Keyboarding for visually impaired student.

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dorothy5664

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All of you at AD are becoming my go to people. We have a student at the school where I work who is extremely visually impaired. They are working with her to develop better keyboarding skills, but are having some problems finding resources. If anyone knows of a site or have any ideas or suggestions, that would be great. A little additional information is that we do not have sound on our computers at school, so it needs to be visually based rather than audio.

Thanks!
 
This situation needs to go to the disability services office at the school. The first step is having the student register with disability services, if she has not already. Once registered, she needs to provide documentation of her disability, and request specific accommodations that she needs for any classroom or extra-curricular activity. The school can easily download the software necessary on one computer in the lab or classroom that will be reserved for visually impaired students that includes auditory screen reading capabilities.
 
Jillio,

She is already classified and receiving services. The Special Education Teacher is trying to find additional ways that she can do some, for lack of a better word, additional drill and practice one day a week after school and also at home.
 
She might also try listening to audiobooks and typing what is heard on the computer in a word processing program like Notepad or Wordpad using JAWS or Window-Eyes set to echo character by character.
 
dorothy5664 said:
Jillio,

She is already classified and receiving services. The Special Education Teacher is trying to find additional ways that she can do some, for lack of a better word, additional drill and practice one day a week after school and also at home.
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I see. Then the other posts have offered some great suggestions for practice. I thought you were referring to accommodations.

However, I'm wondering, with her being low vision, if a visual method, as you originally suggested, is appropriate. I would think if the practice were to accomplished after school, that she would still need auditory input rather than visual.
 
I would highly recommend that this student learn auditory means of keyboarding. Relying on poor vision can be exhausting -- not to mention time consuming.
 
You guys are all so helpful and always have great suggestions that those of us who haven't been there can only guess may work. This young lady's vision did not begin to deteriorate until she was in second grade. She is now in sixth grade and we are trying to help her development some life skills that will help her to be successful. Thanks for all your help.
 
dorothy, she is not deaf, right?

I don't know what kind of school you are teaching at.
 
The update today is that there is new equipment being ordered that will be dedicated to this student. It will have special software that will read text for her, sound, etc.

I am so excited for her. She is an extremely hard-working young lady, with a great outlook, and has actually adapted quite well over the last few years.
 
dorothy5664 said:
The update today is that there is new equipment being ordered that will be dedicated to this student. It will have special software that will read text for her, sound, etc.

I am so excited for her. She is an extremely hard-working young lady, with a great outlook, and has actually adapted quite well over the last few years.
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Ahh...exactly what I was talking about. Good news.
 
I know. Hopefully now that the ball is rolling, it won't take long to be delivered, and away we go.:D
 
This young lady's vision did not begin to deteriorate until she was in second grade. She is now in sixth grade and we are trying to help her development some life skills that will help her to be successful.
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Excellent! Do you have a School for the Blind in your state? Maybe contact them and see if they can't provide anything helpful.
 
dorothy5664 said:
The update today is that there is new equipment being ordered that will be dedicated to this student. It will have special software that will read text for her, sound, etc.

I am so excited for her. She is an extremely hard-working young lady, with a great outlook, and has actually adapted quite well over the last few years.
Click to expand...

This is good news. :D

If you're looking for additional resources that may help her, you might want to contact the National Federation of the Blind (NFB):

NFB - Home

Additionally, the NFB has centers around the country that provide training in daily living skills. I know this is a ways off, but this might be something she may want to look into when she turns 18.
 
dorothy5664; said:
All of you at AD are becoming my go to people. We have a student at the school where I work who is extremely visually impaired. They are working with her to develop better keyboarding skills, but are having some problems finding resources. If anyone knows of a site or have any ideas or suggestions, that would be great. A little additional information is that we do not have sound on our computers at school, so it needs to be visually based rather than audio. Thanks!
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I agree with Hear Again, please contact the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) (Contact Us Button, top Tab center of the website page.)

What state is the child in? More ideas, suggestions from me, if you like, after I know which state.

" ... needs to be visually based rather than audio ..."

Visually impaired child right? ... Pleeeeeeze don't make me assemble my soap box! :giggle:

Jeez, why not just get the child a phoneless cord. :laugh2:

Hope this helps.
 
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