What can we use to enable her to keep up with her peers?

Shahs

This discussion was created from comments split from: Hi, I'm Chris, I am an Adaptive Technology Specialist.

Shahs

Dear Chris, Hello. I have a 11yr old girl who has been diagnosed with congenital ataxia. Similar signs to cerebral palsy. She has poor motor coordination. At present she uses a lap top in school but is very slow with typing..8 words a minute. Her writing is even slower. She has been trying to improve her typing speed. I'm not sure how fast she will be able to type. Her speech is very slow but legible. How or what can we use to enable her to keep up with her peers without relying completely on her carer in the lessons?

Chris2

Hi Shahs. Have you tried an on-screen keyboard with word and phrase prediction so that your daughter doesn't have to complete the words each time? You can get specialist roller balls and joysticks to more easily move the mouse pointer around the screen if she has motor control difficulties. Depending on her head control, a head mouse may be an option. With the right software such as Tobii Communicator or The Grid 2, you can set the input method to 'snap-to' the key you are looking at to facilitate accuracy. Eye Gaze is another option. There are various ways this can be set up to enable your daughter to access the computer using just her eyes or eyes and a switch to increase accuracy and speed. A good place to start is to contact a company such as Smartbox AT who provide a great range of equipment and a free assessment service. Follow this link to the Smartbox website http://www.smartboxat.com/ I hope this helps :)