Introducing the Keyboard - CVI Lesson and Tips

This lesson can be adapted to any age group from about five years and above. You will see this in many of my lessons, why, because this is a tool, use it to fit your needs. It is a jumping off point to develop many lessons/units as needed. 

Note: This lesson introduces the keyboard using the free typing club kids on-line called Jungle Junior Typing Club with a Bluetooth keyboard.

I have researched many keyboarding programs and found these to be the best for us: 

• Jungle Junior Typing Club for Kids - Free on-line 

Why I picked this...it seemed CVI friendly, easy for Sadie to see and it kept her interest without overwhelming her. It gave breaks too that were great fine motor skills that her OT also liked. Sadie needed lots of help isolating fingers and this had finger exercises that incorporate this.

• Keeble

Many TVIs (Teacher of the Visually Impaired) recommend this and I suspect we will be using this as we progress. 

• Snap Type

Great way for kids and teachers to quickly and effectively adapt pages 
OT website that talks about the snap type app 

Lesson 

Objective

The student will identify the letters: “f” and ‘j” on the home keys along with the space bar and press them correctly with 80% accuracy. 

Pre-assessment

The student should have a basic understanding of the keyboard and that pressing the keys on it puts the intended key letters/numbers onto the screen. 

Note: With Sadie, she had good skills with the Ipad, enlarged icon mouse, and exposure to “just for fun” typing that I let her explore before we started formal keyboarding lessons. 

Materials

• iPad or laptop that the student has been made familiar with
• Simple adapted keyboard. We use a Bluetooth and I highlighted and mad bumps on some keys
• Black paper if you need to cover some rows of the keyboard in the beginning, some teachers do that too 

Procedure

• Have a new blank document on the screen and show student the expectations of learning the keyboard...having purposeful keystrokes on intended keys, pushing the keys down once and not holding it down, practice striking a few letters together.
• Try to type the child’s name pointing out the letters for the students, make sure you use a larger font and bold print.
• Introduce the typing app: Jungle Junior Typing Club for Kids
• Skip to the finger exercises and letter preview for “f” and “j” and -Do the “f” and “j” mini lesson on the app
• Do this 2 times
• Do the finger exercise for the space bar mini-lesson
• Do the space bar mini-lesson on app
• Do this 2 times
• Try this “f” and “j” mini-lesson each day for approximately 4 sessions before formally assessing for success to move onto more letters on the keyboard 

Tips and Ideas

Quick fix to a keyboard: Keyboard stickers from MaxiAids $15
It’s ok to only highlight a few as you go so it focuses in on the important letters to start! 

Bump Dots 

Best $3.00 find for a clear bumpy sticker to put on the “home key” “f” and “j” and anywhere else that helps. MANY uses for this to use as a tactual identifier instead of a visual scan. 

Assessment 

The student has mastered the lesson when they complete 80% on the app. They are then ready to move to more letters on the keyboard. I like to stay with the home keys to begin. 

Resources

Other posts in this series:

• Beginning Readers - Sight Words: Lesson, Activities and Tips
• Basic Addition - CVI Lesson and Tips
• Basic Subtraction - CVI Lesson and Tips
• Introducing the Keyboard - CVI Lesson and Tips
• Teaching Time: CVI