On June 9, 2025, on the main stage at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, a text-to-speech app called Speechify accepted an Apple Design Award in the inclusivity category. Apple called it “a critical resource that helps people live their lives.” For the roughly one in five kids who have dyslexia, that recognition matters. But if you’re a parent, it also raises a fair question: can an app like this teach your child to read? The honest answer is no—and understanding why will help you build a plan that actually works.
What did Apple actually recognize?
At WWDC 2025 in June, Apple named Speechify a winner of the 2025 Apple Design Awards in the inclusivity category. Speechify accepted the award on the WWDC main stage on June 9, 2025, and Apple described the app as “a critical resource that helps people live their lives” (Apple Newsroom, June 2025).
What does Speechify do? It converts written text—websites, documents, PDFs, even scans—into spoken audio, with hundreds of voices and support for more than 50 languages. The story behind it is telling: founder and CEO Cliff Weitzman built Speechify to manage his own dyslexia while he was a student at Brown University. He needed a way to get through his reading, so he made one.
What is assistive technology, really?
Assistive technology is any tool—like text-to-speech, which reads written words aloud, or speech-to-text, which turns spoken words into typed text—that helps a person access information they would otherwise struggle to reach.
For a child with dyslexia, the barrier isn’t understanding ideas. Dyslexia affects about 20% of people—one in five—and it is brain-based and unrelated to intelligence. A dyslexic child can grasp a complex story or a science concept just fine; the trouble is decoding the printed words on the page. AI reading tools like Speechify step in at exactly that gap. They read the words so your child can spend their energy on thinking, not deciphering.
How can these tools help a child with dyslexia today?
When a child can’t read a worksheet, a chapter book, or a website on their own, two things tend to happen: they miss the content, and they get frustrated. Assistive technology addresses both at once. Text-to-speech, speech-to-text and dictation, and AI reading tools increasingly help people with dyslexia access written content that would otherwise be locked away.
That access is not a small thing. It lets a child keep up with grade-level ideas while their reading skills are still catching up. It protects their confidence. And it reduces the daily grind of fighting with text. Used well, a tool like Speechify is a bridge that keeps your child in the conversation.
Can an app teach my child to read?
Here is the part that gets lost in the headlines: assistive technology is a powerful accommodation, but it does not replace teaching a child to read. An app that reads text aloud gives your child access to content—it does not build the underlying skill of reading itself.
To actually learn to read, a dyslexic child needs structured-literacy instruction: explicit, systematic, and multisensory teaching grounded in approaches like Orton-Gillingham and the Science of Reading. This is how a child learns to connect sounds to letters, blend them, and decode words on their own. No app does that work for them. If text-to-speech becomes the only plan, the reading gap doesn’t close—it just gets covered up.
The strongest approach uses both: real reading instruction to build the skill, and assistive tech as a support and a bridge while that skill develops.
How do I put both pieces together for my child?
Think of it as two jobs running side by side. The first job is teaching—daily, explicit, structured-literacy lessons that build decoding skills step by step. The second is access—using tools like Speechify so your child can still read for pleasure, finish a homework reading, or follow along in class while the first job is underway. One builds the skill; the other keeps your child from falling behind in the meantime.
That first job is exactly what the Apricot Tree Academy dyslexia curriculum is built to do. It gives parents of kids ages 5–10 an explicit, systematic, multisensory path to teach real reading at home—the foundation an app can’t provide. Pair that instruction with assistive tech as a bridge, and you’ve got a plan that respects both your child’s present and their future. You can find the curriculum on Amazon to get started.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did Apple recognize Speechify for in 2025?
At WWDC 2025 in June, Apple named Speechify a winner of the 2025 Apple Design Awards in the inclusivity category. Speechify accepted the award on the WWDC main stage on June 9, 2025, and Apple described it as “a critical resource that helps people live their lives.”
What does Speechify do?
Speechify is a text-to-speech app that converts written text—websites, documents, PDFs, and scans—into spoken audio. It offers hundreds of voices and supports more than 50 languages. Its founder and CEO, Cliff Weitzman, built it to manage his own dyslexia as a student at Brown University.
Can a text-to-speech app teach my child to read?
No. Text-to-speech is an accommodation that gives your child access to written content, but it does not build the underlying skill of reading. To learn to read, a child with dyslexia needs structured-literacy instruction—explicit, systematic, and multisensory teaching grounded in approaches like Orton-Gillingham and the Science of Reading.
Should my child use assistive technology at all, then?
Yes. Assistive technology is a powerful support. It gives your child access to grade-level content, reduces daily frustration, and protects their confidence while their reading skills catch up. The best plan uses both real reading instruction and assistive tech as a bridge—not one in place of the other.
How common is dyslexia?
Dyslexia affects about 20% of people—roughly one in five. It is brain-based and unrelated to intelligence. A child with dyslexia can understand complex ideas perfectly well; the difficulty is in decoding printed words, which is exactly the skill that structured-literacy instruction is designed to build.