WPM goal for 5th grader

Submitted by an LD OnLine user on

hi i have a disgraphic child entering 5th grade and we are working

to improve her keyboarding skills .

For those of you in similiar situations how quickly can your child type?

My daughter is typing 12-17 words per minute. Am I being realistic

to think that if we type every day at home for 15 minutes I can greatly’

increase her speed? Accuracy is pretty good around 95% and

we are using Mavis Beacon teaches typing at home

and Read Write and Type at school.

Thank you so much and I would appreciate any comments

or input.

Submitted by Jan Raper on Fri, 04/30/2004 - 1:14 PM

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Hi,

My son is 6th grade and I have seen great strides this yr. in his typing. I don’t know how many WPM but I know he is doing better! He loves to Email his friends and also plays a game on the net that you have to type things to other people. That has improved his typing. Jan

Submitted by Sue on Sat, 05/01/2004 - 3:42 PM

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Realistic typing goals would depend on a lot of things. THe same fine motor skills that can make handwriting difficult can make typing difficult, too. (12-17 wpm is faster than most people without dysgraphia write, if I remember correctly). However, if she’s inefficient — *and* isn’t going to fight unlearning her current habits — she could make a lot of improvement.
YOu might also want to look at some other keyboarding options. If she struggles with fine motor skills, then sometimes “regular” expectations for progress built into some of the software can be frustrating.
Diana King has a typing instruction book (try http://www.rlac.com or http://www.epsbooks.com ) (not software, just a book — but it’s a good one) that approaches the alphabet in order and works really well with students who might have other language issues; you learn the alphabet right off, then dive into short words, so the typing just makes more sense (as opposed to asdfjkl; asdfkl;) from the get-go. If she has significant motor or SI issues you may want to look at http://www.thelearningstudio.com for some specialized keyboarding materials designed for kids learning the keyboard because handwriting is an issue.
Probably more than you wanted to hear ;)

Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 05/01/2004 - 11:37 PM

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With practice, her speed will increase certainly (how well does she spell?- that’s a factor in writing and typing) If she spells well and comfortably, then I’d believe her speed will increase with steady practice.

Why must it ‘greatly increase’ however? What’s your goal and why the rush? It would help to know what your goal is to offer an opinion as to whether it’s realistic.

Submitted by des on Mon, 05/03/2004 - 4:16 PM

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I have to say that for myself (very significant coordination problems) and my typing speed was about that after Mavis who I threw across the room in a fit of pique. I HATE Mavis (one of the things don’t know if they have changed this is there are long sessions teaching people to type symbols. *%#!)

Anyway I got Cowriter (also used speech to text but it was not so useful due to lots of allergies and my voice changed from day to day). It is slow too but more accurate than I was ( was maybe 15 wpm but only 50% accurate, whereas Cowriter was about 17 wpm with 100% accuracy).

What really really helped me (even at age 50) was I got on an aquarium group which was my passion. Cowriter didn’t work so well as there are nos. involved and they aren’t so easy in Cowriter. So I just got lots and lots of practice— but I was enjoying my practice as I was writing to people I wanted to write about on a subject I wanted to write about. I think the last time I tested it it was about 30-35 wpm. It won’t shake up the world but it is fast enough.

So IF you he can find a group and subject that is relatively safe, knows some net safety (not giving away personal info like address, phone no.), etc then I think it is an ideal way to help develop keyboarding skills as long as they essentials are in place (I mean that he types in mostly the correct position, etc.)

—des

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