1. Overview
Little Words (“we,” “us,” or “our”) is an AI-powered speech practice companion designed for children with speech and language challenges. Many of our users are children under the age of 13.
We are fully committed to complying with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and take the privacy and safety of children extremely seriously. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and the rights you have as a parent or legal guardian.
We will never collect more information from a child than is reasonably necessary for the child to participate in Little Words’ speech practice activities. We do not condition a child’s participation on disclosing more personal information than is reasonably necessary.
2. Information We Collect
We collect only the minimum information necessary to provide a personalized and effective speech practice experience. The following data may be collected with verifiable parental consent:
Child’s First Name - Used to personalize the experience and address the child during sessions. We never collect last names.
Age Range - A general age bracket (e.g., 3–5, 6–8, 9–12) used to tailor exercises and difficulty levels to the child’s developmental stage.
Speech Exercise Progress - Records of completed exercises, scores, streaks, and milestones achieved within the app.
Session Summaries - Brief, anonymized summaries of each practice session including topics covered, areas of difficulty, and suggested next steps.
Voice Recordings - Audio captured during speech exercises is transcribed in real time for pronunciation analysis. Voice recordings are immediately deleted after transcription and are never stored on our servers.
3. Information We Do NOT Collect
To protect children’s privacy, we explicitly do not collect the following:
- × Last names or full names
- × Photos, videos, or profile images
- × Precise or approximate location
- × Contact lists or address books
- × Social media accounts or handles
- × School names or educational records
4. How We Use Data
All data we collect is used solely for providing and improving the Little Words experience:
Personalize Speech Exercises - Adapt content, difficulty, and topics based on the child’s age range, progress, and areas needing practice.
Track Progress for Parents - Generate progress reports and session summaries visible in the parent dashboard.
Improve Our Models - Fully anonymized and aggregated data may be used to improve the effectiveness of our AI models. No individually identifiable information is ever used for model training.
Never for Advertising - We do not use any data for advertising. We do not serve ads to children. We do not sell, rent, or share personal information with advertisers under any circumstances.
5. Data Retention
We retain data only for as long as necessary to provide our services:
⏱️ 90-Day Auto-Deletion
Conversation data, session transcripts, and detailed interaction logs are automatically and permanently deleted after 90 days.
🗑️ Voice Recordings
Voice recordings are transcribed in real time and immediately deleted. Audio data is never stored on our servers.
👤 Parental Deletion Requests
Parents may request deletion of all their child’s data at any time. Requests are processed within 48 hours, resulting in permanent, irreversible removal.
6. Third-Party Services
Little Words uses the following third-party services, each carefully vetted for privacy practices:
Anthropic Claude (AI Engine) - Powers the conversational AI. Receives only the child’s first name and session context. Anthropic does not use this data to train models.
ElevenLabs (Text-to-Speech) - Converts text responses into natural-sounding speech. Receives only text; no personal data is shared.
Deepgram (Speech-to-Text) - Transcribes voice recordings in real time. Audio is processed transiently and not stored.
Stripe (Payment Processing) - Handles billing for parent accounts only. Stripe does not receive any child data. PCI-DSS compliant.
7. Parental Rights
Under COPPA, parents and legal guardians have specific rights regarding their child’s personal information:
Review Your Child’s Data - Request a complete summary of all personal information collected from your child.
Download a Data Export - Request a portable, machine-readable export of all data, delivered within 30 days.
Delete All Child Data - Request permanent and irreversible deletion, processed within 48 hours.
Revoke Consent - Withdraw consent at any time. We will cease data collection and delete existing data.
To exercise any of these rights, contact us at support@littlewords.ai. We will verify your identity as the child’s parent or legal guardian before processing any request.
8. Data Security
We implement industry-standard measures to protect personal information:
Encryption at Rest - All stored data encrypted using AES-256. Database backups similarly encrypted.
Encryption in Transit - All data transmitted via TLS 1.3. API communications encrypted end-to-end.
Access Controls - Strict need-to-know basis with role-based access controls and multi-factor authentication.
Regular Security Audits - Internal assessments plus third-party penetration testing annually.
9. Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices:
We aim to respond to all privacy inquiries within 5 business days. Deletion requests are processed within 48 hours; data exports within 30 days.