Schools

Improving mouse skills and keyboard awareness

Understanding the connection between moving a mouse or trackerball and movement on a computer screen can sometimes take time to develop, as can the concept of making choices. For those pupils who need lots of opportunities to master not only the concepts but also the motor control necessary, there is software that can help.

The program Toyshop offers a three-stage progression from cause and effect, through making choices, to a memory game. It uses clear images of toys which are animated in a simple way with sound effects.

In stage 1, the user presses a switch, touch-screen, or space bar and a bright and colourful toy appears on a blank screen and moves around. After a brief period the screen goes blank again and the user must repeat the action that caused a toy to appear.

At stage 2, two toys appear on the screen and the one that is selected is animated. Children cannot get anything wrong, although if they don’t select the one they want to move, it will not be the one that is animated.

At stage 3, one of the toys is shown on the otherwise blank screen. When the user presses the switch, the toy disappears and the user is then shown two toys. The user’s job is to select is to the item that was shown first of all.

Case study 1

Jamie had used a number of programs where he had banged a switch occasionally but got as much satisfaction from the noise the switch made as from what happened on the screen. With Toyshop, no amount of banging produced another picture.

A piece of sheepskin (furry side up) was placed near the switch and he was encouraged to place his hand on this while the screen animation happened. Only after the screen had gone blank was he allowed to touch the switch again. As there are 18 pictures he did not get bored. Once he had overcome the switch banging, he moved on to being given two switches and he had to select the switch that corresponded to the toy he wanted to animate.

The two items were surrounded by coloured squares – one red and the other yellow – so two switches in the same colours were placed on either side of the screen. Since Jamie had already developed clear favourites, this stage of the work went quite smoothly. The memory section was more of a problem since Jamie still wanted his favourite item to be animated and was not keen to select the item required of him. He is still working on this!

As pupils master the concept of cause and effect, different software can be used to help them develop fine motor skills. Programs such as Reveal, for example, help children to learn to use the pointing device – mouse, trackerball or even touch-screen – in an interesting context that can also provide lots of scope for communication and problem solving. By moving the pointing device around the screen, a picture is revealed. The size of the area revealed with each movement can be changed, so progressively more precise movements of the pointer are required in order to reveal the picture. A range of pictures is provided and you can add your own.

Case study 2

Amy used a touch-screen by moving her fingers along the bottom of the screen – she could not be persuaded to touch anywhere or anything else. Using this program, initially with a large area revealed with each movement, she was interested to see what would appear. The opportunity was also taken to ask her what she thought she might find and, once something had been revealed, which direction she was going to move next (up, down, left or right). Setting progressively smaller areas to be revealed with each movement, she learned to cover the whole screen and, in so doing, to touch the relatively small areas of the screen which she had missed out with her more sweeping initial movements.

Case study 3

Colin was very likely to opt out of anything that he found difficult. He found auditory processing difficult and was difficult to engage in some classroom activities. Using Reveal, with settings that only allowed a certain number of blocks to be exposed at any one time (a snaking line), he could only see parts of the picture and had to work out what the picture was. As a visual task it engaged him and he started to develop a number of strategies that he was then able to use in other situations.

Keyboard awareness is something that most pupils develop easily and while there is ongoing debate over whether pupils should be taught to type ‘properly’, most will become very proficient in typing at an early age. Other pupils will struggle to master keyboard skills, as they will with steps to literacy, and for them, software that combines the development of both skills can be useful.

A program such as First Keys, for example, uses pictures and speech prompts to reinforce the development of spelling. The program includes a range of spelling lists which can be edited, and new lists, pictures and symbols can be added. It can also be used to aid the development of mouse skills.

Case study 4

Peter is a Year 3 pupil with severe handwriting difficulties who is expected to be reliant on using a computer for recording and accessing the curriculum. He is using the index fingers of both hands and has the keys marked with coloured permanent pen to indicate which hand to use for each key. He has been using First Keys for 15 minutes three times a week over the past six months to develop his keyboard awareness. He started by using the basic c-v-c lists and has now progressed to using topic lists based on his reading scheme. Peter is now using the computer to record his weekly news, the weekly spelling test and one other piece of work. He is no longer searching for keys and is much more confident and fluent. The class teacher has found the software to be such a motivating and effective program that she has been using it with other pupils to support their literacy skills.

Useful information

Toyshop is available from Inclusive Technology.
Reveal is available from Sensory Software.
First Keys is available from Widgit Software.

Additional information

Case studies are included to illustrate how pupils have been helped to access information and to express themselves.

Some of the software mentioned is generic – a word processor, for example – and any standard product of this type will have features that can give pupils extra support. Other software is designed to support the learning of particular concepts or skills and, in some cases, has been developed to support pupils with special educational needs.

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this web page on specific products or services are not intended to be recommendations or endorsements for specific products by Becta but are intended to highlight features and benefits that can be effectively applied in a learning and teaching environment.

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