Beware of Early Literacy Apps That Mispronounce Words

DON’T TAKE PRONUNCIATION FOR GRANTED: Literacy apps are understandably tantalizing for parents who want to give their toddlers a head start. But not all apps are created equal. Some, for instance, don’t even pronounce letters appropriately, write a trio of professors— Barbara Culatta, Kendra Hall-Kenyon, Gary Bingham—on the Joan Ganz Cooney Center blog. “One serious mistake found on some apps,” they discovered, “is to provide a sound for each letter in a word even if the word contains a silent letter.” Here are the other red flags to watch for.