Case: Reading Tools & Software

I thought it might be a good idea to see what sorts of technologies are currrently available to help children learn to read. One article I found was very interesting and can be found here. It details a new technology being developed by BravoBrava! listens to a child reading (using voice recognition technology) and then displays helpful information when the child struggles on a word. For example, the image belows shows a piece of text the child is trying to read, and at the current point, the child is struggling to read the word Butterflies, so the system displays the Butterflies on the right hand side and then gives helpful information about it so the child understands what the word is:

The system has many features, such as knowing how well the child has read in the past, providing a cartoon character to interact with the child and a easy to use interface. We should study the design if we end up prototyping the word scanner.