Evidence-based reading practice, with Max
Ten minutes at a time. Real reading, taught the way the research supports.
Your child reads a short, illustrated book built only from the sounds they've been taught. Max listens. When a word is hard, he coaches one small step at a time — and never, ever quizzes. We build on the parts of Orton-Gillingham the evidence actually backs, and take the rest from the wider science of reading.
Works in Safari on iPad and iPhone. No app store needed. Parents set up in two minutes; children never see a login.
How a session works
Tap Max to wake him
One tap turns on the microphone and Max says hello. Then the three big words in the book, and the story.
Read aloud — Max listens
Every word in the book is decodable for your child right now, with a picture on every page. Max follows along on-device and only steps in when a word is hard.
Coaching, one step at a time
Wait. Tap the sounds. Split the word and hear the rule. Only then the word itself. Short on purpose — the research says a long ladder spends attention your child could be reading with.
The next book is your child's idea
At the end of every book Max asks what the next one should be about — dinosaurs, trucks, the ocean — and whether it should be made up or real facts. It is written and checked six ways for safety and decodability before your child ever sees it. You can swap it from the dashboard.
Built on what the research supports
- Explicit, systematic, sequential. Twelve stages; nothing untaught ever appears in a book. This is the part of Orton-Gillingham with the strongest evidence behind it.
- Diagnostic, not a quiz. Every decision comes from what your child actually read aloud. Reversals and sound mix-ups are tracked for you, never shown to them.
- Short coaching. Two prompts, then the word — the pattern the corrective-feedback research supports, rather than a long ladder that spends attention your child could be reading with.
- Decodable books at their real age. A ten-year-old at stage two gets a ten-year-old's story, written from stage-two sounds.
- Spacing over gimmicks. Generous line spacing, a short line, and a clear b / d / p / q — the typography variables that hold up in studies.
- Designed for children with dyslexia, and built the same way for every beginning reader. Where Orton-Gillingham tradition and the evidence disagree, we follow the evidence — and we publish our reasoning.
Pricing
Additional readers are an add-on.