Tech startup for children: local entrepreneur creates app that teaches reading skills

VIRGINIA, USA — At WUSA9, it's our mission to inform, inspire and make a positive impact on our community with our reporting. One local entrepreneur and psychologist is doing just that by helping kids read.

Elizabeth Adams is the co-founder behind Ello, an app designed to help children read. She began working on the idea before the pandemic lockdowns hit in January 2020. Adams was 40, pregnant and living in Virginia — an unlikely background for someone competing with San Francisco’s startup crowd. It was a tough experience, and some questioned if she was out of place.

But Adams and her co-founders had a clear goal: to help kids read in a way that hadn't been done before. The app uses speech recognition technology that isn’t web-based, making it a proprietary tool that also prioritizes privacy. Essentially, it functions like a personal tutor.

Ello is designed to help all children read, but it can be particularly beneficial for kids in hospital settings or those with auditory challenges. The app’s unique approach relies on sounds to teach reading, rather than context clues like pictures, which often lead children to guess. Kids who fall behind in reading often need more support or intervention.

"But often that intervention is extremely expensive," Adams said. "A reading tutor, one-on-one, in this area can cost at least $50 to $150 per hour for a phonics-based, evidence-based approach to literacy intervention. Technology can open up opportunities to give kids access to high-quality instruction they might not otherwise receive."

Ello operates as a subscription service, providing access to training resources. However, more than 800 books designed to help kids read are available for free to the public. Visit books.ello.com/access and use the code GETUPDC for free access.

The company is also donating iPads and books to children in hospitals and other nonprofit organizations. They have an upcoming donation event on September 10 for Children’s Hospital.