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This is Fred Ball for Zions Bank, speaking on business.
With more and more kids using computers at an early age in their lives, many, particularly teachers, worry about the effect of computers on handwriting skills. Some even lament that handwriting will soon become a lost art. Not if David Sharp of Salt Lake City can help it.
When not working for a local dental manufacturing company, David manages his company Startwrite, Inc., which designs and markets software to help children learn handwriting skills. David came up with the idea when trying to teach his daughter how to write. David formed letters out of dots and then had his daughter connect the dots in the appropriate direction to make the letters. The process took David quite some time to make the letters, so he asked his daughter's teachers if any software existed that did the same thing. The teachers all reported they did it the same way David did, by hand. So, David decided to design software that would print the dotted letters.
After raising the necessary capital, David and Wayne Wyle, the programmer, created Startwrite. The software allows users to type in any letter, phrase or sentence and then prints it out in dots that can be traced by children learning to write. As soon as the software became available, teachers, homeschoolers and parents fell in love with it. Now, entire school districts across the nation use Startwrite. David tells me he gets e-mails from happy customers all the time, including one customer who used the software to teach mentally handicapped children how to write.
The latest version of Startwrite teaches children to write in eight different basic fonts, including four cursive fonts. Startwrite also includes math fonts, Spanish characters, guide arrows and numerous other features. Letters can also be printed up to two inches high without increasing the size of the dots.
Free trial versions are available at startwrite.com, spelled s-t-a-r-t-w-r-i-t-e.
For Zions Bank, I'm Fred Ball. I'm speaking on business.
