Children who struggle with handwriting may benefit from accommodations in the classroom including use of the computer and typing to complete written communication.  In this article, there are strategies and tips on how to implement a keyboarding club to teach keyboarding and computer skills.  A keyboarding club can be used as an accommodation to written work, or a necessary functional skill.

KEYBOARDING CLUBS AND HANDWRITING

Handwriting can be a difficult and stressful action for many children.  What happens when no matter what interventions are attempted, the child simply cannot function with the details and cohesiveness of completing all of the “parts” of written work?  There can be a point when kids would be better off just typing as an accommodation in school work.  With the use of keyboards and screens available in classrooms, homes, work places, and communities, there is more of a need for independence with keyboarding skills than perhaps in our past generations.  

Children begin computer use when they enter kindergarten.  Children are using computers in the classroom and at home at a very young age.  So, when the accommodation of using keyboard skills over handwriting is approached, it can be an easy flow into function.

With modern technologies, keyboarding is as commonplace as handwriting in the development and growth of a child.

One strategy that can help with improving speed and accuracy as a handwriting modification is the use of a Keyboarding Club or group.

It is suggested by researchers that keyboarding instruction with correct finger placement begin in the third grade. Developmentally, this is an effective time for using finger dexterity skills, visual motor integration abilities, attention and focus, and visual perception needed to shift the vision from multiple planes.

Using keyboarding instruction curriculum can be a viable option for kids who struggle with handwriting.  When required to compose thoughts onto paper, underlying handwriting issues may prevent creativity, construction, and fluency of written composition as well as legibility when performing these types of tasks.

A keyboarding program can and should be an intervention to accommodate handwriting needs AND a strategy for development in typical and modern educational needs.  Keyboarding is an effective accommodation for struggles with the fine motor, visual perceptual, or sensory needs of handwriting that can be used in the classroom.

While there are many free keyboarding instruction programs available, it can be difficult for parents and teachers to find time within schedules to try and maintain participation in a keyboarding program.

With after school activities, graded homework, and other factors limiting time, participating in activities like a keyboarding program fall in priority.  A keyboarding club can be the intervention needed to allow kids to learn the skills needed as an accommodation to handwriting as well as learning keyboarding skills needed for classroom tasks.

Using a keyboarding program can be a helpful alternative to written work, allowing for efficient communication, legibility, and composition of thoughts.  Using computer work as an alternative to handwriting may be a necessary intervention in the classroom.

RESPONSE TO INTERVENTION (RTI) AND KEYBOARDING SKILLS 

As with other educational and functional skills performed in the classroom, Occupational Therapist practitioners may approach treatment with a Response to Intervention (RtI) approach.

Response to Intervention is an approach that addresses each individual student’s learning needs and adjusts education to meet the needs of the student.

Children can first be identified as potential candidates to participate in a keyboarding program.  These might be students who would benefit from keyboarding as an accommodation to handwriting.  Students should show an interest in participating in a keyboarding program as well.

A keyboarding program using Response to Intervention in the school setting would involve screening, assessment of skills, small group instruction, and progress monitoring.  Following instruction and participation in a keyboarding program for a period of several sessions or weeks, students can be re-assessed to monitor progress.  When progress is limited, there are other keyboarding programs that can be of help.

As with any instructional program, keyboarding can be a novel and fun concept at first.  However, after repeated trials of practice and quizzes, it can become boring for children.  Without a drive to learn to type correctly, kids may quit, give up, or balk at participation.  Keeping that in mind, keyboarding programs should involve creative ways to practice skills such as speed, finger placement, and accuracy.

At the start of a keyboarding program and before beginning instruction, students should be assessed in speed of copying a sentence using handwriting, typing speed, and accuracy on a keyboard writing assignment. It has been found that students whose typing speed equaled or exceeded their handwriting speed showed greater competence in the content of narrative writing when using a word processor than when handwriting.

Keyboarding Club Activities

• During a typical keyboarding club meeting, there can be a schedule of activities that guide each meeting.  

Warm-Up Exercises 

• Warm up with bilateral coordination exercises, hand warm-up activities, finger isolation exercises, tendon gliding exercises, and opposition exercises. 

Organizing Activities 

• Proprioception tasks and core facilitation exercises including chair push ups, wall push ups, and heavy work tasks.

