Dyslexia and typing skills

Can Dyslexia Affect My Typing Skills?

by

REVIEWED BY NUMBERDYSLEXIA’S EXPERT PANEL ON MARCH 26, 2022

Say, you need to check your email. You may take your phone or a laptop and enter credentials to log in. For this, you would need noteworthy typing skills. Not only for checking emails or other websites, knowledge of typing is crucial for many other operations on computers. Discerning the importance of typing, some learning compromised individuals may look into knowing if they can master this skill. 

Looking into the requisites for typing, we can discern that efficient reading abilities may be imperative. Does this mean that learning compromises may make you strive to learn to keyboard? One may need to infer conclusions from proven perceptions. Consequently, we here traverse through various insights to get a better idea of how typing is managed by special people.  Later we will also edify you with some eminent typing programs to try. 

What traits are pivotal for typing?- Know them to master!

While some people perceive typing to be a pure game of fingers on keys, there are some crucial traits that may be needed by a computer user. Comprehending these in detail can assist you to motivate to ameliorate them when needed:

1. Motor Skills

Typing necessitates rapid movement of fingers to enter information faster. This implies the need for Finger Dexterity as a part of fine motor skills, especially in the hands of the aspirant. Some special individuals may slow down in typing due to substandard motor skills. In research by Marie Eve Machand Krynski[1], it was observed that motor skills were complex in children and adolescents with Dyslexia. This may be evident in unimanual and bimanual sequential motor tasks like typing where the unique knowledge of both hands is needed. 

2. Bilateral Coordination

Coordination between the right and left sections of the body may be needed for admirable typing skills. Evidently, the Left and right hands of the aspirant should work in complete coordination with each other. Nevertheless, bilateral/bimanual coordination may be an area to improve for Dyslexics.  Lawrence H. Moore[2] made a study on bimanual coordination in Dyslexic adults. The comparison of control subjects and experimental groups depicted that Dyslexics showed a consistent pattern of slackened bimanual coordination. This was because it was observed there may be an incapacity to use the left hand as fast as the right hand. 

3. Endurance

Comprehending professionally, a person may need to spend long hours with keyboards at the workplace. For that reason, they may need sound health, especially in their wrists and hands. Endurance is often a personal attribute and may vary in individuals. Oftentimes, stamina can be built over time with an elevation of exposure. Practicing some easy tips and strategies, or even learning touch typing can assist them in better typing skills.

Typing don’t need spatial knowledge- Here is an edge!

While we discussed the need for motor skills and coordination for tying, it may be logical to expect the need for Spatial knowledge too. Moreover, most of the learning compromises may lead to substandard spatial awareness. Fascinatingly, typing may not need spatial knowledge. 

Lawrence P Bahmer[3] has made a study on the need for spatial knowledge during skilled action sequencing considering the instances of typists. According to the research- it was previously perceived that there are two loops for effective typing. While the outer loop is all about transforming words to sentences, the inner loop was believed to be spatial knowledge.  

Nonetheless, this ambiguity is cleared by the results of the research, which outlines that a collection of individual processes were responsible for word-level representations.

In this report, a work of Behmer and Crump was highlighted which concluded that the procedures of generating individual strokes are tuned by a sensitive procedure of frequency of specific keystrokes. This may mark that whether or not spatial knowledge of key locations, an individual key transition may be structured in a hierarchical manner. With such inferences, Lawrence argues that typists may not rely on the high-level spatial representation of the keyboard, instead they may often depend on procedures of executing specific keystrokes.  

Nonetheless, from the experimental inferences, it may be noted that the error rates for some letters were influenced by the high-level structure of the word. For this reason, it is expected that spatial knowledge may be developed with the practice of typing. 
Special individuals can learn through experiences of locating and expediting through various keys in routines. Evidently, people often type structured language and thereby have learned transitions with experience.

Are dyslexics good at typing?

Just like writing and reading, typing text on a keyboard needs a gripping knowledge of letters and symbols. Nonetheless, this may not be the case with everyone.  Individuals with learning and number compromises may need some additional time to type. Perera[4] made an EEG signal analysis of writing and typing to see the status of Dyslexia adults.  The results outline that there can be greater levels of difficulties in writing and typing seen in dyslexic individuals. These inferences may depict a direct link between learning incapacity and typing compromises. 

Going through various attributes where Dyslexics may need to address, it can be inferred that while they may not be admirable typists by default. Nonetheless, ensuring a few strategies may result in noteworthy improvements. 

