RIDE INTO THE WILD WEST WITH DAVIDSON'S KID PHONICS 2, WHERE CHILDREN BUILD
READING SKILLS THROUGH PHONIC GAMES, SONGS AND GREAT CHARACTERS

AT E3, DAVIDSON ANNOUNCES THE NEXT IN THE BEST-SELLING, AWARD-WINNING KID
PHONICS SERIES

LOS ANGELES, MAY 16, 1996 -- Ride into the wild west with Davidson's Kid
Phonics 2, new multimedia software announced today by Davidson &
Associates, Inc. (Nasdaq: DAVD), where youngsters ages 6 to 9 learn and
expand their reading skills through phonics. Kid Phonics 2 follows the
best-selling, award-winning Kid Phonics, which focuses on beginning
reading for younger children ages 4 to 7.

Kid Phonics 2 stars the memorable characters of Mumpher, Tweed, Miggles and
Boogie, who sing, dance and rhyme their way through delightful phonic
games. These lively characters, lots of cowboy tunes, and a Western theme
-- including activities at the Word Rodeo, Silent Letter Stagecoach and
Dance Hall, to name a few -- will encourage children to sound out words,
connect sounds to clusters of letters, build those clusters into words,
and then use those words in sentences. Children will encounter over 1,000
vocabulary-building words throughout the Kid Phonics 2 activities.

"Kid Phonics 2 is the perfect follow-on to Kid Phonics 1," said Jan
Davidson, president and founder of Davidson & Associates, Inc. "The
usability testing, children's feedback and teacher reactions on the
original Kid Phonics told us that these phonic activities help children
connect letters with sounds, enabling them to lift words off the page."

The Windows 95/Windows 3.1/Macintosh CD-ROM software is expected to be
available at most major computer stores, mass-merchant chains and toy
stores nationwide this summer for approximately $35.

PHONICS IS KEY TO READING

Phonics has recently regained recognition in schools, the press and recent
research studies as an important factor in developing strong reading
skills. For example, a task force report conducted by the state of
California states that, "Reading is so important that the recognition of
letters and their sounds should be taught beginning in preschool. Language
and reading should take up as much as a third of the day in kindergarten
and as much as half of the day through third grade..."*

Kid Phonics 2 was designed specifically by educators to help young readers
achieve these goals:

* Sound out over 350 words
* Differentiate among letter sounds
* Understand the uses of prefixes and suffixes
* Identify silent letters and their effect on words
* Connect sounds to clusters of letters, and build clusters of
  letters into words
* Use words in context sentences

THE WORD RODEO, THE SILENT LETTER STAGECOACH AND MORE

Kid Phonics 2 offers seven engaging phonics activities, set in the Western
outpost of Phonics Flats. Children meet each of the six unique characters
-- Mumpher, Tweed, Miggles, Boogie, Rhyma and Baby Boogie -- and hear each
one's toe-tapping music video before embarking on their phonic journey to
the:

WORD BUILDER RANCH

Youngsters select any one of over 200 items in the general store to take to
the Word Builder Ranch. Here they "build" words by joining phonetic
sounds, for example joining "b," "u," "m," "ble," "b" and "ee" to form
"bumblebee."

SENTENCE BUILDER CORRAL

Once children have learned a word in the Word Builder Ranch, they can
create a context for it by creating a sentence with that word. The Kid
Phonics 2 characters help youngsters create both sensible and silly
sentences, and the object represented by the word animates.

JAILHOUSE DECODER

The desperadoes in need of phonic rehabilitation are behind bars; only by
"decoding" words can children release these characters from their cells.
Youngsters rearrange phonemic segments to form complete, accurately
spelled words. As children combine long and short vowels, consonant blends
and silent letters, they learn to sound out words and build their
vocabulary.

WORD RODEO

Children join the Kid Phonics 2 characters in the rodeo ring, where bucking
broncos display words on their saddles. Children focus on prefixes (adding
"pre" to "view" for "preview") and suffixes (finishing words with "ly,"
"less" or "ing"), and on compound words (combining "snow" and "flake").

SILENT LETTER STAGECOACH

The stagecoach is being pursued by bandits! To elude the bad guys, children
learn to identify silent letters, understand how silent letters produce
new words (a silent "e" changes "cut" to "cute") and expand their
vocabulary with words containing silent letters ("autumn," "calf" and
"knee").

NEWSPAPER OFFICE

A printing press is ready for children in the newspaper office, where they
can insert the sentences created in the Sentence Builder Corral into the
latest edition of the "Wild West Times." The child's name and clip art of
their favorite Kid Phonics 2 characters can be added, and newspaper pages
printed for family and friends.

DANCE HALL

Once children have completed all of the other activities, they can join
Mumpher, Tweed, Miggles, Boogie, Rhyma and Baby Boogie for a spin in the
Dance Hall. These lovable characters perform an entertaining music video,
and children can sing along with the lyrics displayed above the stage.

A Control Panel is available for each of these areas, so that parents can
select specific phonic skill areas to focus on for each child. In
addition, parents can receive a progress report, showing a child's
achievements and completion for each activity.

Davidson & Associates, Inc. is a leading publisher and distributor of
multimedia educational and entertainment software for both the home and
school markets. The company is internationally renowned for its
award-winning Blaster series, which has sold over 4 million copies; other
best-selling education and entertainment titles; and multimedia software
and technology from divisions including Blizzard Entertainment, Maverick
Software, FUNNYBONE Interactive, First Byte and Learningways. Based in
Torrance, Calif., Davidson & Associates was founded in 1982 by educator
Dr. Jan Davidson.
 
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