Letter Placement Instruction 

• Any new letters should be covered with proper finger placement. 
• Review of any previous lessons should be covered. 
• Use of multi-sensory and motor instruction in letter placement including gross motor activities.

Posture Check and Self-Assessment 

• Use of a posture self-assessment checklist 

Skills to Monitor

• Posture
• Hand placement
• Finger placement
• Typing accuracy
• Typing rhythm
• Typing speed
• Ease of bilateral coordination

Typing Activity

Use of a keyboarding program should be implemented and maintained over a period of several weeks and sessions with progress monitored.

DETAILS OF A KEYBOARDING CLUB FOR KIDS

A keyboarding club can operate on many different levels.  It can be a daily activity for a short term such as two weeks, Monday through Friday or it can operate 2 or 3 times a week for 4-6 weeks.  

Because of the tendency for repetition, it is beneficial to keep the duration of the club to a limited time.  There is the potential for additional sessions of a keyboarding club.

Children who are participating in a keyboarding club should remain on the same lesson each session.  Sessions should be limited to 20-30 minutes at a time.

Involving several children into the act of learning new skills allows use of group dynamics in the learning process.

KEYBOARDING CLUB TYPING PROGRAMS

• Learn To Type – This website is a great tool for practicing lessons that are broken down by row, upper case, and punctuation.  There are tips for practice and each test accounts for accuracy and speed. 

• Sense-Lang – Another online typing program. This site provides interactive tutorials and games to engage students.

• TypingClub – This free online typing curriculum moves kids through lessons.  Kids can master each level and receive badges of completion. This program seems more like a game than lessons.
• Typing Club Google Chrome extension– This is a free program that can be downloaded to your browser. Kids can learn touch typing and work toward increasing speeds of typing.

Try these typing games when kids seem to be bored with the programming of your Keyboarding Club:

• Big Brown Bear
• NitroTyping
• Popcorn Typer

Other tasks that may be included in a keyboarding club include:

• Computer component identification
• Supply organization (including folder with practice sheets, etc)
• Ability to turn on, re-boot, access, start, and shut down software programs
• Storing files on a computer
• Accessing stored files on a computer
• Composing emails, letters, and filling in forms
• Proofreading and editing
• Completing writing prompts without copying from a text

Resources:

• Mahan, T.  (2002). Flying Fingers Keyboarding Club: Building Keyboarding Skills Through the Response to Intervention Approach. OT Practice, 17(3), 14-20. 

• Rogers, J., & Case-Smith, J. (2002). Relationships Between Handwriting and Keyboarding. Performance of Sixth-Grade Students. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 56(1), 34-39.

Can typing solve all writing problems?

Understanding the connection between fine motor skills and typing is essential in the age of laptops and tablets. The debate about handwriting versus typing for students with difficulties has taken center stage. The common notion is that if a child struggles with pen and paper, they can simply transition to typing. But is typing really the golden ticket to academic success?

The Two Typing Styles

Typing, much like handwriting, comes in different flavors. There’s the classic “hunt and peck” method, where one finger takes on the strenous task of navigating the entire keyboard. It might be slower than a turtle on a leisurely stroll, but for those with significant fine motor challenges, it’s a viable option. The secret? Mastering the art of isolating a single finger and directing it to the right letters.

On the flip side, we have touch typing, the Usain Bolt of keyboarding. In this method, each finger has a designated area of the keyboard, a bit like assigning musical notes to different keys. While it requires less brute strength, it demands a dance of motor coordination that makes juggling look like child’s play. Touch typing is the fast typing method, but here’s the catch—it’s not a skill you acquire overnight.

Let’s talk about fine motor skills. One-finger typists need the finesse to isolate and move a single finger around the keyboard. It’s a slow process, but it beats the muscle exertion involved in the intense scribbling of handwritten notes.

Now, enter touch typing, the master of fine motor coordination. To master this skill, you must conduct a sequence of tiny, controlled finger movements in a confined space. It’s like trying to pat your head and rub your stomach simultaneously, but on a much smaller and more precise scale. These nimble finger movements require the same muscle coordination as tasks involving in-hand manipulation, making it a mini workout for the hand.

Here’s the kicker—touch typing isn’t a skill you pick up over a weekend. It’s a journey, a quest for the holy grail of keyboarding. It takes practice, dedication, and a sprinkle of patience. Once you’ve ascended to touch typing, the speed it offers becomes a superpower, leaving the ink and paper in its dust.

