🌟 Transformative Writing for Neurodivergent children and teenagers🌟
- Emma Blackburn
- Jun 9, 2024
- 2 min read
For children with special needs or who are neurodivergent, touch typing can be a game-changer. Traditional writing can be a challenging and frustrating experience, often not reflecting their true cognitive abilities and impacting their self-esteem.
Touch typing uses a different part of the brain, turning spelling into finger movements, colours, and patterns. This powerful, unconscious physical skill can make writing much easier for children with processing issues, freeing them from the difficulties of using a pen.
The online programmes below specialise in teaching touch typing. It's especially beneficial for kids with dyslexia, dyspraxia, dysgraphia, ASD/autism, and some types of visual stress.
Here are some excellent touch-typing programs in the UK that can help children with dyslexia learn to type at home:
1. Englishtype: Developed by an educational psychologist, Englishtype is designed specifically for the UK curriculum. It uses a unique colour-coding system to build muscle memory and includes multi-sensory learning techniques, making it ideal for children with dyslexia, dyspraxia, autism, and other special needs. Englishtype also focuses on boosting literacy alongside typing skills, offering fun and engaging lessons suitable for different age groups and abilities. https://englishtype.com/
2. Type IT!: Type IT! offers tutor-supported online touch typing lessons that are highly personalized. Their courses are designed to cater to the needs of children with dyslexia and other learning differences, providing flexible learning schedules and detailed feedback from experienced tutors. The program includes engaging, arcade-style games and real UK English spellings, ensuring that children learn in a fun and effective way (https://touchtypeit.co.uk/).
3. KAZ Type: KAZ's Dyslexia Edition has been developed with the Dyslexia Research Trust and is designed to minimize visual stress and use an accelerated learning method. It caters to various special educational needs, including dyslexia, dyspraxia, and ADHD. The software is customisable and aims to develop muscle memory for spelling, providing a supportive and confidence-boosting learning environment (https://kaz-type.com/dyslexia-edition).
4.Nessy Fingers Touch typing for 7+
Nessy gets children typing real words fast and introduces spelling practice immediately.
Keys are introduced alphabetically which makes sense to children. This is different to most other typing programs, which mix up random letters.
Nessy Fingers is suitable for ages 7+.
The program has been designed to be used by both beginners who have never typed before, or those with keyboard experience, who want to improve their typing speed.
It is especially effective for children with dysgraphia, dyslexia and ADHD.
5.TTRS
TTRS provides a high-quality, well-structured, online typing course that teaches touch-typing at the same time as encouraging and developing the power of literacy.
Our course teaches typing skills in a unique, dyslexia-friendly way by following a structured literacy program. Core content is informed by word lists from the textbook Alpha to Omega, which is based on the work of Orton and Gillingham.
These programs offer tailored support and engaging methods to help children with dyslexia and other learning differences succeed in developing their touch typing skills.
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