[xwowsersx]

This is awesome. Congratulations on the launch. So happy to see that you are going with phonics instead of whole word or other methods. Phonics is absolutely the correct approach. As John McWhorter puts it[0]: "Scientific investigators of how children learn to read have proved repeatedly that phonics works better for more children."

[0]: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/03/opinion/kids-reading-spel...

[tomsayer]

Yup- It's a pretty settled debate now I think. There's a good podcast on it called 'Sold a story' that just came out. Thanks for the NYT link!

[xwowsersx]

"Sold a Story" looks great, thanks for that. I will give the episodes a listen.

Regarding Ello, how does it adapt to a child's reading level? Say my child is in 2nd grade, but is reading at a 1st grade level. Will Ello learn that over time and choose/recommend books that are more appropriate for their level? Appreciate any color you can provide on how that works. Thanks.

[eba7keb]

Right now we work closely with parents (checking in with them each month before the books ship out) to help guide them in making the decision around book choice. We also have a form parents can send to the teachers. In the future, we will have a tighter feedback loop to support this decision making that comes directly from the way the child interacts with the app (if we have the permission to analyze that data from the parent).

[xwowsersx]

Got it. Thanks for the reply.