Welcome to our Family, below you will read about my Mother Dr. Marie LeDoux, and the birth of Play 'n Talk. We have used Play 'n Talk with our two sons, and plan on using it with little Amiee as soon as she is old enough. Jean Marc is now excelling in his 5^th grade scholastics. Christian, a kindergarten student is now reading and spelling at 2^nd grade level. They both are advanced in reading and spelling.

      The new version of Play 'n Talk was truly a family affair! Our entire family voted on themes, colors, and fun extras to make Play 'n Talk more fun, and even easier to use!
Play 'n Talk is not a money making venture, but a labor of love. We all wish to carry on with my Mother's mission, to Help children all over the world to learn how to read.

Warmly,

The Le Doux Family

Dr. Marie LeDoux, author and founder of Play 'N Talk, is herself an American success story. Born on an Iowa farm of European parentage, she graduated from high school as valedictorian at the age of 16. She completed a two-year college business course in one year at the age of 17 and launched a varied business career during the depression. At the age of thirty-five, Dr. LeDoux was president of 26 privately owned corporations. Her frustration with the current school methods began when she realized that her business managers were misreading simple written instructions.

       She soon discovered the prestigious Isabelle Buckley School in Beverly Hills, California. This school, which was founded in 1933, had taken the best aspects from every phonics program in the world, and developed their own method of teaching reading through phonics. The program was designed to teach children in a unique, systematic, and logical sequence. This enabled the students to learn and apply the concepts of phonics as opposed to memorizing certain word patterns which then inhibited the student from moving on to more complicated words and concepts.

       Dr. LeDoux decided to give the school a try and enrolled her eldest son Mark, in the first grade class. By the end of his first grade year without prompting, Mark picked up a copy of the trade journal from the coffee table and started reading an article aloud. Marie looked at him in excitement, she was thoroughly impressed.

In early November 1961, she scheduled a meeting with the principal to make the Buckley School’s phonics system available to the public. Over the next ten years Dr. LeDoux recorded the lessons and perfected the program.

Marie and her sons Bruce (right), Mark (left)

       Dr. LeDoux passed away in December of 2001 at the age of 85.  Her legacy of love and sharing will live on through the thousands of families who have become a part of the Play 'N Talk family.