Show HN: Ello (YC W20) – AI-reading tutor for kids that works with real books
Hi HN,

We’re Elizabeth, Catalin, and Tom - the founders of Ello (https://www.helloello.com). Ello is an AI-powered app that mimics the one-on-one interaction of a reading tutor by listening to, encouraging, and coaching kids grade K-3 as they read out loud from a real book.

We posted on HN back in 2020 when we launched Trustle, a company designed to pair families with dedicated experts in child development. We learned from that experience that parents don’t want a consultant, but they do want actual help with specific challenges—one of the biggest being reading.

Prior to COVID, 65% of 4th graders in the U.S. were reading behind level. The most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress report revealed that reading levels have dropped even further, to the lowest level since 1992. These disheartening statistics reinforce something we learned during our time at Trustle—of all the pain points parents face in raising children, reading can often be one of the most critical yet most difficult to address, especially if the child doesn’t like to read.

In an effort to help reverse this trend, we used advances in speech recognition - driven by self-supervised learning - to create a virtual experience designed to provide effective reading support. It's no substitute for attention and coaching from a caring adult, which is obviously what kids really need, but unfortunately that is not always available.

If every child had consistent access to 1:1 reading support and every parent or caregiver had the time, language skills, and confidence to help their children learn to read with no outside assistance, then there would not be a need for a technical solution. Unfortunately, we know not every child has this access, and many parents are looking for extra support. That's why we've built Ello.

If you look at a great teacher or parent working with a child, they are talking to each other. Ello uses a speech recognition model that listens to what a child is saying and provides the appropriate phonics based coaching, as well as commentary and help. As a child reads across the page of a physical book, the Ello app tracks the child’s progress and picks up when they miss a word or get a word wrong and then steps in just like a good reading coach would.

One criticism that we’ve heard since launching is that we are trying to replace the sacred role of a parent teaching their child to read. We say, “Not at all!”. Ello can serve as a resource for every type of parent without being a “replacement”, which is impossible in any case.

We’ve had most success with children who are reluctant readers. Ello provides a fun environment to practice reading without the pressure of an adult watching you. We’ve seen kids who flat out refuse to read start to enjoy reading in a short period of time.

We are highly privacy oriented; unlike most apps relying on speech tracking we can work completely on device with no internet and no audio data shared back with us.

We launched in early in 2022 and have come a long way since then. The model works like this: we mail customers five books and a prepaid return shipping label every month. At the end of the month you mail the books back or keep as many as you want for an additional $5 apiece, and then we mail you next month’s box. Our reading specialists help determine the appropriate reading level for every child and make sure that we are sending books to match. Right now we support roughly K through 3rd grade, although Ello can be effective for some Pre-K kids as well.

We know there are many parents on HN, including those with young children. We would love to hear about your experiences and needs around your children’s reading journeys and your perspective on how something like Ello might help. Or, if you’re in the US, give us a try (we are only in the US as we ship physical books right now, but are launching a digital only version in the first half of this year and then will be available more broadly) - you can get a free month with code ellohacker. And of course we welcome any feedback, questions, and ideas!