Interactive Pre-School Toy for Early Reading Skill

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A global, technical economy requires increasingly higher literacy skills, yet large numbers of American children still struggle to become competent readers, resulting in high costs for health, unemployment and social services. The broad goal of this project is to help children improve reading and writing skills. The specific aims are to design, develop, test, and evaluate a low-cost, research-based, highly motivating interactive toy that will teach early reading skills to large numbers of 3-5 year olds. With video-game technology, children will learn about letters and words and select them by name and by sound simply by [placing the front wheel of their tricycle on a stand] and "driving" a (stationary) tricycle down a virtual road, turning the handlebars of the tricycle to the left or right to collect target letters. This team has previously produced two SBIR-funded, research-based reading products. The Phase 1 project will develop a prototype tricycle game and four-prototype tricycle [stands]. The research will examine feasibility and whether this technological instruction is effective in teaching pre-school children the content of the prototype game. By preparing children for reading, this product could help fulfill our national aspirations toward a more literate, better employed, healthier, and more productive society.