Saturday, October 15, 2016

Adapted Keyboards

What are Adapted Keyboards?
Many students with disabilities are unable to use standard keyboards.  Adapted or alternative keyboards make computers accessible to almost every student. There are four main types of adapted keyboards: expanded keyboards, mini-keyboards, one-handed keyboards, and on-screen keyboards.

What types of disabilities and learner characteristics are best supported by Adapted Keyboards?
*Expanded keyboards-enlarged keyboards benefit students with poor fine motor control
*Mini-keyboards-smaller keyboards help students with motor impairments such as muscular dystrophy
*One-handed keyboards-designed to serve students who only have the use of one hand
*On-screen keyboards-placing an image of the keyboard on the computer monitor allows students who lack motor skills to access the keyboard by using a mouse

What is a brand of Adapted Keyboards that is generally found in schools and that would be appropriate for Cabrini University students?
There are many options for purchasing enlarged keyboards.  In our testing center, Cabrini's DRC offers an enlarged keyboard on one of the desktop computers which looks similar to the image below. Currently, there is one DRC student who requires the use of an enlarged keyboard because of vision impairment.  This student uses our enlarged keyboard for homework and essays in addition to test taking.

Adapted Keyboards picture:

Image result for enlarged keyboards



No comments:

Post a Comment