Should I go ahead and teach ds to type?

[lea1]

My 7.5 YO ds is undergoing an OT evaluation that should be finished next Friday. The first part was done last Friday and the preliminary conclusion is that he does have some issues with fine motor skills that we will need to work on with OT. The remaining test next Friday has more to do with visual perception.

 

He hates to write and always has, although he does enjoy coloring. Even though we are in the middle of 2nd grade, I have been holding off increasing his writing requirements because he seemed to have such a problem with it. I decided to hold off and not push until after testing so I would know if there is a problem. Now I know there is a problem so I am wondering what to do.

 

I am wondering if I should go ahead and start teaching him to type or not. I can/will ask the OT lady when I see her in a week but wanted to ask the hive for advice on this also. Also, if I should teach him to type, then would he take dictation while typing? It seems that so much of writing at this age is more workbook related that I just don't know how much having him learn typing will help.

 

Thoughts?

[duckens]

I think you are out very little to try. Either it will work or it will not.

 

You are aware of your child's abilities. It is okay that if it does not work, you may put the typing program back on the shelf for another 6 months.

 

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I am hoping to start typing for dd6 this autumn. She will be nearly 7 by then. Most people say that is too young, due to coordination. However, she can play piano with two hands, so I think we will give it a try. If it doesn't work, we will shelve it for a later time.

[lea1]

I think you are out very little to try. Either it will work or it will not.

 

You are aware of your child's abilities. It is okay that if it does not work, you may put the typing program back on the shelf for another 6 months.

 

-------------------------

I am hoping to start typing for dd6 this autumn. She will be nearly 7 by then. Most people say that is too young, due to coordination. However, she can play piano with two hands, so I think we will give it a try. If it doesn't work, we will shelve it for a later time.

 

 

My son has been playing piano for the past year. I'm not sure how well he would do with learning to type. I will likely wait to ask the OT her advice on this before making a final decision.

[Cindyz]

We started typing very early 5 or 6. He picked it up very quickly and never had to go through the hunt and peck stage. He's 8 now and types faster than my husband. In fact the only thing that holds back his typing speed is stopping to think about how to spell words. IMO, the earlier the better.

[mom2boys030507]

I had my oldest two learn to type this year in 2nd and 4th. They both did well. It took my 2nd grader longer to pick it up but he does well. I agree that thinking about how to spell a word or form the sentence in his head is the thing that slows him down. I do make sure I turn off spell checker when we are using the computer for dictation.

[CyndiLJ]

We worked on typing this year and will continue into next to gain more speed. My goal is 50 wpm for each of the kids.

 

I'd like to add that we have one son with dysgraphia, and his output is 10 times higher when typing versus trying to handwrite or print something. The actual process of physically writing takes so much effort for him that it hampers creativity and production.

 

I don't have dysgraphia, and yet never had decent printing or handwriting despite my mom's best efforts to remedy that over the course of a couple of summers. I hated holding a pen, and I never realized that the main reason I disliked writing itself was because of the physical part of it...not the mental thought process of writing. It always felt awkward to me to put pen to paper, my hand and arm tired easily, and I really put off writing projects. As I grew older, hit high and started to type, I gradually grew to realize that I didn't dislike writing at all! I write now more than 9 out of 10 adults do, as I write very lengthy blog posts, sermons, etc. but I know if I was still handwriting everything I would never have discovered the joy of writing. I am seeing the same for our dysgraphic son, who is unusually cool with what he has to say in writing and his creativity shines these days with adaptive software to assist.

 

Just my two cents and experience.

[lea1]

We worked on typing this year and will continue into next to gain more speed. My goal is 50 wpm for each of the kids.

 

I'd like to add that we have one son with dysgraphia, and his output is 10 times higher when typing versus trying to handwrite or print something. The actual process of physically writing takes so much effort for him that it hampers creativity and production.

 

I don't have dysgraphia, and yet never had decent printing or handwriting despite my mom's best efforts to remedy that over the course of a couple of summers. I hated holding a pen, and I never realized that the main reason I disliked writing itself was because of the physical part of it...not the mental thought process of writing. It always felt awkward to me to put pen to paper, my hand and arm tired easily, and I really put off writing projects. As I grew older, hit high and started to type, I gradually grew to realize that I didn't dislike writing at all! I write now more than 9 out of 10 adults do, as I write very lengthy blog posts, sermons, etc. but I know if I was still handwriting everything I would never have discovered the joy of writing. I am seeing the same for our dysgraphic son, who is unusually cool with what he has to say in writing and his creativity shines these days with adaptive software to assist.

 

Just my two cents and experience.

