“Daughter loves the books”

Posted 1 year ago

“My child is almost 10 and due to COVID and other reasons she has struggled a lot in Reading. Every time I would ask her to read a book it would end up in hours of her whining and complaining. And me stressing to see that no matter what program I would get (like Epic, IXL and others) she would enjoy it one day and forget about it. But this did not happen with Ello. When I gave her the box of Ello she said, “Oh no another one of these”. But after seeing the books and trying it with the App she said, “Mom I think this is going to work”. Since then she asks me if she can read a little longer. I CAN NOT believe my ears! I’m SOOOO shocked to see how much she enjoys reading her books. When I asked her why she likes Ello so much she says that it’s Fun and when she gets corrected by Ello she doesn’t feel like she is being pressured. I am extremely hopeful that Ello is finally going to give my daughter the confidence she needs to be a fluent reader. Thank you Sooooo much.”

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Posted 1 year ago

“Using with ELLO makes my son so eager and happy to read! He gets new books every month and we get to keep the ones we love!”

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Posted 1 year ago

“I think it’s fantastic that you can read out loud and Ello helps you as you go along. However, I do see a downside. My son is almost through with the books and it’s only been a few days. Now that he’s done with these, I wish there was something else the app would offer while we wait for the next box. Games or something. It’d be nice if this was an ongoing thing without having to keep on reading the same books over and over just to kill time.”

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Posted 1 year ago

“My son loves it. I wished it realized he made a mistake so it could correct him or help him but it doesn’t. The child or parent has to realize the word they said was incorrect and then ask for help. The app could definitely use some work. My son does love it and he is reading more so that is a plus!”

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Posted 1 year ago

Hi Jewel! Thank you so much for the review. I am happy to hear that your son is enjoying the experience. A few bits about speech recognition: Speech recognition (as you might know from Alexa or Siri) isn't perfect. We walk a delicate balance between not wanting to be SO strict that a slight accent or difference in pronunciation results in Ello getting stuck or detecting an error, and also not wanting to be so lenient that it lets kids through with a ton of mistakes or doesn't correct a mistake. Kids are particularly sensitive to the first --no one likes to be told they are "wrong" when they aren't-- so we lean a bit more lenient. Ello is always there for kids (via the question mark) when they want help, and we never interrupt them during reading to correct an error. Teachers don't do this either. We wait until the end of the page and then have them go back if we think they missed a word. The bottom line is this: we think about the experience holistically. Ello is motivating support that will correct them on errors (although not all errors, by design), is always there to help if a child proactively asks for it, and motivates them to keep going! A few tips for speech recognition in case it helps: Ello can get stuck (though we don't get reports of it happening too often). Here are some things that might help or explain: any damage to the microphone internally, background noise, or clarity of the speaker (yelling actually makes it worse!). Here are some things you can do: 1). Skip the page if it is read (push the arrow forward) 2). Hit the question mark to see where Ello is stuck 3). Keep reading fluidly at least 5 or 6 words. Reading one word at a time can actually make it worse. When getting help on a single word (when Ello has the flashlight up), give a few seconds before repeating it again. Ello can sometimes take a second to process single words. Let me know if any of this helps! Also, some information about how we handle errors: Ello uses best practices to make sure we strike the balance between making sure kids learn from errors and keeping them motivated and engaged. If you ask reading specialists, they will tell you that when they sit with a child during their reading, they do a few things when it comes to errors: - They give them wait time. Ello allows kids to ask for help when they need it, but we never hurry them along. - They don't interrupt them immediately when they make an error; they let them finish the page. At the end of the page, Ello will have your child go back to review the words they miss. While they can ask for help anytime, we won’t interrupt them while they are reading. - They don't correct every error! This one may be a surprise for parents, but literacy specialists know that correcting every error will frustrate kids. While we will bring kids back to review words they miss at the end of the page, we won’t do this for EVERY error, this is purposeful. Keep your eyes on the big goal - building confident, enthusiastic readers. Our exciting motivation, evidence-based coaching and thoughtful timing of support will get them there! Remember: If a child is reading a book that is appropriate for them, they should only be making one error or so on every two pages. More than that means that the book is not appropriate for their reading ability. Thank you again for the feedback!

Posted 1 year ago

“We are long time users and fans of Ello. Our daughter was late to show interest in reading, and getting her to try was always a battle. Ello was a game changer for our family. We have been so pleased with the improvements we’ve seen in our daughter’s confidence and interest in reading. It’s been very fun to watch her grow. But we didn’t realize just how much of a concrete impact Ello has had until we received her end of the year data from school. She went from being below grade level to well above the benchmark! We are blown away by the growth and we know that a big part of that is thanks to Ello. Caroline is now a confident reader who gets caught reading for fun in her bed long after lights off. As parents, we couldn’t be happier!”

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Posted 1 year ago

“I wish I could order more books in the month”

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Posted 1 year ago

“My child is excited about finishing all of his books for a prize. I like that I can listen while doing other housework and know that there is still help for him if he gets stuck. I'm hopeful that this will help him get to be where he needs to be for 2nd grade.”

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Posted 1 year ago

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