Earlier this year we were able to review Read, Write & Type Read, Write & Type Talking Fingers Inc. So when we had the opportunity to review their newest online program, Talking Shapes: A Supplemental Curriculum for Early Literacy, I was excited to give it a try.
Talking Shapes was developed by neurologist, Dr. Jeannine Herron, for children 4 to 6. It is written in a storybook format featuring two sisters, Pat and Nat; who lived, “long, long ago.” Pictures within the story have the letters embedded in them to help children learn to listen for the letter sounds and recognize their shapes.
There are seven stories within Talking Shapes which introduce the 40 phonemes (sounds) in the English language. The first story introduces the children to Pat and Nat who invented the alphabet. They tell the children that when they talk each time they move their lips a new sound is made. They then go on to teach the child to identify those different sounds.
The children learn to identify three letter words and the sounds that make them up. There are different games for the children to play that reinforce what the child is learning.
There are games for the child to trace the letters on the screen. This would be much easier if you have a touch screen computer, especially for younger children. The mouse can be used but that seems to take a little more dexterity than children who are four might have. Quinton got along okay with this but it still wasn’t super easy for him.
We ran into some issues with Talking Shapes: initially, we experienced extremely long load times and then for a while we weren’t able to load it at all. I have been in contact with tech support at Talking Fingers and they are looking into the problem. I don’t know whether it was because we were trying to use it with Chromebooks or if it was an issue on their end, but so far it hasn’t been resolved. I hope that we can get it figured out because I think the program has a lot of good possibilities.
We liked Talking Fingers so much and I really think once the bugs are worked out of Talking Shapes that we will enjoy Talking Shapes just as much.
Connect with Talking Fingers, Inc. on these Social Media Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TalkingFingers/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/talkingfingersvideo
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ReadWriteType/with_replies
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Blessings,
Jennifer
