Whenver adults decide that they know best how to teach children difficult subjects, things often go very, very wrong. How can you take the medical and life questions surrounding and issue as serious as cancer and explore those questions with children using a “space adventure” as a vehicle? Would it be too cute? Would the attention given to simplification result in watering down important information? Would it really answer children's questions? In a desire to be fair and unprejudiced, I sought the help of an expert in the field, someone with high computer expertise, a deep belief in the direct and the concrete, and a phobic response to the overly cute: a seven-year-old boy.
The disc is easy to load and navigate, and the text and directions clearly written. After getting over his initial disappointment that this was not a “shoot the aliens” program, my expert navigated quickly through the different sections with ease. Both of us found the Testing Center (descriptions of different medical procedures) and the Fill and Fly (information on blood and its componenets) enthralling. We also very much enjoyed the sections that contain actual videos of children with leukemia discussing various aspects of the disease and its treatment.
The disc is rated for four-year-olds up, with access designed to give three alternate pathways, four to six, seven and older, and adult. The user is allowed to choose one of three tracks, on for four-to-six-year-olds that requires no reading, seven and up, and adult. The adult sections contain bibliographies, lists of Internet links, and pharmaceutical information. If you wish to change tracks, the program does require you to back out. But since eash section is successive (a seven-year-old gets access to the nonreading games, the adult section gives you access to everything), this is a very minor point. The best content of the disc is not available to nonreading children, and I wonder how much useful information a four-year-old would get out of this. But that caveat aside, any school-age child will certainly get access to what they need.
Graphics are clear and amusing. The approach to delivering hard information is very simple and direct. Of particular interest to me was a section called “Help Yourself,” discussing topics such as communicating with other patients, food issues, and pain control. The disc is interactive, allowing children to play games, do puzzles, write in a journal, develop a treatment schedule, etc. While there are comparable discs for other conditions, and there is an increasing number of web sites for children with cancers, this is the only product that covers this particular illness so well.
The Bottom Line: Kidz with Leukemia is a fine product, well conceived and creatively executed. Hospital libraries and resource centers serving pediatric clientele should purchase it, as should public libraries. Beyond that, its bulk-pricing algorithms are clearly intended to make it possible for pediatric cancer centers to distribute this products widely to patients, a noteworthy and commendable practice. Highly recommended.