Re: re:big keyboards

March 9, 2006

In a message dated 3/9/2006 10:30:00 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,

gldcst@... writes:

We've had 2 schools of thought- go with the ABC board as she's learned the

abc order and the other would confuse her or use the typical board cause

sooner or later she'd have to transfer to that anyway

Did you know there is a switch on the bigkeys so that you can use it in the

qwerty format? The only thing is that they key labels remains the same but

that can easily be fixed by relabeling them. :-) When Trisha first started

using the mouse she was very uncoordinated. We did a lot of hand over hand

with her and we used large cursors so she could see how when she moved the

mouse how it moved on screen. If you are using a windows based program I

highly

recommend checking out the accessibility portion of windows. Have you

thought about using a switch? The school gave up on teaching Trisha to use

the

mouse, so we worked at home and now she is a wiz with the mouse. :-) The

other thing I would recommend is have you thought about a touch screen? You

can use the on-screen keyboard and you can use the mouse together with the

touch screen so that if she is off you can help her. Any kids paint program

(very basic ones) would be a good way to help teach using the mouse since you

can draw a bright colored shape and have her practice getting the cursor in the

shape and then praise or clap hands or whatever you do to show how well she

did. We started with a very large shape and worked our way down in size.

:-)

Carol

Trishasmom

She isn't Typical, She's Trisha!

March 9, 2006

Just wanted to say we had intellikeys for my daughter and it's great

if you have someone who knows the programs or is at least computer

savvy...It is a great company but boy did I have a tough time...for

me it really wasn't worth it...never got it really working at home

right...so just make sure to check it out really good and have

someone close by who is knowledgeable...the newer programs are

suppose to be easier.

trish

Trish

> Again thanks for the speedy responses. Carol, thanks for all

> your info...on anemia and the keyboard. I'm checking out the

> BigKeys and the Intellikeys (thanks leah). definitely cannot

> use a mouse yet but we we're thinking because she can put out

> letter tiles to spell words (just beginning to copy from cards-some

> independently) that maybe she'd be interested in typing. She seems

> absolutely fascinated by the fact that she can hit a letter and see

> it show up on the screen (huge font of course). Perhaps this will

> transfer to " mouse " amazement too but she really is uncoordinated

> with it.

> We've had 2 schools of thought- go with the ABC board as she's

> learned the abc order and the other would confuse her or use the

> typical board cause sooner or later she'd have to transfer to that

> anyway. I'm not so sure that's going to be the case however.

> Laurie have you gone to starfall.com ? that's a cool one I want her

> to be able to play with.

> Looks like it's time to spend more money. There's a big

> keyboard at Hatch.com which is only $60 but it's like a membrane

> covered board, not actual keys.

>

> Thanks y'all

> Sherry

>

March 9, 2006

In a message dated 3/10/2006 5:47:24 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,

annettemaree123@... writes:

Anyway, I would suggest trying a mouse or keyboard first, not a touchscreen.

I would say it would depend on your child. For some people the touch screen

opens the way to use computers that a keyboard might never do. As for my

child I am not worried about using a " regular " keyboard because her big keys

can be taken with her and used on other computers any time, we bring her

keyboard in to use on my computer and then take it back to hers. There is a

switch

on the back of the big keys that switches to regular style keyboard the only

difference is that the key labels remain the same. I have very high

expectations for my child but being a keyboardist is not one of them. We want

her

to be able to use the keys to enter her name and other information but then

again, using a mouse on the on screen keyboard would do the same. As I said

for us when she learned to use the mouse she doesn't use the touch screen as

much. We have the mouse, touch screen and big keys all on her computer and she

mainly uses her mouse. The object for us getting the big keys in ABC order

is so that she can find the letters in her name and be able to type them in.

For us this is a better way to go and as you can see we have worked on

several ways for her to input information into the computer. What works for

one

may not work for others and while yes our kids do have hard time with changes

we worked at home with them all instead of limiting her to just one. While

we were working on just getting her used to watching the screen to see where

the mouse was moving the cursor we also had the touch screen where she could

play her games until her control of the mouse got better, where she couldn't

see the letters on the regular keyboard on the big keys the 1 " made a big

difference visually for her and the abc order helped her to locate the keys

better and with less frustration.

A little hint, if our children were to get a job using computers it would be

not problem to put a alternative keyboard onto just about any computer they

may be working with. For me because I am so used to the regular keyboard the

keys feel giant in my hands but none-the-less I can use it once I flip the

switch on the back to change it to qwerty style. That is what is so great

about this list is the feedback and sharing we all get from each other. :-)

Carol

Trishasmom

She isn't Typical, She's Trisha!

March 9, 2006

We found that Seth has no desire to try to dangel the trac ball. Crayola

makes a large, colorful one. Seth always wanted to dangle the mouse, but since

you don't *move* the trac ball at all, it hasn't been an issue. It's been a

good starting point for him. Time to move on to a keyboard now.

Gail :-)

Anyway, I would suggest trying a mouse or keyboard first, not a

touchscreen.

I would say it would depend on your child. For some people the touch

screen

opens the way to use computers that a keyboard might never do. As for my

child I am not worried about using a " regular " keyboard because her big

keys

can be taken with her and used on other computers any time, we bring her

keyboard in to use on my computer and then take it back to hers.

March 9, 2006

In a message dated 3/10/2006 7:23:49 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,

smilinggail@... writes:

Crayola

makes a large, colorful one. Seth always wanted to dangle the mouse, but

since

you don't *move* the trac ball

Trisha never had a problem dangling the mouse but she did have a problem

with the cord getting tangled up in her way. Solution: she now has a wireless

mouse. :-)

Carol

Trishasmom

She isn't Typical, She's Trisha!

March 10, 2006

Hi to the BIG KEYS MOTHER

just a quick word about the " TOUCH SCREEN " . Em was taught to use a touch

screen first. She could manage it pretty well. BUT she had a heap of trouble

changing to a mouse. She didn't seem to realise that moving / clicking the

mouse works the cursor on the screen. 3 years later I think she is starting to

understand but we now have issues with banging the mouse, and lack of control

(type of scribbling). And she also broke the computer by putting 3 discs in the

drive (who knew that they would go inside the computer), then she managed to

pull the drive right out. So we are having a break from computer work at the

moment!

Anyway, I would suggest trying a mouse or keyboard first, not a touchscreen.

And my only thought about the keyboard set up is that a regular style may be

best as it is ofter difficult to change in the future once one way is learnt.

And that way regular computers may be used somewhere down the line.

good luck, Annette (aussie mum to Em 7yrs, and the boys 6 and 4)

Csvillars@... wrote: