Visually Impaired Resource Guide Assistive Technology for Students who use Braille Keyboarding Skills

Keyboarding can be fun and young students are often very happy to work on the computer. By the time a student reaches Grade 7 they should, ideally be able to type 20-30 words per minute. If the student has basic typing skills it will be a lot easier to learn the more advanced features on the keyboard, and use them efficiently. When to introduce keyboarding instruction requires an individual appraisal. Students as young as Grade 1 have had success using the QWERTY keyboard. Generally short lessons (five to ten minutes) works best with young students. The time can be lengthened as progress is made. The student who uses braille can use a yping program in a taped format. However, this can be time consuming and it may be more useful to dictate letters, words or phrases for the student to type. For older students quotations or passages from plays or poetry can be typed from memory or dictated. The following method is only one of many which are available to teach keyboarding skills to students.

Prerequisites

• good finger strength
• good wrist strength
• eye hand coordination
• ability to maintain good posture
• finger dexterity - the ablility to isolate fingers
• knowledge of the alphabet

Skills

The student will be able to:

• place fingers on home row
• type individual letters on home row
• type two letter words using home row keys
• type three/five letter words using home row keys
• type keys to strengthen little finger of right hand - (o, p, ; return)
• use shift key to type capital letters
• type words with new letters and home row
• type sentences with new letters and home row
• type keys to strengthen little fingers of right hand (q)
• type keys above home row with right hand (u, o, I)
• type keys above home row with left hand (w, e, r,)
• type keys with index finger of right/left hands (t, y, g, h)
• type words using new letters from home row
• type sentences using new letters from home row
• type keys on bottom row below home row (b, n)
• type keys on bottom row below home row (c, v)
• type keys on bottom row below home row (x, m)
• type keys on bottom row below home row (z, , .)
• use the function keys. The function keys (those named F1-F12) are special keys which combine two or more key strokes into one single keystroke. For example instead of using command +h for help, in some programs just striking F1 will take the user right into the help menu. Most word processing programs will give an explanation on the use of the function keys.
• use shortcuts. Shortcuts allow the student to use less keystrokes to perform actions on the keyboard. For example, if the students have many windows open, by holding down the option and the command key and typing "w", on a Macintosh computer, all the windows will close automatically. Or, by typing command plus =, the student goes directly to the edit menu. Thus, shortcuts allow the student to get into menus and operate programs easily. The shift, the tab, the control, option and the command keys, combined with the letters on the keyboard help to eliminate individual strokes. A list of shortcuts often accompany applications.
• use numeric keypad. The numeric keypad (the keys at the far right of the keyboard) can help the student to operate programs such as OutSpoken (the talking program for Macintosh computers) or JAWS for Windows. The numbers replace the need to use the arrow keys, the return key, and the function keys. The shift, option and command keys along with the numbers are used instead.

Strategies

• Type words using spelling rules:
  • silent e rule, rat-rate, hat-hate, fat-fate, use a, i, o, u, rip-ripe, not-note, cut-cute
  • cannot end a word with U or V - must put UE and VE true, blue, give, curve,
  • the sound UV is spelled ove, love, dove, above, glove
• type sentences using words from spelling rules (eg. I love the cute dove that landed on my glove.)
• type Journal entries, poems, stories and nursery rhymes
• type pretest and post test weekly Spelling test
• type friends or local businesses phone numbers from home row
• At about the grade3/4 level the vision resource teacher and classroom teacher may wish cooperatively work with the entire class during computer keyboarding lessons.
• Accuracy and rhythm are important when a student starts to type. The teacher made wish to have the students listen to a good typist in order that they can hear what good rhythm sounds like on the keyboard.
• Type setences using words from spelling rules (eg. I love the cute dove that landed on my glove.)
• Type journal entiries, poems, stories and nursery rhymes.
• Type pretest and posttest weekly spelling tests.
• Type friends or local business phone numbers from home row.
• When the student is able to type from home row, more advanced skills can be introduced such as timed test, the use of more advanced vocabulary and typing words in categories. Emphasis can now be placed on speed.
• The letter keys along with the number key allow the student to produce documents with the word processor or the spreadsheet.

Resources

The following keyboarding programs are available for Macintosh and IBM.

Type to Learn
Sunburst Communications

Ultrakey Bytes of Learning
150 Consumers Road
Suite 203, Willowdale, Ontario M2J 1P9

Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing

All the right type

Keyboarding for Kids is not available on disk, it is a typing book.

Keyboarding For Kids
Teach your child in 10 easy fun lessons by Barbara Aliaga
SELF-COUNSEL SERIES
International Self-Counsel Press Ltd.
Editorial Office
306 West 25th Street
North Vancouver, BC V7N 2G1
CANADA

Return to Part 2 - Assistive Technology for Students who use Braille...