Customer Reviews

Franklin KID-1240 Children's Talking Dictionary and Spell Corrector

5 star:		(47)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

My daughter is almost 9 and still not reading (dyslexia characteristics and auditory processing issues). The Franklin Speaking Interactive Childrens Dictionary has given her the confidence to look up words on her own and then read them. She loves to type out sentences and then hits the speak button and it'll read the whole sentence for her.

I think this would be perfect for any special needs or non-verbal child at a very good price.

After reading reviews I decided to purchase this product for our 9 year old son who is increasingly asking what certain words mean while he is reading. It soon became clear that this is not something for a 9 year old but would be perfect for our daughter who is 6. The dictionary has a VERY limited number of words and for a 9 year old it simply is insufficient.

However, for a 6 year old the device is very helpful, speaking words clearly and offering definitions. Furthermore, both my wife and I have an accent and this product offers a good way to have the kids hear a word pronounced correctly (robot accent wins against Romanian accent). Thus I would recommend this product for young kids but not beyond age 9 (unless used to help with things such as dyslexia).

The reason I gave it 3 stars is the flimsiness of this device. I thought that after 20 years in the business of building handhelds you can offer a device that is sturdy, intuitive and ergonomic. Franklin hasn't managed any of these three in this product.

This is wonderful, I put my sons' spelling words in this, I have to get two more as I have four boys. It is wonderful at the definitions for 6-10 years old. This device has word scramble game, missing letter, tic tac toe and a few others. It shows you how to practice writing words in manuscript and cursive.

This is our second electronic dictionary. I got it for my sister, who is an adult with Down syndrome. Her first was an older version of the same product, and it lasted for a good 4 years of constant use. She takes it everywhere and uses it every day. The last one finally broke after being dropped, and not for the first time. I really think I got my moneys worth! She finds it easy to use, and she enjoys playing hangman. The vocabulary is limited; I've tried to look up many words that are not included. For a child or a handicapped person like my sister, tho, I think it would work fine.

I teach preschool through 3rd grade in a small public school. My students are often frustrated when trying to use the spellchecking function of the word processor on our computers. It often does not recognize their phonetic spellings. But this product is designed to do just that, and the speaking feature tells them which is the correct word, without any adult intervention. It definitely fills a gap for young writers. I have also recommended it to parents of kids who need extra spelling practice. They can input weekly spelling lists or any other words, and their children can practice them painlessly with the games. It is very affordable for both the school and parents.

I bought this for my son who has mild dyslexia and has difficulty with many words. He has been allowed to use it in class in hopes his work will be easier to read!! Well, his class mates seem to really like it and some play the games on it. Most of them are asking him to borrow it to avoid having to walk over and get a dictionary! He is in fifth grade and it is working well for him right now, especially since his spelling is poor enough that he at times needs to use the speaking function to differentiate words. I do see that it will need to be replaced by an adult version in a few years. I looked up a word from one of my books and it was not in it's database. And sometimes,with his poor spelling, the phonics is stumped and can't decipher the word correctly. But overall it is holding up well, has a nice cover that has not yet broken, the speak function is helpful and the games are a hit. He says it has "tons" of words so it doesn't seem to be too young for his grade level. I would buy this product again I just wish I would have gotten it for him a year or 2 ago to get full use out of it.

Each of my children has used these since they came out about 3 years ago. They work great and the speaking function really is helpful. Also, the cursive writing feature is a life saver when teaching cursive writing!!!

My 4th grader uses this to help with spelling/word meanings. Promotes independence. I don't hear "Mom, how do you spell.....etc...." as much! Great for prewriting/writing.

we can't find lots of new vocabularies from the dictionery although it's fun for kid to learn by speaking the word out. The only thing I liked it best is that it provides handwriting letters for kids to learn. I suggest that kids under 8 can buy it.

I bought this device because my daughter's school specializing in learning disabilities recommended it. It's deffinitely for the younger crowd since it doesn't have a lot of "big" words. It has a choppy computer voice-which is fine since my kids have not complained about it even though I don't care for it much. You can put any made up spelling word into it and it will give you choices of words to pick from that will be spoken to you. I found one word it didn't recognize- cake. It found "cakes", but not "cake" when I put it in as my son spelled it-kack. If your kid has spelling problems I highly recommend this product, especially if you are tired of spelling everything for them.