page_title: Speak & Spell (toy)
section_title: Speak and Read line
hierarchical_section_title: Speak & Spell (toy) / Variants / Speak and Read line
caption_attribution_description: English: TI Speak &amp; Read (1980)
context_page_description: The Speak & Spell line is a series of electronic hand-held child computers by Texas Instruments that consisted of a TMC0280 linear predictive coding speech synthesizer, a keyboard, and a receptor slot to receive one of a collection of ROM game library modules. The first Speak & Spell was introduced at the summer Consumer Electronics Show in June 1978, making it one of the earliest handheld electronic devices with a visual display to use interchangeable game cartridges. The company Basic Fun brought the classic speak and spell back in 2019 although with some minor changes
  The Speak & Spell was named an IEEE Milestone in 2009.
context_section_description: The Speak & Read was released in 1980 with a shape identical to the Speak & Spell but with different game features and a different color scheme. Where the American Speak & Spell had been colored red with yellow and orange accents, the American Speak & Read was yellow with blue and green accents. Game cartridges for the Speak & Read were identical in shape to those of the main Speak & Spell line, and they could be physically inserted into units from the wrong line; however, they did not function except in members of their own line. The Speak & Read was designed to focus on reading comprehension in children of ages 4–8 with a library of over 250 basic words.
  The Speak & Read was very minutely redesigned in 1986, under the same name, with the new version representing nothing more substantial than a redesign of the faceplate graphics. In 1988 the Super Speak & Read was released as a major redesign to feature a suitcase-like flip-open appearance. Cartridges were redesigned to be thinner and of a different shape, bearing some resemblance to the cartridges of TI's Touch & Discover line. Additionally, the keyboard was removed completely and a matrix of membrane buttons took its place similarly to the position sensitive "keyboard" of the Touch & Discover consoles. Each cartridge came with a work-booklet that was laid out in an open position in the center of the Super Speak & Read. As questions were asked, the player pressed the appropriate portion of the work-booklet to depress the membrane button beneath. This was the last member of the Speak & Read line under this name; however, the Ready... Set... Read! (sharing a highly similar design layout) and later Magic Reading Desk (featuring a modified Ready... Set... Read! layout) are considered the Speak & Read's spiritual successors. Both Ready... Set... Read! and Magic Reading Desk cartridges are identical in design to the Super Speak & Read's cartridges.
caption: Speak & Read
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