When you choose Adaptiverse, you’re not just selecting software. You’re joining a community of educators who’ve moved beyond survival to transformation. You’re accessing two decades of refined methodology. You’re partnering with people who’ve stood where you stand, faced what you face, and found a better way.
We didn’t build this for the EdTech market. We built it for Mrs. Johnson, who stays late every Tuesday to adapt science lessons. For David’s mom, who wants to support his learning but doesn’t know where to start. For the nonspeaking student who’s been waiting for content that presumes their competence.
We built it for us. And if you’re reading this, we built it for you.
Ready to transform your practice with tools built by educators who understand?
Start your journey at adaptiverseapp.com
Lisa Mihalich Quinn serves as Chief Education Officer of Adaptiverse and continues to lead Reach Every Voice. Jefferson Stovall serves as CEO of Adaptiverse while maintaining deep commitment to mission-driven technology. Together, they’re proving that the best EdTech emerges not from Silicon Valley, but from classrooms.