Write to Read is a scientifically based learning tool that teaches children from the age of three to read by helping them to create their own books. The app is developed by Danish primary school teacher Janus Madsen. Madsen has more than 15 years of experience in teaching children to read and write. Write to Read has been tested in cooperation with leading scientific researchers and is co-financed by the Danish Agency for Research and Innovation.

Results
Following its development and testing, researchers concluded that Write to Read:

• Improves early learning of reading and writing skills
• Motivates children
• Invites cooperation between children and adults
• Encourages children to be creative and imaginative
• Creates interest in the written language

Method
Write to Read is based on scientific research that substantiates children benefit by learning to write whilst they learn to read. Using Write to Read and a little help from an adult, children learn to spell and read in a relevant and meaningful way by creating and writing their own texts.

The child writes a sentence using his or her current level of written language and the adult “translates” the child’s writing into proper or correct text. When the child compares his/her writing with the adult’s, the child begins to observe, assimilate and learn words and syntax. Books created by the children can be printed, e-mailed and posted to social media directly from the app. In this way, the child is inspired to create and understand the practical use of written language. The child enjoys the creative experience and the authoring of his/her own stories.

Features
Write to Read features a specially designed keyboard that incorporates the sounds of the letters. Vowels and consonants are marked in red and blue frames respectively. The keyboard can show both lower and higher case letters to help the child recognize and learn all 52 different letters. Furthermore, the app has a record-and-play function that can help the child remember the written text and serve to support the child by enabling them to play back the audio version of the story at a later point.

Target group
The primary target group is children from 3-10 years of age, but both younger as well as older children can benefit by using the app. Younger children can create books on their own by recording stories that complement pictures taken with the iPad, or with others, by typing more or less randomly on the keyboard and having an adult add the conventional writing afterwards. Older children can use the app as a book template to create longer and more complex books.

Comments
The app has been tested by four children ages 5-8 years old. Parents reported positive results even in the relatively short period of the testing.

“The app is very useful for my children because it allows them to make creative stories on the different levels of development they are in.”
Kara Mann, mother, 4 yr old daughter, 8 yr old son

“The app has been beneficial to our family. The kids have enjoyed it. My daughter has written a lot of things she would not normally have written and the platform enables her to do it with a minimum of help.”
Kim Kimberly, mother of a boy at 5 and a girl at 7

Write and we will read
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www.facebook.com/writereaderapp or info@writereader.com