“Finally A Program That Levels The Playing Field For Children With Special Needs”
The Joy Of Success:
It is important for to be able to communicate with others. But for a child with learning differences, being able to type can be a liberating experience and a comfort to know that their words will be legible. A child with special needs, who learns to type properly, suddenly experiences the joy of communicating his/her thoughts and ideas successfully to others. Self esteem soars as learning to type becomes a life changing experience.
To Whom It May Concern:
I am very pleased to write this letter supporting Rita Herman’s typing program proposal. My name is Peg Watt-Morse. I am a high-risk obstetrician married to a busy attorney. We have four children now ranging from 9-to-16.
Our second child has Asperger’s Syndrome. Asperger’s Syndrome is a form of high-functioning autism. When you first meet her, Mary is an energetic, enthusiastic, inquisitive blonde girl. She is a bit awkward, and her voice is very loud. She relates better to adults than to her peers.
Mary has all the characteristics that can be present in children with Asperger’s Syndrome. Among these are significant difficulties with organization and fine motor skills. She has received special supports since the age of five.
Mary has been in a typical school with some accommodations for her entire life. Her handwriting is painstakingly slow and difficult to read.
We first met Mrs. Herman a bit more than five years ago because her teacher had been astute enough to grab the opportunity to have Mrs. Herman’s support for a few hours per week. The first student to work with her was our daughter.
In less than four sessions, our daughter was an excellent typist. I do not even remember all the aspects of the program. I do remember that part of it involved Mary(‘s) writing a song about her grandfather (who died in 1998) that was very touching. To this day, Mary types all of her written assignments.
Mrs. Herman then taught my older daughter and Mary’s brother Jacob. She will be coming soon to work with Paul. All of my children have worked with typing in their computer classes at school. These classes have been long and boring. They do not compare with the instruction from Mrs. Herman.
I think that Mrs. Herman should be used much more widely. My family is a perfect example of how it works well for both typical and special needs children. Please feel free to contact me if you have further questions. Mrs. Herman can provide my contact information.
Sincerely,
Margaret L. (Peg) Watt-Morse MD, MPH
Testimonials from Moms’ of Children with Special Needs:
Wow! Keyboard Town Pals really works! Just like magic! My 7 year old daughter was able to type with her eyes closed, literally. She could visualize the whole keyboard, because all the characters stuck in her mind. She has also regularly been quizzing ME on the names and locations of all the Keyboard Town Pals on the keyboard, LOL. Mommy often gets the names wrong, much to her chagrin, and she corrects me. I can’t believe I went through a whole year class in Grade 9 typing to learn what my 7 year old learned in virtually one hour! My child is happily using her new typing skills. http://homeschoolblogger.com/novascotia/?p=784908
They have struggled with learning to type correctly. No matter how hard I try they just did not get it. They found most typing skills programs too boring to hold their interest. My boys have been so frustrated with typing they were a little skeptical, but I convinced them that this is different. There are no timed tests, no counting your errors. The other programs are always telling you what you are doing wrong. They seemed to relax a bit and enjoy this program. I know this program worked for my kids ages 11 and 13, both of my boys have Asperger’s Syndrome and suffer motor delays.
It is simply amazing. I did not believe it until I saw it myself. Now the recommended age on Keyboard Town Pals is 6-12 and also for children of all ages with learning or developmental disabilities.
http://freshstartacademy.blogspot.com/
Keyboard Town Pals really is a great product. I’ve kind of dragged my feet with it a bit for some reasons, but overall I enjoy the concept of their learning philosophy and that’s what I have to gush about today! To get a complete overview of the program via their words you can look at the instruction page found here. As for my break down, Keyboard Town Pals ranks as a great product because it allows children to learn naturally and in a fun environment. What makes this program unique is that it isn’t based on errors. http://cherieiam.blogspot.com/2011/11/tos-review-keyboard-town-pals.html
So the first time we logged on to Keyboard Town PALS I couldn’t believe how easily she picked it up! This program is so child friendly and very helpful for kids with special needs like Gess! I am absolutely amazed with the results! I would highly recommend this for any family who has a child with special needs but I am sure it would work great for any child. Typing is one of those things I wondered if Gess would ever be able to do well. I certainly thought it was going to be much harder than this to teach her, especially when other methods had failed. I have to give a big thumbs up to this program and I am certainly recommending it to everyone in our local Down syndrome support group too!
http://specialconnectionhomeschool.blogspot.com/2011/11/tos-review-keyboard-town-pals.html
My 9 year old son, Hayden had an opportunity to try the program and he really enjoyed it! He was intrigued by the puppet pals and began identifying the keys with the pals almost immediately. Having tried several typing programs with my children, I liked that there was not a “timed test” at this level. It really was a stress free, fun way to learn typing skills. The program has also seen some promising results in children with special needs. If you’re looking for a innovative typing program for your child, check this one out!http://grettajohns.blogspot.com/2011/11/keyboard-town-pals-review-tos-review.html
Keyboard Town Pals is a very unique program that I feel younger kids who are learning to type would be drawn to. Joshua, our asperger’s syndrome child, has been using it and loving it. It is like no other typing program I have seen. Why? Because it uses puppets to teach how to type
in my therapist days, we used the keyword (associative) approach to teaching the sounds of the alphabet. So, I know that the associative approach really works. Because my son is asperger’s and doesn’t sit well for long periods of time, he only does a couple of lessons at one setting but I could see how a child could sit and do all of the lessons at once. All of the lessons together only take about an hour. So, your child could actually be fully typing in an hour! It may not be fast, but it’s proper typing and the more they practice, the fast they will become.
