Adam Aviv is a fourth generation L.A. native who struggled as a reader early on. Identified with dyslexia in second grade, he received reading intervention from his LAUSD elementary school while his parents sought out private therapy that promised to cure his dyslexia. Although his reading improved, he continued to struggle academically into high school.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts with an emphasis in journalism at Portland State University and then worked as an editor with The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles (1999-2014). Inspired by his own experiences with dyslexia and parenting children with special needs, he pursued his teaching credential and master’s degree in special education at California State University, Northridge. After serving as a resource specialist teacher at the elementary and secondary levels with Vaughn Next Century Learning Center, an independent charter school in San Fernando and Pacoima, he now works as an out-of-classroom teacher focused on compliance and improvement monitoring, professional development, and coaching Vaughn's next generation of special educators.