1. A computer-implemented method for enabling a child to learn to read, comprising: maintaining a data store with information that characterizes the reading capabilities of children; receiving a stream of sensor data from one or more input devices, said sensor data representing the speech of a person speaking, said person being either an adult first person, or a child second person; identifying a meaningful utterance from the stream of sensor data; determining the identity of the child; representing the utterance in written text using words and grammar appropriate to the reading level of the child, based on information stored in the data store; and providing the output text to a display device for presentation to the child.