INFORMATION SHEET NUMBER 6

By Bill Anderson

INTRODUCTION

There are various factors, particularly regarding basics, that should be borne in mind when using IT, especially for word-processing, with dyslexic students. They not only have the usual problems associated with mastering new technology (though in many respects, particularly with games, they probably have greater skills than their teachers), they also have the particular underlying traits that gave rise to their specific learning difficulties in the first place. Among these are poor direction, poor orientation, poor visual skills, poor sequencing, and poor visual memory.

Much of the detail in this Information Sheet will be glaringly obvious to the average computer user. How this detail applies to dyslexics may not be so clear, however, nor may it be familiar to teachers of dyslexics who are new to computing.

PRACTICALITIES

Windows screens can be bewildering for those unfamiliar with them; this state may persist for some dyslexics even after months of use. One solution is to concentrate the icons for the most frequently used applications into one area, thus reducing the amount of information to be retained and processed, and facilitating easy access.

The mouse is set by default for right-handed users. If it is to be used by a left-hander, it can be customised for use to the left of the keyboard, with the functions of the buttons reversed.

The size of the mouse pointer might also be worth changing. On most PCs it can be made larger so that it does not become lost in the clutter on-screen, and altered so that it becomes transparent; this stops words and icons being masked and makes them easier to read. For users with erratic eye movements or other visual problems causing perceptual difficulties, it may be worth trying mouse trails. With this option, a trail of arrows is left behind the pointer as it is moved across the screen, the trail fading as it goes. This makes the position of the pointer much easier to find. All these options can be found by going into Control Panel, Mouse, and Pointer.

When working directly to the screen, the legibility of the entered text is of paramount importance. Those with visual problems like being able to work with the text enlarged, coloured, emboldened, and possibly even italicised. Reducing screen brightness and contrast can also make a marked difference to the user's comfort and efficiency. The way to achieve these changes varies from one word-processor to another; it can usually be found on the menu bar via Format or Text, followed by Font and/or Style. Brightness and contrast are controlled by buttons on the monitor. A popular selection is red bold print in a sans-serif font such as Arial, in font size 16. Using the menu bar rather than the toolbar is often a better way to make these selections, as text does not need to be highlighted and choices can be previewed before being confirmed. The user should be reminded to reset the text back to 'normal' before printing.

When entering text from a document - copying, or using notes - a copy-holder is essential. It needs to be free-standing, not the sort that clips onto the monitor. This has little value for SpLD students as it has no line-marker, cannot support books, and is not tactile - those with severe tracking difficulties like to keep a finger on the text from which they are working. Better is a desktop model (under £10), but best is a weighted, adjustable one as it can be positioned so that the text is next to, and level with, the monitor screen. This means that eye movements are reduced as much as possible; as the focal distance of text and screen is almost identical, the eyes only move sideways rather than sideways and down and back up. Those who lose their place even with the line marker benefit from a little improvisation. A sheet of metal and a magnetic marker that can be slid from word to word or syllable to syllable is most effective (The Early Learning Centre sells a metal board with magnetised plastic letters for under £10; it does the job). Worksheets are best produced on coloured paper with the font at 14 or 16; if coloured paper is not feasible, a coloured plastic envelope folder (from any good stationer) is probably better, as the colour can be more closely matched to individual students' preferences.

There are several easily-made mistakes routinely encountered when dyslexics are working with text. Perhaps the most appalling, for them, is the ease with which they can delete highlighted text - one little key-press is all it takes (more detail in the next paragraph). Given the amount they have to remember and process, the problems they have with sequencing, and the effort needed to type in one sentence, the sooner dyslexic users become paranoid about protecting their work, the better. They need encouraging to save work regularly and to leave tasks that require part or whole text highlighting - italics, underlining, justification, font size, colour-changes, line spacing - to the very end. If saving before highlighting becomes a habit, it can save a great deal of anguish. It can also help to instil a habit very rarely acquired by children - careful proof-reading.

Highlighting can cause specific problems for those with poor motor - and hence mouse - control. If capturing the first letter poses problems, the answer is to start at the end and highlight backwards. To work on a whole document, they can use Edit or Text, depending on the menu options available. If the computer does not have full justification (sometimes called align) as an icon on the toolbar, use Ctrl + J. Press Ctrl, press and release J, release Ctrl. If Ctrl is not released last, all the text will vanish and one lonely j will be left on the screen. They must learn to use Edit - Undo before touching another key. Plenty of scope for sequencing errors there!

For those with poor orientation, give a bit of attention to the two delete buttons. The one with an arrow pointing left deletes to the left, while the one labelled Delete deletes to the right. Considerable confusion and frustration can result when the wrong letters are deleted. An associated problem is the Insert key, which is immediately above Delete. If this is inadvertently pressed - which is easily done, especially by those with poor motor skills - subsequent typing will replace existing text, and a lot of work can be lost very easily. Pressing Insert again will return everything to normal.

Spell-checking - the main reason for which SpLD students are encouraged to use computers - is not always easy. First they have to decide which of the suggested spellings is the one they want, then they have to make the selection properly.

Since they probably have a reading as well as a spelling problem, they will impulsively select either the first word or whichever looks most likely. They need a dictionary, a helper, or textHELP! Read and Write. The latter reads text from the screen as selected, which enables much better proof-reading; it also reads the suggestions in its spell-check and its thesaurus.

Poor reading, poor memory or poor motor skills make selecting the right option on the standard spell-check difficult. On some, Ignore is very close to Change; worse, Add and Suggest are also close. If Add is clicked instead of Ignore, Change or Suggest, the incorrect spelling will be added to the spell-check and will not be picked up when it is written again. It is good practice to check the custom dictionary regularly and remove incorrect spellings which have been inadvertently added to it.

CONCLUSION

All the above needs to become automatic for the dyslexic if he is to become competent and confident at the keyboard. The regular use of a typing tutor (a number of good ones are available) speeds learning of the keyboard layout; mouse skills are learned effortlessly by playing games, specially those that usually come pre-loaded, like Solitaire and Jezzball. They improve motor skills, hand/eye coordination, sequencing, orientation and direction, as well as essential mouse skills like click-and-drag, more quickly than would seem possible.

Prepare to be overtaken by your pupils.

textHELP! Read and Write is available from
ianSYST Ltd
The White House
72 Fen Road
Cambridge CB4 1UN
http://www.dyslexic.com

and

textHELP! Systems Ltd
Enkalon Business Centre
25 Randalstown Road
Antrim
N. Ireland BT41 4LJ
www.texthelp.com