Camy-7 boybarians 1 lady Posted May 25, 2012 Share Posted May 25, 2012 My son, 13, has recently been diagnosed. He is in a great private school that has made many accommodations for him, even before this diagnosis. Just a sidenote, this is his 2nd year in school. He was homeschooled from the beginning. The psychologist mentioned he tested very high (above average) in reading. This she has never seen before. I knew it was the reading instruction (at his learning pace) in homeschool that attributed to this. What a blessing that was to hear. Anyhoo, we are working on summer plan for my boy. I would like to work on typing skills. Any software or online recommendations for reinforcing typing skills? We were also thinking of getting him an Ipad. Any other recommendations would be appreciated! Blessings, Camy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted May 25, 2012 Share Posted May 25, 2012 Well if he has any issues with crossing the midline or has tried to learn to type and not had it go well, look into the Dvorak keyboard layout. Yes, you could set the ipad to do Dvorak. You're able to select in the settings the language for the hard keyboard and the soft keyboard. What that means is you can set it to use US for the on-screen keyboard if you want and Dvorak for when you use the wireless keyboard with it. That's what we do. That way it's set up normally for me but uses Dvorak when dd uses it to type papers in Pages. We love our ipad and especially the ability to use the apps for mindmapping, etc. It can do Pages and type quite well if you use the wireless keyboard. Is he taking this to school? Maybe he'd be happier with an Air? That's a big price difference, sorry. Might help him do more though. You'll just have to think through exactly what he wants to do on it. As far as software, Mavis Beacon has been awfully good in our house. I basically despaired of typing ever working for her, and Mavis Beacon got her over the hump. It's easy to tell their current wpm. I basically worked up a deal where I told her I'd pay her the wpm in $$ any month she increased by at least 5. She very quickly went from 8 and pecking to 40 wpm. I haven't checked her lately, hehe. That increase was in *4* months! Pretty stunning. We had done programs over the years and she actually got worse as she tried to do more, because she couldn't handle all the up and down. She was pecking and looking at the keys. With Dvorak she can't. Anyways, Mavis Beacon is extremely good. Pricey yes, but worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted May 25, 2012 Share Posted May 25, 2012 Well if he has any issues with crossing the midline or has tried to learn to type and not had it go well, look into the Dvorak keyboard layout. Yes, you could set the ipad to do Dvorak. You're able to select in the settings the language for the hard keyboard and the soft keyboard. What that means is you can set it to use US for the on-screen keyboard if you want and Dvorak for when you use the wireless keyboard with it. That's what we do. That way it's set up normally for me but uses Dvorak when dd uses it to type papers in Pages. We love our ipad and especially the ability to use the apps for mindmapping, etc. It can do Pages and type quite well if you use the wireless keyboard. Is he taking this to school? Maybe he'd be happier with an Air? That's a big price difference, sorry. Might help him do more though. You'll just have to think through exactly what he wants to do on it. As far as software, Mavis Beacon has been awfully good in our house. I basically despaired of typing ever working for her, and Mavis Beacon got her over the hump. It's easy to tell their current wpm. I basically worked up a deal where I told her I'd pay her the wpm in $$ any month she increased by at least 5. She very quickly went from 8 and pecking to 40 wpm. I haven't checked her lately, hehe. That increase was in *4* months! Pretty stunning. We had done programs over the years and she actually got worse as she tried to do more, because she couldn't handle all the up and down. She was pecking and looking at the keys. With Dvorak she can't. Anyways, Mavis Beacon is extremely good. Pricey yes, but worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myboyluvsdinos Posted May 25, 2012 Share Posted May 25, 2012 Well if he has any issues with crossing the midline or has tried to learn to type and not had it go well, look into the Dvorak keyboard layout. Yes, you could set the ipad to do Dvorak. You're able to select in the settings the language for the hard keyboard and the soft keyboard. What that means is you can set it to use US for the on-screen keyboard if you want and Dvorak for when you use the wireless keyboard with it. That's what we do. That way it's set up normally for me but uses Dvorak when dd uses it to type papers in Pages. We love our ipad and especially the ability to use the apps for mindmapping, etc. It can do Pages and type quite well if you use the wireless keyboard. Is he taking this to school? Maybe he'd be happier with an Air? That's a big price difference, sorry. Might help him do more though. You'll just have to think through exactly what he wants to do on it. As far as software, Mavis Beacon has been awfully good in our house. I basically despaired of typing ever working for her, and Mavis Beacon got her over the hump. It's easy to tell their current wpm. I basically worked up a deal where I told her I'd pay her the wpm in $$ any month she increased by at least 5. She very quickly went from 8 and pecking to 40 wpm. I haven't checked her lately, hehe. That increase was in *4* months! Pretty stunning. We had done programs over the years and she actually got worse as she tried to do more, because she couldn't handle all the up and down. She was pecking and looking at the keys. With Dvorak she can't. Anyways, Mavis Beacon is extremely good. Pricey yes, but worth it. OhElizabeth, Did you use Mavis Beacon to teach her the Dvorak? I'm interested in it, because my ds has used qwerty for two years and still isn't very good, but I'm having a hard time finding a typing program that teaches to the Dvorak keyboard. Thanks! Carolyn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted May 25, 2012 Share Posted May 25, 2012 OhElizabeth,Did you use Mavis Beacon to teach her the Dvorak? I'm interested in it, because my ds has used qwerty for two years and still isn't very good, but I'm having a hard time finding a typing program that teaches to the Dvorak keyboard. Thanks! Carolyn Yup! This is the one I have. