Leander Kahney
Amid reports that computer-literate kids are learning to type before they learn to write, software publisher Knowledge Adventure plans to release new multimedia software for nine- month-old babies at the end of October.
Jump Ahead Baby is at the forefront of a growing market for ”lapware” – software aimed at children under three that is explored from a parent’s lap.
In the United States, growth in lapware has been rapid, jumping from a couple of titles last year to at least six this year. The titles include BabyWow from BowWow House, of San Jos; a pair of Fisher-Price Little People titles from Davidson & Associates of Torrance, California; and Baby-Rom from Byron Preiss Multimedia in New York, which was released in 1996.
Jump Ahead Baby requires no computer skills whatsoever – it responds to random pounding on the keyboard. It features eight different activities, including counting, hide and seek, singing along and puzzles.
”A lot of parents are afraid of introducing their babies to this high- tech world too young,” says Verna Harvey, the producer at Torrance-based Knowledge Adventure. ”But our goal was to get toddlers more comfortable with PCs, not to train them to be programmers by age three.”
The software was designed with a developmental psychologist but, says Harvey, it makes no claims to target developmental milestones. It gives parents a learning tool while encouraging them to interact with their child. As for corrupting innocence, in Harvey’s experience it is difficult to keep babies away from computers.
Jacquie Disney, director of the Parents Information Network, an independent consumer watchdog based in London, says there was outrage a couple of years ago when the first toddler software was introduced to the United Kingdom, but it blew over pretty quickly.
”I would never advise anyone to go out and buy a computer for their baby,” says Disney. ”But it’s a fact that they are increasingly used in homes. All babies want to participate in everything and baby software allows them to do it without getting frustrated.”
Professor Colin Harrison in the department of literacy studies in education at the University of Nottingham says the three-way interaction between parent, baby and computer provides as rich a learning environment as traditional story books.
”[Toddlers] get a sense of storytelling, the activities are interesting, and it’s interactive,” says Harrison, who plays with toddler software with his two-year-old son. ”If it’s fun, something good has got to be happening.”