Joshua is really enjoying Keyboard Town Pals and I really like the puppets.
Joshua is really enjoying Keyboard Town Pals and I really like the associative approach. It may not be for every child, but I can really see it working for younger children and special needs children like my Joshua.
The other thing I really like about Keyboard Town Pals is the price.
I have not seen Hunter sit at the computer and hunt and peck at the keys, since beginning this program. His hands are on home key street and he moves the appropriate fingers to the appropriate keys. He was able to quickly complete all of the 8 lessons that the program provides. He would often work through all 8 in a day. There was no gnashing of teeth or threatening needed to have him practice. He willingly and eagerly practiced every time I asked. So much so that he became a bit bored and wanted more to practice. The program has a virtual journal that you are supposed to use for more practice, but it was really just a PDF file of the text from the puppet portion. I think he would have enjoyed some additional practice with more variety.
I am grateful for the experience of reviewing it. Hunter did learn how to type correctly, and he did learn it in about an hour.
We had the opportunity to review Keyboard Town PALS this last month and I have to tell you, I am absolutely amazed with the results! Keyboard Town PALS is a program for teaching children to type and it worked really well for us! Typing is a skill that I feared would take Gess (who has Down syndrome) forever to learn. In fact, we had tried other typing programs and teaching her myself, but it never seemed to take. So Gess has been doing what many kids (and some adults) do; hunt and peck.
Gess has been on the computer enough to where she actually knows where most (if not all) of the letters are. It’s her motor skills that were the most challenging. So the first time we logged on to Keyboard Town PALS I couldn’t believe how easily she picked it up! This program is so child friendly and very helpful for kids with special needs like Gess!
I was absolutely amazed at how easily she picked it up! She was typing right away! Just look at her go!
I would highly recommend this for any family who has a child with special needs but I am sure it would work great for any child. Typing is one of those things I wondered if Gess would ever be able to do well. I certainly thought it was going to be much harder than this to teach her, especially when other methods had failed. I have to give a big thumbs up to this program and I am certainly recommending it to everyone in our local Down syndrome support group too!
They have struggled with learning to type correctly. No matter how hard I try they just did not get it. They found most typing skills programs too boring to hold their interest. My boys have been so frustrated with typing they were a little skeptical, but after convincing them that this is different, there are no timed tests, no counting your errors and always telling you what you are doing wrong, they seemed to relax a bit and enjoy the program. I know this program worked for my kids ages 11 and 13, both of my boys have Asperger’s Syndrome and suffer motor delays. They now truly enjoy their computer time, and can type just like mom. Now it did teach my kids to type in an hour but we spend and hour a week practicing so they can get better and gain speed, but this program was a great foundation for getting started. After the kids finish and perfect the lessons there is a great little assessment that has them type the alphabet forwards and backwards, and then type there name with their eyes closed, my kids get a kick out of that.
The children can learn to type in one hour. It is simply amazing, I did not believe it until I saw it myself. Now the recommended age on Keyboard Town Pals is 6-12 and also many children of all ages with learning or developmental disabilities.
Robin learned to type in one week with 98% accuracy
Builds Confidence:
Keyboard Town PALS is a stress-free zone! The program creates a fun and relaxed learning environment. Students of all ages and with all types of learning differences are successful as they compete against themselves never subjected to any negative verbal prompts (such as: “That is incorrect. You pressed x # of incorrect keys.”). And, no visual negative images are seen (such as: no “red pencil” marks shown or highlighting of mistakes). In fact, with Keyboard Town PALS, mistakes just scroll off the screen and disappear. Never resorting to timed-speed tests makes everyone a winner every time. Only positive reinforcement and encouragement is used. The puppet “Sunny” who is the teacher, says these words, ” Don’t worry about mistakes. Together we will get it right.” This sensitive approach establishes an atmosphere of trust between student and teacher.
Experience Success:
The tutorial consists of two 1/2 hour lessons. However, the system is very flexible and is adaptable to the needs of those with all kinds of learning aptitudes and attention spans. Special needs students may choose to do only one mini lesson a day. There are eight mini lessons, 6-7 minutes each. Students may also use the tool bar to personalize the screen-color-background and the color of the letters. While it is fun for all children to experiment with color, some may actually experience improved visual perception and clarity.
The delete and backspace buttons have been inactivated. By doing this the right hand remains on the keyboard at all times avoiding the starting and stopping motion, which interrupts the learning process, misdirects the student’s focus and the desire to constantly correct mistakes.
What We Do Not Do:
- Keyboard Town PALS does not hover and record every action taken.
