Mindplay
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Company History

      
1981 Judith Bliss founded and solely funded Methods and Solutions, Inc. as a development company for several educational publishers
1983 First corporate office opened in Woburn, MA for ongoing development for several educational publishers
1986 Methods and Solutions Inc. added (DBA) MindPlay to encompass self-published line of MindPlay software. With the goal of helping her learning disabled son, Bliss introduced her first six self published MindPlay educational software games: Math Magic™ , Race the Clock™, Cat n’ Mouse™, Picture Perfect™, Bake n’ Taste™, and Dyno-Quest™ and later over 40 other programs
1989 Methods and Solutions, Inc. corporate office relocated to Tucson, Arizona for ongoing MindPlay educational software development and publishing
1995 Judith Bliss began a quest for an effective reading system. Bliss met Tucson-based reading specialist and speech pathologist Jim Larrabee. MindPlay decided to create a software program modeling Larrabee’s successful reading instruction methods
1998 MindPlay Lifelong Learning Center™ opened in Tucson, AZ to measure student success using the program in a “real world” learning environment during initial program development
1999 MindPlay launched Larrabee’s Bridge to Adult Literacy™
1999 Florence State Prison (FSP), one of 13 prison facilities operated by the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) successfully implemented MindPlay Larrabee’s Bridge to Adult Literacy™ with inmates
2000 Company revised product name to MindPlay Larrabee’s Bridge to Literacy™ reflecting program suitability for ages 7 to adult, incorporated several software updates
2000 U of A doctoral candidate J. Crews conducted first independent research and pilot study of the program at Myers-Ganoung Elementary School in Tucson, Arizona
2000 Company launched a free reading assessment test online at www.test4free.com, empowering parents to monitor their own child’s reading abilities
2000 Company released My Reading Coach™ updated with new content based on field input about the program
2003 Company updated and expanded product to include lessons taught in the MindPlay Lifelong Learning Center ™including grammar as a tool for improving systactic processing, reading comprehension and Embedded Teacher Intelligence™ for release as My Reading Coach™ Gold
2003 MindPlay's Lifelong Learning Center™ closed as My Reading Coach™ Gold minimized the need for ongoing teacher assistance and guidance
2003 Company assigned exclusive territories to sales representatives
2004 U of A independent research study of original Larrabee’s Bridge to Literacy program was published
2004 Company officially released RAPS™ (Reading Analysis and Prescription System) product
2005 Company signed agreement for international distribution of MindPlay products in Europe and Canada
2005 Company released updated version of RAPS™ (Reading Analysis and Prescription System)
2006 MindPlay released My Reading Coach Platinum™ based on field input. The new release incorporated updated graphic and grammar content, expanded reporting features, and integrated RAPS™ test components
2006 Company introduced Spanish instruction module as and add-on feature for My Reading Coach Platinum™
2006 MindPlay's FLRT™ (Fluent Reading Trainer) product in beta testing for future release
2006 MindPlay's newest website is published
2007 FLRT™ – a fluent reading trainer is released
2008 FLRT™ newest version is released
2009 RAPS 360™ released. This diagnostic assessment system will analyze a student's reading skills in minutes and provide a prescription to address the student's specific needs.
2009 FLRT™ newest version is released with almost 700 stories and additional reports.
      
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