Features Set:  

Talking Fingers includes typing instruction with their lessons. The program divides the lessons into progressive steps: Letters and their sounds are introduced, then the letters are associated with words and pictures, then simple words are introduced, then simple sentences and finally, students practice reading comprehension.

Vexor, an animated computer villain steals letters to prevent the lesson from progressing to the next level. Students must work through several exercises to get the letters back. Two “Helping Hands,” Lefty and Rightway provide help and encouragement throughout the lessons.

Halfway through a lesson we were prompted to type simple words and sentences using the letters introduced at the beginning. We feel not enough time was spent reinforcing the newly learned words, so students may have difficulty entering the correct responses in some lessons. Additionally, the sentence flashed too rapidly making it difficult to remember what to type.

Ease of Use:  

With each lesson, Read, Write & Type includes a graphic showing the approximate location of keys on a keyboard. The “Helping Hands” show students how to use the keyboard and the program includes a user guide. However, the lessons we reviewed didn’t provide much instruction, so an adult should guide students through the first few lessons.

Ease of Installation/Setup:  

You can order Read, Write & Type through the Talking Fingers website and receive it through the mail. The program works on Mac, Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000 and XP and will only take a few minutes to install from a CD. An option to download the program from the Talking Fingers website would be helpful.

Help/Support:  

The Talking Fingers website has a list of FAQs and you can contact customer service through an email form. They should get back to you within 24 hours.

Read, Write & Type is a good interactive Learn to Read program with 40 lessons that cover letters, letter sounds, words and sentences. However, when students begin the program, they may need some help working through the lessons.