So, is typing the answer to all our writing challenges? Well, it’s a versatile tool that comes in different shapes and speeds. For those with significant motor coordination issues, one-finger typing might be the convenient way to a digital world. Meanwhile, touch typing stands as a beacon for those who seek speed and efficiency without the muscle strain.

In this great keyboard debate, it is by choice. Whether it’s the slow one-finger typing or the intricate touch typing, the keyboard provides a stage for everyone, one keystroke at a time.

If you have a child who is learning to type, you might be getting tired of doing the same typing programs or activities again, and again and again. Or maybe the child is struggling to pick up typing skills because of physical limitations or delays. Fortunately, incorporating creative activities to help children learn to type can make a massive difference.

There are many ways you can work on skills needed for typing without even touching a keyboard. This article will share some activities you can use to help children learn to type.

Typing is a very complex skill that involves many things working together. Things like fine motor skills, finger dexterity, visual motor skills, bilateral coordination, are just a few of the skills needed.

If you have a child who is struggling with handwriting, typing may be suggested as an alternative. While a child does not have to worry about legibility, letter formations, and other handwriting skills, typing can still be a challenging skill for some.

In the age of technology, typing is definitely a good skill to have. But there are many ways you can improve typing by working on the skills below.

Activities to Help Promote Typing Skills

1. Finger warm-up activities

Typing can be a repetitive motion so warming up the fingers is important. You can do some simple finger warm-up exercises, like these.

• Put On Imaginary Gloves: Pull on your “gloves” by applying firm pressure to the fingers and back of each hand. This provides proprioceptive and tactile feedback and prepares the muscles for movement.
• Finger Push-Ups: Place the tips of your fingers together and straighten the fingers while pushing the fingertips against each other.
• Piano Fingers: Drum your fingers on the table or desk as if playing the piano. Make sure each finger touches the desk. You can also work on fast vs. slow movements with this. “How slowly can you play the piano?” “How fast can you play the piano?” “Can you use both hands together to play the piano?” (works on bilateral coordination skills).

2. Playing a musical instrument like the piano

Playing a musical instrument uses many of the same skills that are needed for typing. Visual scanning, muscle memory, finger dexterity, hand strength, bilateral coordination are just some. Other instruments such as the violin, guitar, or cello can be helpful, however the piano is most like typing in that the hands are in the same position.

3. Working on bilateral coordination activities

Bilateral coordination skills include using both hands together. Here are 7 bilateral coordination activities that can help.

• Stencils: make sure they hold the stencil with one hand while tracing with the other hand.
• Hand clapping rhymes
• Lacing activities: lacing cards, lace up stockings (two pieces of construction paper with holes punched around the edges).
• Liter tube: cut off the bottom of 2, two liter bottles. Stuff the bottles with crumpled colored paper. Use clear packing tape to connect wide ends of the bottle together. Hand the child hold “handles” with both hands. Toss crumpled paper or soft ball for child to hit with the liter tube.
• Games to help promote this skill include: Bop It, Mr. Potato Head (make sure the child stabilizes the head with one hand while placing body parts with the other hand), Rubik’s cube, Etch-A-Sketch, rhythm sticks, Legos.
• Play Four Square: make sure the child uses both hands to bounce the ball.
• Ball and balloon games: have the child use both hands to pass the ball or balloon overhead, between legs, roll at a target, etc.

4. Working on visual motor skills

Visual motor skills include visual scanning, eye-hand coordination activities and more. Jumping game, origami, flashlight tag, mazes, puzzles, connect the dots and other similar activities are all great for working on visual motor skills.

5. Other Activities to Help with Typing 

Use an old keyboard and have a set of alphabet stickers next to it. Call out different letters of the alphabet and have the child peel the sticker off and place it on top of the corresponding letter key. You can add a timed element once the child gets the hang of it and see if they can beat their own time. This works on visual scanning, finger dexterity, strength and bilateral coordination for peeling of the stickers.

Keyboarding and proficient touch typing is an essential skill for the 21st century. It’s not believed that it will completely make handwriting obsolete, however, we would be living in a cave if we didn’t acknowledge how important keyboarding and typing skills are to a student’s every learning.

