Map element read by screen readers

I have been trying out the <map> element as a way of organising sets 
of links into groups. What I have found is that the screen reader I 
am using reads out "start of map section navigation with 0 items" . - 
when there is a group of several links within the map tags.

Does anyone use this, and can you write the code so that it will tell 
you how many links atre in the group, rather than saying "0" ?

Does anyone know of sites that use the <map> element to group links?

The html I was using is like this:

<map title="section navigation">
<A HREF="page1.htm">Topic 1</A> |
<A HREF="page2.htm">Topic 2</A> |
<A HREF="page3.htm">Topic 3</A> |
<A HREF="page4.htm">Topic 4</A> |
<A HREF="page5.htm">Topic 5</A>
</map>

Cheers all,