How we write and check our guides

Who writes

Everything is published under one pen name, Helen Wrenfield, which is the name the ReadBorn team writes under. The team builds the app, its lessons and its films. A K-1 teacher worked on the app with the team.

How a post is made

1. Start from one real question a parent asks, and answer it in the first paragraph.
2. Draft it, with the help of writing software, including AI tools.
3. A person on the team edits it until it reads plainly and says only what we can stand behind.
4. Check every claim: numbers against the app, teaching advice against the rules below, research against the named source.
5. A person on the team approves it. Nothing is published without that approval.

How the facts are checked

The app's catalog numbers, such as how many levels, classes, lessons, stories, letter sounds and sight words it has, are computed from the app's own curriculum when the site is built. The build checks every sentence it recognises as stating one of those counts against that number and refuses to publish a page that disagrees. Any other claim about the app is checked by the person on the team who edits the post.

When we cite research, we name the source and link it, and we prefer reviews of the evidence, universities and public education bodies over single studies or opinion.

The teaching rules we follow

• Decode, never guess. We never suggest working a word out from the picture, the sentence or the first letter.
• The child does the blending. Advice never has the adult, or the app, say the word first.
• A sound is written as its letter, such as s, a, t, never as a made-up spelling with an extra sound on the end.

What we leave out

• Prices. The App Store sets the price for each country, so any figure we printed would be wrong for most readers.
• Other products by name. We explain what to look for instead.
• Anything we cannot check.

Our stake

This site is published by ReadBorn and every guide mentions the ReadBorn app, usually at the end, as the one thing a page cannot do: listen while your child reads. There are no sponsored posts and no affiliate links.

Corrections

If something on this site is wrong, write to [email protected] with the page and what is wrong. We check it, fix the page, and change the page's updated date so you can see it moved.

Keep going

• About ReadBorn Who makes the app, why it listens, and what is inside it.
• The parent guides Every guide, in the order a child climbs.