This excellent CD-Rom is well named - a collection of pictures, symbols, sound samples and speech files which could truly be called an encyclopaedia of sound and vision. It is especially suitable for younger primary children and those with special needs.

It has eight main sections: Food; History; Languages; Natural World; Objects; People; Places and Symbols. Every entry consists of a coloured picture (except in “symbols”, which are monochrome line drawings) with a single word or short phrase title and an ear icon, which will “speak” the text.

Some also have a second ear associated with the picture. This will produce sampled sound, for example, each bird illustrated has its song stored too. There is also a set of “noises”, some of which are more accurate than others. The “burp” sounds far more like a pneumatic drill; “explode” is pathetic; “kiss” is decidedly theatrical; while “spit” is disgustingly accurate.

The “Languages” section is excellent. French, German, Spanish and Welsh are included. There are lots of entries for each, categorised for ease of learning. The pronunciation may be fine but the voices lack expression, as they seem to throughout Treasure Chest - one of its few disappointments. It can export its pictures very simply into desktop publishing packages or image processors.

Pre- and early readers could very usefully browse through this program, gaining word recognition and experience of text-to-image association as they go. Treasure Chest should be high on the wish list of early years teachers.

Northwest Semerc - stands SN12a, SN13