Reading, reshaped
Help readers see the meaning in every sentence.
The meaning in every sentence lies in the relationships between words. Traditional text leaves that inner logic hidden, requiring readers to work it out alone. Cascade explicitly reveals the relationships in any text, improving comprehension inside the tools and applications readers already use.
It’s Text’s Turn
Every notation system reveals relationships. Except text.
Every field that handles complex information has found a way to show how its parts relate. Text hasn’t. Until now.
Music
A note is one part of a melody. The staff shows how it relates to notes around it.
Mathematics
An equation is a set of relationships. Notation makes them visible.
Programming
Syntax doesn’t just format code. It clarifies logical relationships.
Maps
A map is packed with visual cues as to how locations connect and relate.
A sentence is a set of relationships between subject and predicate, actor and receiver, and the modifiers that provide context and detail. Like a music staff or math formula, Cascade makes those relationships visible. And when they are visible, the path to meaning becomes clear.
Text
↓
Structure
↓
Relationships
↓
Meaning
Getting from Text to Meaning has always required a leap. Cascade shortens the distance.
Infrastructure, not an app
Cascade makes the relationships in text easier to perceive.
Cascade doesn’t rewrite. It doesn’t summarize. It runs inside your product, parsing each sentence and surfacing how its parts relate. Reading feels less like work and more like understanding.
Try Cascade on your own text
Why embed Cascade
Easier reading is a product advantage.
Our research measures what Cascade does for readers. Here’s what those results mean for the products they use.
Readers understand more.
Peer-reviewed studies show readers grasp the same words better, with gains of up to 11% for non-native readers.
Readers choose it.
4 in 5 readers with ADHD or dyslexia prefer Cascade. Your product offers a reading experience competitors don’t.
Easier to read. More gets read.
Less friction in every sentence means fewer reasons to stop before the end.
Your content does more.
Nothing rewritten or simplified. Everything you’ve already published becomes easier to understand and reaches new audiences.
The science
Greater understanding. Less effort. More confidence.
Cascade is built on four decades of research into how our minds process language. Multiple peer-reviewed studies show it helps readers understand the same words with less effort. The benefits hold across ages, languages, and reading levels, including readers who’ve always found reading difficult.
4 in 5
adults with ADHD or dyslexia preferred Cascade Format over traditional text
★★★★
(out of four)
assessment from an independent Johns Hopkins review.
5
languages live today — English, French, Spanish, German, and Italian
13
patents issued protecting Cascade’s text reshaping technology
Who’s it for
One foundation. Many possibilities.
The technology stays the same. What changes is who you’re helping—and what they need to accomplish.
Produce
Help AI-generated content, search results, and documentation become easier to understand, not just easier to produce.
Read
Help readers stay immersed by reducing the friction that stands between a reader and an author’s intent.
Learn
Support every learner with a reading experience built around confidence and understanding, and backed by peer-reviewed research.
Support
Help employees navigate training, compliance, and internal knowledge with less effort and greater understanding. So they read it, not past it.
From a reader
I have ADHD, so a wall of text is usually where I lose the thread — I’d read the same paragraph three times, keep none of it, and end up skimming. With Cascade the shaped lines give my eyes a track to follow, so I stop bouncing out of the sentence. I finished a long article last week and realized I’d actually read it, start to end. That feeling — of actually getting it — is something I don’t take for granted.
Reads with ADHD · business professional
Built to integrate
We fit around you.
Whether delivered through APIs, pre-formatted content, or embedded directly into your product, Cascade adapts to the implementation that best fits your platform and the experience you want to create for your readers.
Why we built Cascade
Reading is how human beings share what they know and feel and imagine.
We think that deserves to work as well as it possibly can. Cascade is our contribution.
Michael Gorman
Co-founder
Mark Lacek
Co-founder
Julie Van Dyke, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist
Jon Moog
Chief Technology Officer
Jack Dempsey, Ph.D.
VP of Research
Consider what's possible when reading itself evolves.
Good to know
Common questions
What does Cascade do to the text I read?
Cascade reshapes the structure of a sentence using line breaks and indentation to align subjects and verbs and show how clauses and phrases relate to the words they modify. It doesn’t rewrite, edit, or summarize a single word; it changes how a sentence is presented, not what it says. Think of it like a pair of eyeglasses that make written language easier to see clearly.
Is this the same as a "reader mode" or a simplification tool?
No. Reader modes strip away formatting, and simplification tools rewrite content to make it easier. Cascade doesn’t touch the words at all. It only adds structure.
Who is Cascade built for?
Cascade was built as a reading layer to support all readers, regardless of age, reading ability, or native language. We partner with platforms and publishers to bring this technology anywhere and everywhere people read, and we provide tools directly on our website so individual readers, educators, and parents can start using Cascade right away.
What languages does Cascade support?
English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish today, with Mandarin in active development. (Character and usage limits vary by product. See the full FAQ.)
Does Cascade collect or store my data?
Cascade is privacy-first by design. It processes text structure only and does not store the underlying text. On the personal-data side, it collects only what’s needed to operate, like basic usage behavior, plus an email address only if you contact the team or sign up for updates, and it does not read form or password input or sell user data.
Is there research behind Cascade Format?
Cascade is backed by multiple studies across age groups and reading profiles, published in peer-reviewed journals. See the Research Portfolio.
Can I try Cascade before signing up for anything?
Yes. The “See Cascade” page lets anyone paste in real text and watch it reshape instantly, right in the browser. There is no signup or install required.
Where can I see it in action before deciding whether it's worth pursuing?
The “See Cascade” page lets anyone paste in real text and watch it reshape instantly, with no signup or install required, so you can see exactly what reading would look like in Cascade Format.