Beth Lawrence

Background

About Beth Lawrence

I am the Director of Learning & Development for the InferCabulary Division at Really Great Reading where InferCabulary has experienced significant expansion throughout the United States and abroad. I have over 25 years of experience as a speech-language pathologist, educator, and entrepreneur, with a passion for improving vocabulary and reading comprehension for all learners. While operating a thriving speech-language private practice in Baltimore, I co-founded, bootstrapped, and served as the CEO for InferCabulary. InferCabulary is a web-based, K-12 application that harnesses our contribution to education: Semantic Reasoning. Semantic Reasoning helps learners of all ages quickly and deeply learn word meanings in an engaging, multi-modal way that mimics the act of wide reading. I present regularly on vocabulary, Semantic Reasoning, reading comprehension, and inference-making at regional and national education conferences. I've authored peer-reviewed journal articles and have become very interested in the role of Dual Coding and embodied cognition in every aspect of learning. I co-authored the norm-referenced Test of Semantic Reasoning, and facilitated two independent research studies on InferCabulary through University of Virginia that revealed significant positive findings. In my role at Really Great Reading, I have facilitated seven independent research studies on our foundational literacy products and InferCabulary, created a three-hour course on vocabulary instruction that tens of thousands of educators have watched, and am honored to co-present a three hour oral language course with prominent researchers from the University of Oxford. As an SLP, I have loved every minute of working directly with children of all ages, watching them blossom as they learn to communicate effectively, and later, apply strategies to their classwork. It was a delight to build something that now reaches a million children, not just the students I had immediate access to through local schools and my practice. I learned so much about business, product development, and technology through participating in an amazing edtech incubator. Earning that "MBA the other way" through coaching and mentorship while building a scalable business is what enabled me to raise several rounds of investment, win several awards and pitch competitions, present a TEDx talk, and successfully move the business to the next level with Really Great Reading.