LD Resources

© 1997 Miriam Struck, MA, OTR/L
mstruck2@aol.com

This article first appeared in Advance for Occupational Therapists in the May, 1988 issue. I have the author’s permission to re-publish it here.

I am often asked for recommendations for software to teach keyboarding skills or when to start. The questions seem to center on the what to use rather than the why. The reason to have basic keyboarding skills is to have a means of communication and basic computer operating skills. Literacy skills are necessary for participation in our society. Keyboarding skills can be an effective tool to both teach literacy skills and to learn it. It is important to differentiate between touch typing and keyboarding. These terms are used interchangeably but mean different things. Those of you who took typing in high school back in the days of typewriters may remember the emphasis on not looking at the keyboard, but keeping your eyes on the text you were copying, and finger placement on the home row keys. This was called touch typing . Business classes did not place much emphasis on composing text on the typewriter. Keyboarding skills for operating a computer keyboard and can include touch typing but for most of our clients with disabilities, it means functional use and does not have to be as sophisticated and refined. Keyboarding requires attention, motivation, motor speed and accuracy, visual discrimination and processing, and basic academic skills in letter recognition, potential for or basic level of spelling skills, and potential or basic level of written language skills.

In my experience, motivation is often the key to success. The individual who is excited about using the keyboard to generate text will become a successful user of the computer. These are the same skills needed for handwriting. From a motor standpoint, the two require different movement patterns. Keyboarding may simplify the motor process for some individuals making it easier to generate text. Functional keyboarding can take the form of one hand one finger, two hands one finger or more, or adaptations such as a mouth stick, head pointer, and software modifications. Keyboarding can be taught from a mechanical basis or literacy basis. It is the latter, in my experience, that works best.

Using the keyboard becomes more meaningful when it is tied to making words. While traditional drill and practice materials using home row keys eventually moves on to words, it takes a long time in the view of many students with disabilities I have worked with over the years.

I typically evaluate students for keyboarding skills by calling out letters and observing their response. Can they find the key by scanning? Do they have some notion where the key is? Which hand and finger(s) did they tend to use? I also ask students to type the alphabet from memory and then some words at their reading level. As students are able to generate text that is meaningful to them and relates to the curriculum, the proficiency and ease of keyboarding increases.

I tend to use written materials that can be modified easily:

Keytime Skillbuilder
4516 NE 54th St.
Seattle, WA 98105

Herzog System
1433 E.Broadway
Tucson, AZ 85719

Students begin learning to type by copying words on cards. Every attempt is made to use spelling words or words at their reading level. From single words, students move on to sentences and paragraphs again using curriculum materials as much as possible. Carry over of skills to all situations and teaming with teachers is so important. It may mean some changes attitudes and beliefs to assure that the student gets to use the skill within the context of his her academic day.

It is expected that the student will hand write during certain tasks. Why can’t he or she exchange handwriting for keyboarding? Sometimes the student is limited in using the computer by the way it is used in the classroom. Some teachers still view the computer as a copier of text. So the student may be expected to hand write a draft, check the spelling using the dictionary and red pen to correct, edit, and then type it on a computer. For students with disabilities, it is critical to eliminate all these steps and go straight to composing on the computer. Having functional keyboarding skills will allow students to show what they know.