- Keyboard Town PALS does not grade or count the number of incorrect letters pressed.
- Keyboard Town PALS does not establish grandiose expectations for a person’s performance. This often ends up instilling aversion for a subject or activity. Unreasonable high expectations often pressure the learner to perform within strictly prescribed guidelines.
- Keyboard Town PALS does not have timed-speed tests. If intrinsic motivation is one key to a student’s creativity, the crucial element in cultivating it is time: open-ended time to savor and explore a particular activity or material to make it his own.
Health Alert:
Hunting and pecking puts excessive strain on wrist and hand muscles, tendons, and ligaments leading to carpal tunnel syndrome.
Keyboard Town PALS uses the PALS system of association, puppets, music and humor to teach the location of 30 letters and symbols. The PALS system works on the classic principle that two objects seen or heard together will often become linked in our minds. In addition to utilizing association and numerous memory techniques to improve retention, Keyboard Town PALS incorporates different cues throughout the video to stimulate the visual, auditory, and kinesthetic senses. Since one is able to type real words after only two minutes into the program, the user is highly energized, and motivated to continue. Instead of prodding, a hostile student to complete a program of randomly placed letters, Keyboard Town PALS creates an enthusiastic eager participant!
Language Arts and Reading Readiness:
All students, especially students with learning disabilities, will greatly benefit from the basic language arts skills that Keyboard Town PALS software covers. Here is a list of some of the basic language skills taught: letter recognition, letter configuration, eye-hand coordination, sound recognition, rhyming words, spelling, and punctuation. Reinforcing these language skills leads to reading readiness and an enthusiasm for learning which builds self-confidence and self-esteem in students.
Keyboard Town PALS Finger Puppets:
Everyone loves to play with puppets. Children will be thrilled to own their own set of KTP finger puppets, now available for the first time. These adorable handmade puppets are an excellent way to reinforce the learning.
Professional Product Review:
Sora Wolf, OTR/L Occupational Therapy
It was my good fortune to be introduced to an innovative new typing program called, “Learn To Type” created by the Keyboard Town PALS company. I tested the CD-ROM on children with special needs and mainstream children. My goal was to see if the Keyboard Town PALS approach was a better, faster and more enjoyable way to teach young children proper typing technique.
I found that this product was a superior way to teach keyboarding skills for the following reasons: this innovative software combines puppets, humor, music, and educational hints to familiarize children with the keyboard and teach efficient typing skills; and the catchy phrases were easily repeated by the children enabling them to recall key locations. Although the actual program is a one hour video, it is very flexible and children are able to proceed at their own pace stopping and starting the video as desired. Children were eager to view lessons multiple times enjoying the charming and entertaining puppets.
Every other typing program on the market teaches across the keyboard (a,s,d,f,g).
But Keyboard Town PALS teaches one finger at-a-time, vertically. For example, the pinky finger on the left hand is responsible to press the letters a,z,q. Teaching typing one finger at-a-time trains new learners to isolate fingers as is necessary for learning to type. This one finger method is extremely beneficial for children with spatial perception weakness, as well as motor weakness.
The use of animation and association to teach the location of keys is a fantastic way for children with memory recall difficulty to learn. An added feature of this program is the inclusion of social skills and values which are interspersed throughout the lessons.
Thank you for providing this opportunity to me. I definitely recommend this program to therapists and tutors working with children and adults with learning differences and limited motor ability. Mainstream children can navigate this stand-alone program on their own and experience quick success and a self-esteem boost.
Sora Wolf
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE:
The Keyboard Town PALS Video Director, Melissa Martin, a professor of screen writing at the Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, has an adopted daughter whose birth mother was addicted to illegal drugs. As a result, the newborn baby experienced withdrawal symptoms at birth and with many health problems, one of which is Attention Deficit Disorder. Concentration is difficult for her and school is a challenge. Melissa was extremely pleased that her 12-year-old daughter was so enchanted by the charm of the puppets that she was able to focus and concentrate on the video instruction. There was great pride in this achievement. She had not only acquired the new skill of typing, but she had completed a task! All her work now is done on the computer, using the proper typing technique.
Melissa Martin
Adjunct Program: A Free Download
Having students begin with our readiness slide show, “Little Hands Can Type” will level the playing field. Special needs children are now able to keep pace with the “Learn To Type” software.
KEYBOARD TOWN PALS introduces “Little Hands Can Type” Slide Show. Teachers and parents requested KTP to develop an introduction to the “Learn To Type” video that would be a primer for children with special needs. The “Little Hands Can Type” program familiarizes students with basic concepts on the keyboard and tangibly shows them the relationship between letters, keys and fingers. Each slide in the show gives students the time and opportunity to become comfortable with new concepts.
KTP has met lots of People, visited interesting places and attended important events.
Kudos to Keyboard Town PALS from a family who has had success with their special needs child. Read More >>
Read Mary’s story about a child with Asperger’s Syndrome learning to type with Keyboard Town PALS. Read More >>
Building Blocks Magazine: Finally a program for special needs children. Read More >>
Read Another Amazing Story from the director of our video, who has a special needs child. Read More >>
