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Avid adult readers are not necessarily formed
from prodigies who read Dickens before the age of
six. Adults who love reading most often were kids
who read a lot as children. Reading doesn't have to
be limited to the classics to have an effect. Comic
books, cereal boxes, and now, software, reinforce the
pleasures of reading. Vendors of educational software
for children have been quick to notice the need to
make reading fun. Gone are the dull days of Dick and
Jane. Elmo, Madeline, and a herd of other popular
characters guide children through games. The range
of available software, from those geared toward
teaching the basic building blocks of phonics and
character recognition to programs designed to increase
reading comprehension, can help your child get the most
out of reading.
See Johnny read
A number of programs introduce younger children (ages 3 - 7) to the basic concepts of reading:
phonics, letter and letter-sound recognition, and word
recognition. According to SuperKids Educational
Software Review (www.superkids.com), one of the best
programs for the rudimentary skills is Elmo's
Reading Preschool & Kindergarten from Creative
Wonders. This two-disk set stars Elmo, the red, furry
Sesame Street character, as well as a number of
other Muppet favorites. All of the different activities,
including puzzles, rhyming, and word-sound
matching adjust automatically to one of three levels of
difficulty. The second disk of the set is dedicated to
an interactive story. The child may have the story
read aloud or interact with it by clicking on images.
Each click of the mouse changes the way the story
unfolds. The story is different every time, even if the
reader clicks on the same images, so the child remains
interested.
Blue's ABC Time Activities from Humongous Entertainment also uses interactive stories to
emphasize the joy of reading. The software features Blue, the
silent, spotted dog from Nickelodeon's preschool
television program "Blue's Clues." In order to
complete each story, the child must finish a number of
different activities, including word puzzles,
alphabet mazes, rhymes and learning word sounds. The
educational value of this software is more oriented
toward increasing motivation, although all the
activities contribute to expanding skills in phonics and
character recognition. Its pace is relaxed, allowing
your child to move forward without frustration.
For a more skill-focused approach, check out
Leap into Phonics by Bright Start Inc. As the name
implies, it provides a solid foundation in phonics
using a board game analogy. While the software lacks
some of the fancy graphics and familiar characters of
other programs, it teaches phonics step-by-step with
clear demonstrations and drills, and it assumes no
previous knowledge of reading skills. If your child is easily
distracted or needs extra help with reading skills,
this may be just the program he needs.
If, however, your child is fascinated and
inspired by technology, you may want to experiment
with programs using speech recognition technology.
Let's Go Read! An Island Adventure, from Edmark,
leads up the list of the Best Software for Children Ages
6 to 9 on www.zdnet.com. It comes with optional speech recognition technology and a microphone
attached to a child-sized baseball cap.
Speech-recognition enables the computer to provide
immediate feedback on the user's responses. The software
centers around a story involving Robby Raccoon,
Emily Squirrel and their adventures on Letter Island.
Educationally, it relies on both phonics and
whole-language reading instruction, including tasks such
as mimicking and identifying letter sounds,
discriminating between different letters, and matching sounds
to letters, as well as extensive repetition and
drills. Speech-recognition remains somewhat tricky, so
this software is definitely not recommended for
children with any unusual speech characteristics.
Not everything has changed with computers: children still adore Winnie the Pooh. Ready to Read
with Pooh, from Disney, provides a familiar cast of
characters for children and parents alike. Through a
variety of activities, the user learns and practices
word, image, and sound associations, character
recognition and rhyming, and begins to address topics such
as spelling, sentence structure, and reading
comprehension. In a few years, (quite a few) they may
graduate to The Tao of Pooh.
Madeline does phonics
In between now and then, Madeline can help with practicing phonics, sight word recognition, and
reading comprehension in the Madeline:
1st & 2nd Grade Reading Deluxe two-disk set from Creative
Wonders. The Madeline software adds a new twist. It lets
users experiment with English, French, and Spanish
when matching word labels to pictures and using the
dictionary. The alphabetizing countries exercise
continues the multinational experience. The software
also addresses sentence structure when creating
"Wacky News" and reading comprehension in the Mini
Mysteries.
Reading and learning to read are complex processes requiring the use and coordination of a
large set of skills. Computer software adds an
enormous benefit in instructing children to read by
offering greater flexibility in teaching methods.
Computers can present materials in many ways and can be
customized to individual learning styles and levels of
difficulty. Practice, motivation, and support are essential to reading success for students. With
their colorful graphics and friendly characters involving
interactive stories and new technologies such as speech-recognition, reading software entertains
children while they learn and practice an invaluable,
lifelong skill.
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