  • Maintain a Comfortable Posture: Warranting the right position while typing may be pivotal due to a number of reasons.  Firstly, it ameliorates endurance instinctively. Secondly, the typist can look at the keyboard effortlessly in case of doubt. Finally, the right pose retains an interest in the act. 
  • Opt a Typing Program: To learn typing professionally, an aspirant may look into various available typing programs to learn typing with interactive teaching and access. The edge of these programs is that they may build up skills from scratch. Further, aspirants can learn touch typing directly. 
  • Ensure regular practice: Even if the person has noteworthy abilities to access computers, everyone often incepts with slower typing speeds. These later gets  polished up with time and relevant practice, 

Five typing programs to ameliorate typing

We have previously outlined that opting for a typing program can assist in mastering typing. Accordingly, we have done rigorous research to bring out a few eminent typing programs for you to explore:

1. Read and Spell 

This program is serene for all age groups. Created especially for Dyslexics, this ensures a befitting typing program for learning compromises.  Further, it also helps the learners to be more confident in spelling and reading fluency too.  Being an online program, the aspirants are free to use it anytime, facilitating personalized learning. Here are some more attributes that make it Dyslexia friendly:

  • Options to Customize the keyboard colours and designs
  • Open Dyslexic Font for better comprehension
  • Phonics based training 
  • Multi-Device access and certificate of completion. 

The typing course is named TTRS (Touch-type read and spell) and is recommended by organisations like the British Dyslexia Association for its Orton-Gillingham Approach. 

Program Link

2. KAZ Tutorial

To ease out specialized learning, AI software may be necessary. KAZ may be one of those programs that come in the form of software.  Designed by Dyslexia research trust, this program is designated to assist all known incapacities like Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, and a few others. Aspirants can check on to their website and give a free typing test and then take relevant decisions. Here are a few enticing factors that make it Dyslexia friendly:

  • Training on Preference screen, which ensures to remove all visual disturbances.
  • Lets the users share problematic words so that they can learn them soon.
  • Small Training sessions, mitigating the anxiety of learning.

Program Link

3. Rapid Typing Tutor

Rapid typing is a handy associate to learn typing. It offers services like tutoring, tests, software, and also enticing typing games. Be it a student or an adult; these pedagogies ensure to improve their abilities. Due to this flexibility, it can be employed in the classroom under guidance as well. Here the visitors can get access to four different courses: beginner, experienced, advanced, and resting based on the complexity.  This program is free for most of its version and ensures teaching multiple keyboard layouts like Qwerty, Dvorak, Bepo, and many others. Other edges include lessons editors, multiple languages, and progress reports. Here are a few features that make it dyslexia-friendly:

  • For every course, there is a hand guide depicting which finger is to be used to press. This ensures visual cues to preach.
  • The program is light and can be effortlessly accessed on any device. 
  • Different keyboard colors and customizations options. 

Program Link

4. Typing Bolt 

Being an AI-based typing program, it facilitates the users to make changes in UI. The automatic analysis of the student level is the unique feature of this pick. It measures the dynamics of the keyboard and determines at what level the learner is, and thereby decides what level of challenges are to be provided. Here are a few features that make it apt for people with dyslexia:

  • Graphical representation of performance
  • Adjustable typing speed
  • Touch Typing training and certificate of successful completion. 

Program Link

5. Ratatype

Learning typing for accuracy may often be associated with faster output as well. Rata type focuses on the speed of typing along with accuracy.  Preaching touch typing provides some unique and easy lessons to process in a stepwise approach. What makes this pick distinct is that it facilitates the users to communicate with each other by forming a community. Apart from this feature, here are some other exhilarating attributes for Dyslexics:

  • Can learn typing multiple languages at once
  • The game mode is available to turn to learn into entertainment. The game lets players to earn coins and buy new heroes to level up.
  • Can be employed in workplace or school where peer competition can be ensured for swift learning
  • Several typing tips along with certification at completion. 

Program Link

Concluding thoughts 

Evaluating a skill only after weighing it down from various dimensions may make it meaningful. Evidently, there are researches that show possible damping characteristics related to typing in Dyslexia. But with strategies and timely practice can ameliorate the scenario drastically. Thankfully, multiple typing programs are available to make learning yet more engrossing for special children. These practices may let the learner grasp typing faster.  Check out the picks stated above and see which among these can be the best take-in for you. 

References:

  1. Moore, L. H., Brown, W. S., Markee, T. E., Theberge, D. C., & Zvi, J. C. (1995). Bimanual coordination in dyslexic adults. Neuropsychologia, 33(6), 781-793.
  2. Marchand-Krynski, M. È., Morin-Moncet, O., Bélanger, A. M., Beauchamp, M. H., & Leonard, G. (2017). Shared and differentiated motor skill impairments in children with dyslexia and/or attention deficit disorder: From simple to complex sequential coordination. PloS one, 12(5), e0177490.
  3. Behmer, L. P., & Crump, M. J. (2017). Spatial knowledge during skilled action sequencing: Hierarchical versus nonhierarchical representations. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 79(8), 2435-2448.
  4. Perera, P., Harshani, H., Shiratuddin, M. F., Wong, K. W., & Fullarton, K. (2018). EEG signal analysis of writing and typing between adults with dyslexia and normal controls.

Leave a Comment