SBIR-STTR Award

Over 1/3rd of children, particularly children from low-income families, enter kindergarten unable to keep up with their peers.SBIR R&D will develop, test and refine an interactive, video/electronic media program to engage low-income preschoolers in highly motivating play techniques, which empirical research has shown to enhance children's cognitive, social and motor school-readiness skills (similar to techniques in Ready*Set*Read). The interactive program is designed for use in any childcare setting - family childcare centers, Head Start, homes - and will motivate children and their adult caregivers to jump out of their seats and become active participants in skills-enhancing learning games.R&D will apply versatile new digital technologies (DV video, QuickTime animation, HTML, Acrobat PDF, streaming video) to produce a low-cost, empirically-tested, replicable program that can be adapted for delivery through any current or new dissemination medium - ranging from videocassettes and online downloads of print materials at public libraries to broadcast or satellite television, Internet, online networks, CD-ROM and DVD.R&D is predicated on findings of a two-year study conducted by Drs. Jerome and Dorothy Singer, Directors, Yale University Family Television Research Center in conjunction with the applicant, Emmy Award-winner, Harvey Bellin, under a Field-Initiated Study grant from ED's Early Childhood Institute.Summary of Anticipated Results and Implications:Anticipated Results and Implications. Enhance Federal and state initiatives to improve preschool education (especially among untrained family daycare providers and childcare centers with high staff turnover) by applying digital technologies to produce low-cost, easy-to-use, empirically-tested, easily replicable programs to strengthen low-income children's school-readiness skills in any childcare setting.Potential Commercial Applications.Potential sales to federal and State agencies, public libraries, colleges teaching early childhood education, day care and Head Start centers and other organizations as intermediaries to childcare centers, family home care providers, and low-income families. Promotion and sales would be conducted by our subsidiary, Instructional Media Institute, distributors of our ED-funded video programs since 1989. Potential Phase III commercialization funding of up to $50,000 is available to Connecticut SBIR firms through Connecticut Innovations, a state-sponsored agency.

Over 1/3rd of children, particularly children from low-income families, enter kindergarten unable to keep up with their peers. SBIR R&D will develop, test and refine an interactive, video/electronic media program to engage low-income preschoolers in intrinsically-motivating learning games, which empirical research has shown to produce measurable gains in children's school-readiness skills. The program can be used by untrained parents/caregivers anytime, anyplace, in any childcare setting (families, home care, childcare centers, Head Start), and will motivate children and their caregivers to jump out of their seats and actively participate in skills-enhancing learning games. R&D will apply versatile, malleable new digital technologies (digital video, QuickTime animation, DTP, HTML, Acrobat PDF) to produce a low-cost, empirically-tested, easily replicated program that can be adapted for delivery through any current or future dissemination technology - ranging from free-loan videocassettes and printed manuals at public libraries, to Internet streaming video and downloadable PDF manuals, CD-ROM and DVD, or TV broadcasts. R&D is predicated on findings of a two-year study conducted by the applicant, Emmy Award winner, Harvey Bellin, and Drs. Jerome and Dorothy Singer, Directors, Yale University Family TV Research Center, under a Field-Initiated Study grant from ED's Early Childhood Institute. Summary of Anticipated Results and Implications: Enhance Federal and state initiatives to improve preschool education (especially among untrained parents and home care providers and childcare centers with high staff turnover) by applying digital technologies to produce a low-cost, easy-to-use, empirically-tested, replicable program to strengthen low-income children's school-readiness skills in my childcare setting. Potential sales to Federal and state agencies, public libraries, colleges teaching early childhood education, day care and Head Start centers, and organizations that serve low-income communities. Promotion and sales would be conducted by our subsidiary, Instructional Media Institute, distributors of our ED-funded video programs since 1989, and through commercial strategic partners. Potential Phase III commercialization funding of up to $50,000 is available to Connecticut SBIR firms through Connecticut Innovations, a state-sponsored agency.