Reviewing the critical visual perceptual considerations when typing helps us realize that learning to use a keyboard and to type isn’t easy! It is a false assumption that children with handwriting difficulties will learn to type easily. It will certainly help these children in the long run, however, it is important toremember that children with motor and planning difficulties (e.g., bilateral coordination, eye-hand coordination, motor planning, visual perceptual and fine motor difficulties) in handwriting will also have these difficulties when initially learning to use a keyboard to type. Accommodations for these difficulties may need to be considered when teaching keyboarding and typing skills.

How do YOU type?

Hands up if you are a ‘2 finger’ typer. Do you use your two index fingers to stab at the keyboard? While there are a lot of proficient ‘2 fingers’ typers out there, I think it is important to teach kids proper finger positioning when learning how to use the keyboard!

If you have a keyboard in front of you, look down at it for a moment. What do you see?

• letters, numbers, symbols
• whole words
• a series of rows
• diagonal columns and straight columns of keys
• function keys
• a trackpad or a mouse nearby
• keys split into different sections
• lights
• white on black, black on white, something else?​

Did you notice what I asked you to do? Looking up at a screen then looking down at the keyboard. Did you easily find your place back up on the screen to read my suggestions? For children with visual perceptual difficulties, this is one of the main issues they may have difficulty with as they look up and down and up again. They may also have to move their hands completely off the keyboard so they can see the keys. One of the main benefits of touch typing is eliminating the need to look up and down so often.

Recommendations and Accommodations for Visual Perceptual Difficulties

1.Use stickers on the keyboard. There are many stickers on the market to help children learn to type. Some of the features that stickers can help with include lowercase to cover capital letters, both lower and capital letters on the one sticker, and color coding so that the same finger strikes a certain color. You may also like to buy two sets of stickers so that you can place the ‘home key’ stickers on the child’s fingers.

2.Change the computer font to reflect a familiar handwriting font that the child is familiar with.

3.Teach proper finger positioning and touch typing. This will mean that over time, the child will not need to look at their hands when typing and they can concentrate their visual attention to the screen and what is being produced.

4.Change the mouse or cursor options on the screen. On a PC, this may be done through the control panel. You may want to experiment with options such as choosing a scheme with a large cursor (for easier visibility). Another recommendation is selecting the ‘Show location of pointer when I press CTRL key’. This is helpful for those children who have trouble locating their cursor/pointer on the screen within the confusing information that may be presented on the screen. Other options include downloading animated pointers. The cursor blink rate may also be changed so that it provides the appropriate visual prompt for the child so that it is not too fast to be noticed.

5.Provide a vertical easel document holder so that the child can see work to be copied in the same plane as it will be produced on screen. Some of these holders also include a highlighting line guide to help keep track of where the child is up to on the document to be copied.

• Position in Space or Visual Spatial Relationships 

It involves the ability to process information about oneself in relation to their environment in space, orientation and position. It may involve the ability to understand directional language concepts such as up/down, next to, left/right, over/under, etc.

As mentioned previously, as typing and keyboarding skills develop there is less reliance on visual guidance to find the right keys on the keyboard. Over time touch typers can understand where their fingers are ‘in space’ and in relationship with other keys to be struck without looking. This is also true for the use of the mouse and trackball.

• Figure-Ground and Visual Memory

Figure-Ground is the ability to see an object or form when presented in a complex background. Visual Memory is the ability to remember and recall objects, shapes, symbols or movements in short-term memory. Visual memory requires visualization of what to remember.

In keyboarding and typing skills, both figure-ground and visual memory skills are required to learn the layout of the keyboard. They need to have a map (i.e. visualization) of the keyboard in one’s mind so that finding the keys becomes automatic. Difficulties with figure-ground and visual memory may lead to more reliance on the visual skills of looking and scanning (i.e. hunting) for the correct keys on the keyboard. This will slow down the typist and can often be observed with ‘2 finger typists’.

Both figure-ground and visual memory skills are also needed to enable a child to maintain their place on the screen when looking down and then up again to keep track of what they are writing on the screen. This is further complicated if the child is copying text to type onto the screen as they are looking at the stimulus, looking at the screen, looking back at the stimulus, looking at the screen, looking at their hands and so forth.

Locating the cursor/pointer may also be difficult for children who have difficulty with figure-ground skills. The pointer may look like a large capital ‘I’ when typing text and be confused with the print on the screen.