Read, Write & Type!™

Read, Write & Type!™ Learning System is a software program with supporting materials designed to teach beginning reading skills by emphasizing writing as a way to learn to read. The program targets six- to nine-year-old students who are just beginning to read and for students who are struggling readers and writers. The program consists of 40 lessons that explicitly teach one of the 40 English phonemes through game-like computer activities with animated characters. Students work in groups of three for four 50-minute sessions per week from October through May. A trained teacher devotes approximately half of each session to direct instruction leading students in warm-up activities outlined in the teacher's manual, and for the remainder of the session students work individually on the computer practicing the same skills. The program includes an activity book with corresponding lessons, Power Fountain activity for practice, and E-mail Tower for simulated e-mail writing practice. Teachers received training for the intervention prior to implementation.