Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 15, 1995 TAG: 9505170003
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ANDY GRIESER FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
As soon as they get to school, children are put in front of computers. As if that's not early enough, high-tech toy manufacturers are building toy laptops, also known as ``electronic learning aids,'' for kids barely out of diapers.
A handful of manufacturers are producing more and newer kiddie computers. But do these toys really prepare the youngest generation for the information age?
Christi Hutto, an occupational therapist at Cook-Fort Worth Children's Medical Center, said such toys are beneficial when they teach hand-eye coordination or cause and effect.
``You hit the button and something happens,'' she said.
But of course there are other ways and countless toys to develop the same skills, such as the Etch-A-Sketch.
``You're moving a control that moves something on the screen,'' Hutto said.
Still, high-tech-minded parents want something more powerful for the budding rocket scientist. The small pre-computers (at $35 to $90) are much less expensive than a real computer and more portable.
``They can be taken anywhere: Grandma's, next door, to a friend's house, on a vacation,'' said Jamie Roth, public relations representative for Tiger Electronics, which recently bought the Texas Instruments line of electronic learning aids. ``They're small and inexpensive compared to a computer.''
The toys also have another benefit, said Roth: They keep sticky little hands off the grown-ups' $2,000-plus personal computers.
Recently, toys from two of the largest lines were selected and turned over to a group of experts for review: a combined-ages class for 4- and 5-year-olds at the downtown Fort Worth YMCA.
The Step One Computer (Team Concepts, $89.99) is a brightly colored laptop with a membrane-style keyboard (a flat sheet of plastic with buttons in a standard keyboard layout and an LCD display). For ages 4-7, Step One's display and game play rely heavily on graphics. It also talks - something Legos still don't do.
The Smart Start Advantage (VTECH, $34.99) is smaller and less colorful, but its age range, 5-8, is a little more advanced. Instead of graphics, the Smart Start concentrates on teaching words, letters and numbers with games like Complete the Word and Plurals; Addition and Subtraction; and the old standby, Hangman. The Smart Start has a flat membrane-style keyboard and, although 14 games are pre-loaded, can use expansion cartridges. The ELA does not talk, but does play music.
The teachers and children initially had a hard time getting started on the Smart Start. Many of the youngest ones had not completely learned their letters and numbers.
In the game Plurals, a word like ``book'' is displayed. A blinking cursor underneath the word prompts children to type ``books,'' at which time a song is played in a simplistic mix of beeps and boops.
The Step One was much more popular with the children and teachers.
``This one is more for their age range (than the Smart Start),'' Jones explained. The Step One's use of pictures and its speaking capabilities helped guide preschoolers still unfamiliar with letters and numbers.
In the Guess the Letter game, for example, an animated man in a gymnast's outfit hops across the screen. Pressing the J - for ``jump'' - brings up the flashing letter J in both capital and lowercase, as well as vocal congratulations from the toy. Pressing any other letter triggers a voice encouraging the child to try again. When the game ends, a voice pronounces the child ``excellent'' or ``fabulous'' based on the number of letters correctly identified.
Both toys held the children's attention, no small feat when dealing with 4- and 5-year-olds. Both brought squeals of delight and ``gimme-gimme'' from our group, which means that even if they don't necessarily prepare them for cyberspace, these can be pretty cool toys.
by CNB