Talking Fingers Inc. ~ a TOS review

Never in my wildest dreams did I think little Miss J would go ga-ga over Talking Fingers Inc. This has been an amazing review for us to be a part of and Read, Write & Type has been a wonderful learning opportunity.

Talking Fingers Inc. is a company that desires to help children excel in reading, writing, and thinking. The idea that they can use these skills to change the world around them, earn a living, and contribute to bettering the world is central to the mission of the company. Based on the simple concept that writing is talking, the company created a program to teach children to connect sounds to letters and using those letters to “talk” with a pencil and paper or keyboard.

With this program, you get more than just typing instruction. Yes, the student will learn to type and be continuously encouraged to do so with correct posture and position. But, the student is also learning so much more. Phonics, letters, consonant blends, sentences, grammar, spelling, and more are seamlessly woven into Read, Write & Type so that without even knowing it, the student is learning multiple concepts, stretching the brain more and more. The program has also proven to be very effective for second language learners. So versatile! What a fantastic program!

I’ll tell you a secret – I almost didn’t even ask Miss J if she wanted to try this. I didn’t think she would like it and I didn’t think it would be a good fit. I almost just said “no thanks.” I am so glad that I didn’t listen to myself! We signed up for the free trial and Miss J loved it. I figured that learning to type now would be a good thing so we’d take a chance with it. I had no idea just how much benefit would come from this program and just a few minutes a day. This program is so much more than typing.

We started out with the program as soon as we received the email with the login information. Since this is an online subscription, you will want to have a computer for typing (not a tablet) and an internet connection. It is not a download, though they do have CDs available for older computer systems.

Once we logged in, Miss J did not want to stop. At all! She became completely involved in the learning situation that was set before her. In a nutshell, there are storytellers who are waiting to tell their stories. They live in two houses, which are the two halves of the keyboard. Just as they are ready to tell their stories, a mean ‘ol computer virus named Vexor steals the letters and you have to retrieve them, saving the storytellers from Vexor one at a time. To give you some assistance, there are two Helping Hands: Lefty and Rightway. These two help guide the student through the games and activities, building sounds and sentences and stories as they work to save each of the 40 letter and sound combos.

At the end of each successful level (a set of 4 letters or letter combos saved), the student receives a certificate. This is brightly colored, personalized, and so much fun for the student to receive. We printed these in black-and-white (I cannot seem to remember to go get colored ink!) and Miss J is so proud of each one of them. She has completed 7 levels at this point with only 3 more to go.

Why is this program so successful? I am certain there is a lot of brain research that would tell you the scientific parts of it. From my perspective, the program is successful because it engages the brain with visual, verbal, tactile, and oral uses. The student sees the sounds, words, or sentences. The student hears them being read to them. The student repeats it and then types it. All these go together to engage the student fully in the learning. Add to it fun colors, exciting stories, and funny characters and you get something that just fits.

She is having such fun with this program. She has made tremendous jumps in her reading and writing and spelling abilities since we started this program. I am sure that some of it is to be attributed to Read, Write & Type. Not all, since she was due for a big learning jump, but I know for a fact that Talking Fingers Inc. has helped her a lot. If allowed, she would sit at this program all day long. It is a hit!

At Home.

Find Talking Fingers Inc. on social media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TalkingFingers/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/talkingfingersvideo
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ReadWriteType/with_replies @readwritetype

Read additional reviews on how others have used this program at the Review Crew by clicking below.