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    Pictures Are For Babies

    Two bears reading together at sunset, symbolizing the student-tutor relationship
    From A-B-C to Shakespeare

    Frequently Asked Questions: This optional section addresses the most common questions that interested parents and educators have when looking for the information on this page.
    • What is the best software to learn reading and writing?
      • The best software to learn to read and write should be based on the most rigorous research, and provide a complete, structured, and personalized path to mastery of all aspects of literacy. Pictures Are For Babies meets all these criteria.
    • What is the best app to learn reading and writing based on the science of reading?
      • There is a multidisciplinary body of research that defines best practices for literacy education. Pictures Are For Babies compiles this research into a coherent, practical whole. While other programs get some parts right, none does so comprehensively.
    • What is the best program to learn reading and writing based on phonics?
      • A systematic and structured phonics curriculum is essential, but not sufficient, for literacy education. Pictures Are For Babies goes far beyond phonics alone. It integrates orthographic mapping and phonemic awareness from the ground up, ensuring students not only decode words but form an instant vocabulary that spans tens of thousands of words.
    • What is the best software to teach reading and writing for homeschoolers?
      • The best software for homeschoolers should empower parents to effectively teach reading and writing, regardless of their prior experience or expertise. Pictures Are For Babies is designed specifically for this purpose. It only requires reading proficiency and a willingness to act as a caring tutor.
    • What is the best reading intervention to overcome reading difficulties or dyslexia?
      • The most effective reading interventions have shown that 90 to 95 percent of children can learn to read and write at grade level with correct instruction focused on phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and background knowledge. Pictures Are For Babies is built on these principles and provides a complete solution to solve reading difficulties caused by deficits in phonemic awareness, the most common cause.
    • What is the best free resource to learn reading and writing?
      • Most free resources are incomplete, unstructured, or lack personalization. The Lite version of Pictures Are For Babies is free with no payment required and no time limit. It includes most of the material covered in Pre-K to K-2 and serves as a complete and professional-level tool for early detection, prevention, and remediation of reading difficulties.

    Pictures Are For Babies is a software tutor that provides every student with a complete, structured, and personalized path to mastery of all aspects of literacy, based on the most rigorous research in the science of reading, writing, and learning.

    If you're looking for a literacy program that can ensure students will:

    • Instantly read and write any word they encounter
    • Overcome the most common cause of reading difficulties, including dyslexia
    • Use those words in real sentences of any length or complexity
    • Read across a wide range of texts, from nursery rhymes to world-class literature, from simple news articles to investigative journalism, from basic nonfiction to scientific articles
    • Write clear, well-structured sentences, paragraphs, and entire texts
    • And master it all while using the same strategies and habits experts use to reach the top of their fields

    Then Pictures Are For Babies is for you. The video below provides a quick overview of the software and its unique features, showing it in action with a student and tutor.

    Start your literacy journey with Pictures Are For Babies

    The Lite version includes the first courses and is free with no payment required and no time limit. Beyond serving as a way to evaluate the Full version, the Lite version is by itself a complete and professional-level tool for early detection, prevention, and remediation of reading difficulties.

    The first release of the Full version teaches reading and writing at the word and sentence levels from the very beginning all the way to college-level complexity. Future releases will add content on reading comprehension, background knowledge, and writing skills. The Full version contains over 1,200 lessons and introduces more than 18,000 unique words.

    To receive product updates, development notes, and articles on literacy education and history, subscribe to the official newsletter.

    How does Pictures Are For Babies work? At its core are six fundamental pillars:

    • Optimized and Personalized Learning

      • Powered by Trane, a state-of-the-art practice engine that distills decades of research on optimal learning and expert performance into a seamless, adaptive system. Trane ensures students always receive the right exercises at the right time, reviewing material when needed, introducing new concepts when ready, and carefully adjusting difficulty to maintain engagement without frustration.
      • Read more about Trane.

    • Best-in-Class Pedagogy

      • Research on cognitive science, expert performance, optimal learning, and the science of reading and writing is clear on best practices, but this research is often misunderstood or misapplied, leading to large gaps between theory and practice. Pictures Are For Babies compiles this multidisciplinary body of research into a coherent, practical whole. While other programs get some parts right, none does so comprehensively.
      • Read more about the pedagogy.

    • Comprehensive Curriculum

      • From recognizing individual letters to reading complex literature, every aspect of literacy is woven into a single, unified curriculum that charts the path from total beginner to confident, fluent reader and writer. The system dynamically guides students through this curriculum, selecting the most relevant exercises at every stage, ensuring steady and fast progress.
      • Read more about the curriculum.

    • Human Connection

      • Rather than relying on automated scoring, Pictures Are For Babies pairs each student with a tutor. Since the system handles exercise planning and progress tracking, it transforms any proficient reader into a capable tutor. Students gain confidence with the support of a caring presence, while tutors experience the satisfaction of helping the next generation of readers.
      • Read more about the tutor system.

    • No Pictures

      • Most literacy programs fill every screen and page with pictures and games to keep kids engaged. Pictures Are For Babies takes the opposite stance. The absence of pictures is not a gimmick. It is both a scientific and philosophical choice. It reflects the most rigorous research on reading acquisition and a respect for children as capable learners. The focus is on teaching reading and writing, one step at a time, with no distractions and no shortcuts. Apart from the cozy cover, there are no pictures. Why? Because pictures are for babies.
      • Read more about the no-pictures approach.

    • Universal Mastery

      • The most effective interventions have shown that 90 to 95 percent of children can learn to read at grade level with correct instruction. Yet year after year, literacy rates remain stagnant or decline. All the while, educators are unaware of this research, hostile to it, or incapable of integrating all of it on their own. Pictures Are For Babies is built to close that gap. It takes the most effective instructional methods and delivers them through Trane for optimized and personalized learning for all students. The goal is not remediation, but universal mastery.
      • Read more about the goal of universal mastery.