eSCORE.com Inks Deals With Special Education Toy and Content Providers

Partnerships Expand Online Resources for Parents of Kids With Special Needs and Learning Disabilities

NEW YORK - November 30, 1999 -- eSCORE.com, the first educational site for parents, today announced that it signed partnership agreements with Dragonfly Toys, Inc. and LD OnLine to provide parents with a full range of toys and content for their children with special needs and learning disabilities. These new partnerships will complement eSCORE.com's already expansive online inventory of 300 learning and skill evaluations, 25,000 book titles, 5,000 music titles, 5,000 video titles, 7,000 toy products and over 1,000 educational software products.

As the first affiliate of Dragonfly Toys, Inc. (www.dragonflytoys.com), eSCORE.com will now make it easy for parents to browse and purchase toys online from a collection of 1,200 products developed specifically for kids with special needs. Kids with hearing or sight loss, latex allergies, or limited mobility will find no barriers at Dragonfly. Dragonfly Toys, Inc. caters to the unique needs and abilities of all children and families by providing "universal access" to the play experience. The company is based in Winnipeg, Canada.

"Today's announcement is great news for parents of kids with special needs," said Renata Bursten, president of Dragonfly Toys, Inc. "As a new partner with eSCORE.com, Dragonfly Toys will make it possible for parents to spend valuable time playing with their children and spend less time hunting for appropriate materials."

In another deal, eSCORE.com and LD OnLine (http://www.LDonline.org) will partner to create tailored content for the eSCORE.com site. This content will provide parents with useful information, such as common signs of learning disabilities (LD), the basic facts about LD, and what parents can do if their child has LD. In addition, LD OnLine and eSCORE.com will work to give parents specific guidance to promote the learning process for a child with LD. LD OnLine is a service of The Learning Project at WETA, the public broadcasting station in Washington, D.C.

"We're pleased to partner with eScore.com to provide parents with reliable information about learning disabilities," said Candace Cortiella, project director at LD OnLine. "Parents need ready access to information and resources about learning disabilities and we commend eScore.com's commitment to meet that need."

eSCORE.com, launching in January, is the first site to help parents answer the question "what's best for my child's education and development?" Using a unique combination of evaluations, assessments and parental input, eSCORE.com creates a deep, evolving profile of a child's needs and interests, and the site's team of educational experts recommends customized activities, services and products to help parents best support their child's particular learning needs. Parents can also turn to eSCORE.com for local educational event listings, child development workshops, and consultations with education specialists.

"eSCORE.com is committed to giving parents all the resources they need to get deeply involved in their kids' education," said Andrew Kaplan, president of eSCORE.com. "Our partnerships with Dragonfly Toys and LD OnLine mean that we can now offer parents top-notch toys and information for their children who have very special educational needs."

eSCORE.com, a division of Score Learning Corporation, is based on the philosophy that that every child can develop a love of learning and succeed educationally through a system that pinpoints and addresses their unique skills and interests. eSCORE.com's other content partners include Harvard Project Zero and the Brazelton Institute. The eSCORE Store offers the most comprehensive online inventory of children's educational products available, with more than 50,000 products, toys and games, all carefully selected to help children realize their learning potential. Suppliers include Imagine the Challenge, Educator's Resource, and Baker & Taylor. eSCORE.com has initial funding of $25 million.

Score Learning Corporation's other subsidiaries are SCORE! Educational Centers, after-school learning centers for kids in grades K-9; and, SCORE! Prep, serving high school students with one-on-one, in-home tutoring for standardized tests and academic subjects. 

Press Contact: pubrel@kaplan.com, (212) 492-5965

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