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0047FQZKI/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00 Dvorak has been a MIRACLE for my dd, and the Mavis Beacon lessons are great. I found a keyboard layout (google image, wikipedia, something like that) and printed it out to pin on the monitor. That way she CAN'T peck, because the key labels aren't on the keys and what I'm giving her is up high. She didn't use that very long. It just really came together for her. For me it was the marvel of watching her going from pecking (really hopeless pecking too) to actual, proper touch typing, all fingers on the keys, just like any normal person. I know that MB version is pricy. There are so many versions. I bought mine before Christmas and there may be a new one. I'm using it on a mac and it works great. I think somebody said they can have issues, but that's what we're using without problems. It specifically says on the amazon page and on the box that it includes lessons for Dvorak, which is why I bought it. So if you want Dvorak, make sure it says that. I mention Dvorak so much, because it made a huge, huge difference here. My dh thought I was crazy, and my dd thought I was a witch from Oz for making her change. People really resist change even when things aren't going well, kwim? So yes it was a bit of a fuss to change. I lured her by giving her her own email account and actually a whole user account on the computer. I think you can do this on a pc as well. She has a user account, and I have it set up so that her side only works with the Dvorak. On a mac it's a simple toggle, but that can either be buried in preferences or up at the top of the screen, depending on whether you click that box to let it show up there. So that gives you control over whether you give them the ability to change it. To make that change, I had to be a little brutal. I threw her in with the new email account (which she desperately wanted) and the new keyboard layout and put the change for the keyboard setting on password. That meant she had to do it my way or couldn't email her friends, hehe. She learned really, really fast! :lol: I'll be curious to hear how it goes for you if you make the change! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myboyluvsdinos Posted May 25, 2012 Share Posted May 25, 2012 Yup! This is the one I have. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0047FQZKI/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00 Dvorak has been a MIRACLE for my dd, and the Mavis Beacon lessons are great. I found a keyboard layout (google image, wikipedia, something like that) and printed it out to pin on the monitor. That way she CAN'T peck, because the key labels aren't on the keys and what I'm giving her is up high. She didn't use that very long. It just really came together for her. For me it was the marvel of watching her going from pecking (really hopeless pecking too) to actual, proper touch typing, all fingers on the keys, just like any normal person. I know that MB version is pricy. There are so many versions. I bought mine before Christmas and there may be a new one. I'm using it on a mac and it works great. I think somebody said they can have issues, but that's what we're using without problems. It specifically says on the amazon page and on the box that it includes lessons for Dvorak, which is why I bought it. So if you want Dvorak, make sure it says that. I mention Dvorak so much, because it made a huge, huge difference here. My dh thought I was crazy, and my dd thought I was a witch from Oz for making her change. People really resist change even when things aren't going well, kwim? So yes it was a bit of a fuss to change. I lured her by giving her her own email account and actually a whole user account on the computer. I think you can do this on a pc as well. She has a user account, and I have it set up so that her side only works with the Dvorak. On a mac it's a simple toggle, but that can either be buried in preferences or up at the top of the screen, depending on whether you click that box to let it show up there. So that gives you control over whether you give them the ability to change it. To make that change, I had to be a little brutal. I threw her in with the new email account (which she desperately wanted) and the new keyboard layout and put the change for the keyboard setting on password. That meant she had to do it my way or couldn't email her friends, hehe. She learned really, really fast! :lol: I'll be curious to hear how it goes for you if you make the change! :) Thanks for the info -- I was curious if your dd had tried qwerty -- guess so! My problem is I have a PC and I can't find a Mavis Beacon WITH Dvorak for a PC -- except for the older versions which won't run on my newer operating system! Frustrating! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted May 26, 2012 Share Posted May 26, 2012 You might try the support link on the Mavis Beacon website and see what they say. When I googled, I found this link http://www.setbc.org/Download/LearningCentre/Access/dvorak_mavis.pdf which shows how to alter the actual typing lessons to work for Dvorak by changing the output it anticipates. Thing is, are the lessons mapped by keystroke or actual output? If it's by output (I have no clue what I'm talking about), then simply switching the keyboard in your machine's system should make it so it's still seeing A, B, blah blah. But I'll bet it doesn't work for some reason. It looks like they're going to bilingual and that's why they dropped the Dvorak. Or maybe it's there and just not being advertised? Just write them and ask. All the more reason to go mac I guess, lol. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted May 26, 2012 Share Posted May 26, 2012 You might try the support link on the Mavis Beacon website and see what they say. When I googled, I found this link http://www.setbc.org/Download/LearningCentre/Access/dvorak_mavis.pdf which shows how to alter the actual typing lessons to work for Dvorak by changing the output it anticipates. Thing is, are the lessons mapped by keystroke or actual output? If it's by output (I have no clue what I'm talking about), then simply switching the keyboard in your machine's system should make it so it's still seeing A, B, blah blah. But I'll bet it doesn't work for some reason. It looks like they're going to bilingual and that's why they dropped the Dvorak. Or maybe it's there and just not being advertised? Just write them and ask. All the more reason to go mac I guess, lol. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandamom Posted May 26, 2012 Share Posted May 26, 2012 I use powertyping.com and they have a dvorak section. i haven't looked at it but it should do the job for free if it is as good as the QWERTY keyboard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted May 26, 2012 Share Posted May 26, 2012 Janice, thanks for sharing that! I was starting to feel bad that I've been telling people to do something that couldn't be done, lol. Glad to know there are still lessons out there. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myboyluvsdinos Posted May 26, 2012 Share Posted May 26, 2012 I use powertyping.com and they have a dvorak section. i haven't looked at it but it should do the job for free if it is as good as the QWERTY keyboard. Thanks Janice -- I'll check it out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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