Posted on: Friday, August 15, 2003

Web game prepares kids for reading

Associated Press

Want to get small children excited about reading? Make a game of it.

The National Center for Learning Disabilities developed an interactive Web game designed to help preschool children build the literacy skills they'll need to become successful readers.

There also is a screening tool to assess a child's reading readiness.

The game features Gus, a character children will recognize from the PBS show "Between the Lions."

As Gus plays with his new pals — Inky the Octopus, who shows there are many ways of learning, Stella the Starfish, who waves when children provide a correct answer, and Sharky the Shark, who gobbles up wrong answers — children will be asked to identify letters, sounds and rhyming words — the basic building blocks of reading.

"Gus and Inky's Underwater Adventures" is for all children, not only those who have been identified as having learning disabilities.

"NCLD decided to make early literacy a key priority because most children with learning disabilities have problems reading," the center's executive director, James H. Wendorf, says in a statement.

If parents and educators can identify children who do have difficulty reading when the kids are very young, there is still time to get the extra help to ensure the children will grow up to be successful readers, he says.

Gus was selected as the main character for the game because fans of the TV show already know he is a struggling reader. He also encourages children who can read to help others.