Reading fluency is difficult for students who have learning differences. Dyslexia is just one type of learning difference characterized by difficulties with accurate and fluent word recognition, poor spelling, and decoding abilities. Research has shown that 1 out of 5 students in America have some form of dyslexia, with only 80% of these students never receiving a diagnosis or finding proper therapies.
Unfortunately, the educational system does not provide the necessary tools for these students to succeed. Consequently, families find themselves responsible for mitigating the learning deficiencies outside school. Finding support can be strenuous for several reasons. These include a lack of reading knowledge, obtaining a proper diagnosis, and limited time and financial resources for specialized tutors. As a result, these students will face significant academic and life struggles.
Meet LUCA, a personalized reading solution that uses artificial intelligence and speech recognition to provide customized reading programs to help students improve their reading skills. Through local educational partnerships and a world-class team of computer scientists at Carnegie Mellon University, the Luca reading platform will bring transformative changes to the lives of thousands of students and their families in the Pittsburgh region.
Unlike generations past, we know students do not have to accept these learning difficulties. Research has shown with proper reading intervention and easy access to online tools, remarkable advancements can be made. With the help of schools and families, we can fundamentally improve the lives of these student’s lives and their impact on the region.
Pittsburgh business entrepreneur that has successfully led small and large companies, from ideation to nationwide expansion in the real estate and healthcare industries. Building the LUCA reading platform was personally motivated by witnessing his son struggle with dyslexia. With this understanding of the challenges that students and families experience every day, he wants to use this advanced technology to make impactful differences in their lives. Through his decades of business experience, and a passion for helping children, Scott will serve as the company’s founder and CEO.
Curious Learner!” She completed her master’s degree in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University with a concentration in Machine Learning, Systems, Algorithms. As a “curious learner,” her passion is to help people worldwide through building tools that benefit society. Through her love and dedication help people, she will serve as the company’s senior developer and chief problem solver.
Associate Research Professor at the Language Technologies Institute School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. Her focus on speech recognition and artificial intelligence has enabled greater automation and created more powerful scalable search strategies for voice processing systems.
Distinguished Career Professor in the Institute for Software Research and the Language Technologies Institute of the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. His impressive career spans private and academic institutions in intellectual property and computer science. Currently, he is the director of the Masters of Science in Artificial Intelligence and Innovation degree program at CMU and previously ran the Master of Science in eBusiness Technology at CMU for 20 years.
Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Dragon Systems- developed key concepts that have become the standard for high-performance speech recognition that is still used today. Currently serves as a distinguished scholar and entrepreneur in residence at the University of Central Florida College of Engineering and Computer Science along with Co-Founder and CEO of D5AI, which focuses on the significant unsolved challenges of AI-based deep learning.
Professor at the Language Technologies Institute School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. His focus has been in the areas of speech recognition, audio processing, neural networks, and Privacy/Security for voice processing.
Chief Learning Officer at Provident Charter School, specializes in helping students with dyslexia. She is a special educator with extensive reading and writing remediation background. She has served as an educational researcher, public school teacher, learning center director, special education advocate, and educational consultant.
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Our methods are grounded in research completed by some leading experts in dyslexia and reading.
Physician-Scientist, Sally Shaywitz, Physician-Scientist and co-founder and co-director of Yale University’s Center for Dyslexia and Creativity. Her work and writings illustrated through books such as “Overcoming Dyslexia” has laid the framework for a simplistic understanding of the connection of phonological processing to reading fluency and how varying processing challenges create nuances in evaluation that most assessments do not currently capture.
Shaywitz SE, Fletcher JM, Holahan JM, Shneider AE, Marchione KE, Stuebing KK, Francis DJ, Pugh KR, Shaywitz BA. Persistence of dyslexia: the Connecticut Longitudinal Study at adolescence. Pediatrics. 1999 Dec;104(6):1351-9
Clemens, N. H., Simmons, D., Simmons, L. E., Wang, H., & Kwok, O. M. (2017). The prevalence of reading fluency and vocabulary difficulties among adolescents struggling with reading comprehension. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 35(8), 785-798.
Germano, G. D., Reilhac, C., Capellini, S. A., & Valdois, S. (2014). The phonological and visual basis of developmental dyslexia in Brazilian Portuguese reading children. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 1169.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01169
Schulte-Körne G. (2010). The prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of dyslexia. Deutsches Arzteblatt international, 107(41), 718–27. https://doi.org/10.3238/arztebl.2010.0718
Stecanella, Bruno. (2019). Understanding TF-ID: A Simple Introduction. MonkeyLearn.
https://monkeylearn.com/blog/what-is-tf-idf/#:~:text=TF%2DIDF%20