 

And you write very well:). I love reading your blog and have been a regular reader now for I-don't-know-how-long. Your kids are awesome and you and your husband are wonderful parents. I have thought of you often as I have been uncovering the issues with my two sons (both from Russia).

[lea1]

Well, based on what everyone is saying here, I will soon start teaching him to type, if the OT is okay with it. We have an appointment to finish up his evaluation on Friday so I can find out then. I was wondering about how one would do dictation but I guess you would do it just the same, only he would be typing instead of writing. I am guessing he would be very excited about this and it would probably speed up his writing a lot, as I think he has plenty to say but it is just painstakingly slow for him to write it.

[lea1]

Can anyone recommend some good programs for teaching kids to type?

[misty.warden]

My middle school had Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing, it was a bit dry but got the job done and included a few good speeches from history for dictation, though not knowing how to use more advanced punctuation (semicolons and such) does throw off the dictation test.

[Lanny]

His age sounds a little young, but if the OT says OK, and, if he is interested, go for it... I think I was probably 10 or 11 when I asked for a book to teach myself how to type. This was back in the dark ages and we had a Manual typewriter at home. When I was older, one semester in high school, I took a 10 or 20 week course in typing. I got a certificate for typing 48 WPM with 3 errors (on a manual typewriter) as I recall...

 

That served me well. I worked for an Airline, where being able to type quickly was helpful (or required) and then I worked as an Engineer.

 

Now, I believe they call courses for this "Keyboarding".

 

If and when your kid is interested, if he learns this, it will serve him well. GL

 

P.S.

You need to work on the handwriting too.... DD is in 6th grade English and she has assignments to practice Cursive...

 

P.P.S.

Oklahoma is OK...

[PeterPan]

We did OT. We started typing early, and while it seemed age-normal, she never got faster and regressed to pecking the more she tried to type. If they're thinking visual perception issues, you may end up getting referred off to VT. I'm not sure why you're talking about dictation. What you really should be asking the OT is whether she means for you to STOP teaching handwriting. Some kids yes, but most kids no. So only in limited cases would typing be for dictation, etc. Personally, I'd just give him the software, let him learn, and then let him have real life uses (email, whatever).

 

As far as what we used, well dd was doing so horribly with QWERTY that by age 12 we gave up and went to Dvorak. We used the Mavis Beacon (mac) lessons that have it. Dvorak eliminates the midline issue and requires less movement overall. It's a simple toggle on many keyboards. Made a HUGE difference for dd.

 

So yes teach him keyboarding, no don't let it replace handwriting unless your OT says too, and consider Dvorak if QWERTY doesn't go well.

[lea1]

His age sounds a little young, but if the OT says OK, and, if he is interested, go for it... I think I was probably 10 or 11 when I asked for a book to teach myself how to type. This was back in the dark ages and we had a Manual typewriter at home. When I was older, one semester in high school, I took a 10 or 20 week course in typing. I got a certificate for typing 48 WPM with 3 errors (on a manual typewriter) as I recall...

 

That served me well. I worked for an Airline, where being able to type quickly was helpful (or required) and then I worked as an Engineer.

 

Now, I believe they call courses for this "Keyboarding".

 

If and when your kid is interested, if he learns this, it will serve him well. GL

 

P.S.

You need to work on the handwriting too.... DD is in 6th grade English and she has assignments to practice Cursive...

 

P.P.S.

Oklahoma is OK... <==That's funny:)

 

[lea1]

We did OT. We started typing early, and while it seemed age-normal, she never got faster and regressed to pecking the more she tried to type. If they're thinking visual perception issues, you may end up getting referred off to VT. I'm not sure why you're talking about dictation. What you really should be asking the OT is whether she means for you to STOP teaching handwriting. Some kids yes, but most kids no. So only in limited cases would typing be for dictation, etc. Personally, I'd just give him the software, let him learn, and then let him have real life uses (email, whatever).

 

As far as what we used, well dd was doing so horribly with QWERTY that by age 12 we gave up and went to Dvorak. We used the Mavis Beacon (mac) lessons that have it. Dvorak eliminates the midline issue and requires less movement overall. It's a simple toggle on many keyboards. Made a HUGE difference for dd.

 

So yes teach him keyboarding, no don't let it replace handwriting unless your OT says too, and consider Dvorak if QWERTY doesn't go well.

 

 

I guess I should check with the OT before I do anything. I was thinking that since he is so miserable about anything to do with writing, I would let him type for his dictation, copywork and narration type of work. I have been holding back and not having him do as much since he is so adamantly against writing and everything requiring writing is a battle. He would still have to write for math and spelling but, you are right, the OT may not want me to do that.