Every once in a while you try something with skepticism and are pleasantly surprised. For whatever reason, I am always a little skeptical of anything that is computer based. I guess I am kind of old-fashioned when it comes to schooling. However, I was given the opportunity to review Read, Write and Type from Talking Fingers Inc., So I decided to give it a try.
My boys – David (11) and Daniel (5) – both love to use the computer for school work and play, so it was not hard to convince them to give it a try. Here’s the interesting thing, I thought this was mainly a typing program, but before long I realized my boys were actually reinforcing/learning phonetic skills. David has some dysgraphia, and we have had some advances this year with it, due to a variety of things we are using with him, but Daniel is still pretty early in this language acquisition phase. Both boys found the program fun, and both are learning.
Since I have two students using it now, each at different levels, it’s great that the program tracks each student separately. Each logs in on any internet-ready computer, with his user ID (I also have a parent ID so I can see progress) and gets to work. It tracks their progress and has little awards and fun built in along the way.
I must admit when I saw the graphics used in the program, I was not terribly impressed, but my boys absolutely LOVE them. They think the characters are funny. They even talk about them over dinner. (Side note: This is why I don’t create children’s games. I never understand what kind of things they love.)
I have exerted zero effort other than installing the program and the children are learning. This is a huge benefit to this program. I have a lot of things where I must be hands-on with all the students right now, This is one where they can progress each day without me. Also, I never have to make them practice the lessons. They look forward to it, and even ask to do it on their days off.
Here is how it works. The letters are presented as sounds, not just as letters for tying. For example- one time through the typing program it teaches the sound for the letter e as “eh”, then drills the student on typing “e” for the sound “eh”. The next time through, it taught the long “e” sound for e. The sounds are presented as parts of words, making up a story. This makes them immediately meaningful.
It also focused on punctuation- “Every sentence ends with a period” and so my boys have learned that ” every sentence and name starts with a capital letter.” I love that both boys are doing the program and discuss the rules they are learning. At the same time as they are learning writing, reading, spelling punctuation and grammar, they are also learning to touch type – using proper finger placement which will increase their computer work speed for the rest of their lives. David (11) reports it is helping him with Minecraft because spelling and typing quickly are important.
Here is what the website explains about this product:
Read, Write & Type (RWT), is a 40-level software adventure that provides instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, spelling, reading, writing, typing, and word processing. The RWT Learning System provides systematic instruction in all 40 phonemes while children sound-out and spell hundreds of words, phrases, and engaging stories.
Even though the review period has ended for this product, the boys will continue using it until they have mastered it entirely. I am so glad I had the chance to let my boys use this. The one drawback to this program is that it is entirely web-based, so if you have spotty internet, this may not be the best choice, and if you do not have heavy filtering in place on your computer you should only allow the children to use the computer under your direct supervision. 
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