The problem is, with the loss of deep reading, the process of critical thinking goes with it! Shifts from rational, long-form books to short bursts of texts, TikTok, and Instagram videos have led to children and adults who have no patience with ideas that are complex or require more than a half minute of reading.

Teaching baloney detection to children (and adults!) is very important in today’s social, political, and AI internet environment. It is crucial in recognizing misinformation and disinformation.

The Speech Banana is a graph that describes frequency and intensity levels of letter sounds in typical human conversation. It is shaped like a banana. If you are teaching consonant sounds, and you have a student who seems to have difficulty learning particular sounds, you will do the child a huge favor in looking at the Speech Banana graph.