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Children use print-to-speech reading software

Ray Kurzweil, Books and essays, 1999, published 1999-01

Preschool and elementary school children routinely read at their intellectual level using print-to-speech reading software until their reading skill level catches up.

Source

Verdict

missTwo blind graders agree (D7, rule D16). Not in the audit sample (D11).

Grader A: miss

Print-to-speech reading software (for example Kurzweil 3000) was used in 2009 mainly by students with learning disabilities and visual impairments. Preschool and elementary children in general did not routinely read with it, and they did not by 2014.

Test: At least 20% of preschool and elementary children routinely using print-to-speech software: under 5% in 2009 and 2014.

Kurzweil Educational Systems (Wikipedia) (retrieved 2026-09): Kurzweil 1000 and 3000 target blind and visually impaired users and students with dyslexia and other learning differences, not general readers.

Grader B: miss

Print-to-speech reading software was used mainly by students with reading disabilities, not routinely by preschool and elementary children.

Test: Share test: routine use by general young students <5% by 2014.

Wikipedia: Kurzweil Educational Systems (accessed 2026-09-28): Kurzweil 3000 (company from 1996) reads scanned and digital text aloud for users with dyslexia and learning differences.

All captured fields

rank: 40
kind: decade_prediction
section: Education
subject: Children use print-to-speech reading software
target year: 2009
timing: in
position: Chapter 9, "2009"; item Education 14 in Kurzweil 2010, p. 40
confidence: high
note: Wording as reproduced by the author in "How My Predictions Are Faring" (2010); book page not given there. Subject label is the essay's own item heading.