Company History
In the early years, CNS designed and produced over 50 conferences in major U.S. cities on topics such as learning disabilities, brain organization, and intervention strategies for brain injury. Concurrently, Dr. Jeannine Herron and her staff began researching the effective use of computers as tools for learning.
In 1991, CNS established the Media Learning Center at Dominican College in San Rafael in 1991. Each year, Technology in Education courses required for the California teaching credential, have been offered in collaboration with the college's Academy for Professional Development. CNS also developed a series of summer workshops, demonstrating their vision for incorporating computers and technology into the classroom curriculum.
CNS programs have been supported by generous funding from the Walter S. Johnson, William Randolph Hearst, Joseph Drown, Valley, and John S. and James L. Knight Foundations. The CNS computer lab was established with the generous donation of 20 Macintosh computers from Apple Computer.
In 1994, CNS set up a for-profit subsidiary, Talking Fingers, Inc., and other educational materials for teaching phonics, writing, keyboarding and word processing to young children. The company's name is taken from the Apple IIe software first developed by Dr. Jeannine Herron, that was the foundation of Read, Write & Type!™.
In 1992, Leslie Grimm, creator of the best-selling Reader Rabbit software programs, joined the CNS/Talking Fingers team as designer and producer.
Over the next 5 years, Talking Fingers (CNS) tested the first version of its Read, Write & Type!™ software program with children in numerous California schools and incorporated its findings into the final version of the product. That version was released for both Macintosh and Windows platforms in 1994, under a publishing and distribution arrangement with The Learning Company, a major publisher of educational software for the home and school markets.
In 1997, Read, Write & Type!™ ranked #6 in school sales out of more than 100 of Learning Company products. Read, Write & Type!™ is currently being used in over 200 school districts by more than 10,000 children.