Hey all

[Randiscan]

Hi all,
First of all can you all say a prayer for our 3 fallen police officers and all their loved ones from Pittsburgh that were shot in the line of duty for no reason at all on Saturday. It is so sad and incomprehensible!
*cg18


I wanted to know if any of you know if either a computer or an adaptable keyboard would be something that a school district would buy for Kody. Actually he has a computer that Kim got through goodwill for him with a mouse and a keyboard and he LOVES it!!! He uses the mouse and is doing kindergarten and some 1st grade programs. But because of his motor issues and his vision issues he can't use the keyboard at all and Kim hasn't talked to school yet (they are off this week) and I was thinking that maybe they may pay for some adaptive stuff we were looking at online like a keyboard with 1 inch keys and a metal separator for the keys. Both kind of pricey. Just thinking if anyone knows someone on here would .... :):):):):):):)
Thanks-Randi

[Carly'sMa]

Check out Intellikeys.

[Lorarama]

Randi,

I don't know if you recall Jac's story at all. She's been diagnosed with atypical rasmussen's and we at one point thought she would need a hemi, but because she's not following the books, she didn't get one. She was, however, completely paralyzed on her left side early on, and had to really work with years of therapy to regain use...the worst part was that she was a lefty, so the hand she was left with full use of, is not her dominant hand. She has basically switched dominance now and uses her right for most things and lefty is a helper.

Anyhoo....at one point we had assistive technology involved with her at school. We were trying to see if it was easier on her to use a computer one handed or struggle with 2. We didnt try a one handed keyboard, but we did use a program that was like a keyboard on the screen and you use the mouse to click the keys. It has all kinds of cool options, like reading the word out loud, quick type words like when you start typing and the program anticipates the full word, etc. The program is used in conjuction with word processing programs, email programs, any thing you use a keyboard for. It was a very cool program and since you said Kodi does well with the mouse I thought maybe the school can look into it when it's time. I believe if he needs assitive tech, it gets written in his IEP and the school is then supposed to provide the equipment and/or program. I know it's pricey stuff, i think this program cost like $1200 bucks or something, but if it helps him with writing, he needs it.

It's called REACH interface, check out the program: http://www.ahf-net.com/reach.htm

Hope this helps.:)

[Mother's Heart]

you can ask the school for an Assistive Technology Evaluation then the recommendations that come out of that should be put into his IEP. The goals and benchmarks should include learning to use the technology and using it for school activities. The accommodations and modifications page should include the adaptive technology. Then the school should buy the equipment for him to use at school. They will not likely buy it for home use unless it is needed for him to do the same homework that the other students do. So...yeah....school can buy for him to use but you have to go through the process.
If you want something for him to keep for personal use you may have to fund it yourself, through insurance, or through Family Support or whoever manages his case.

We loved the one inch keys and surprisingly to me have progressed to smaller keys now. I never expected that.

glad to hear from you. :)

[andromeda31]

Hi!

Caitlin just went thru the Adaptive Tech process this winter. The school ended up buying her a new laptop! She is using some program called pixwriter for writing now it is really neat! and they are trying to find other stuff for math and such. The OT is working on finding a switch for her to use vs the mouse as the mouse is too hard for her to do. But I am pleased with what her school does for her. The process was really interesting, I attended the meeting. They had a lady come in from CESA 6 (don't really know what that stands for, some kind of multischool organization) and she had just tons of great ideas. As for keyboards....I purchased a 'big keys' type keyboard at Office Depot (may have been Office Max, I always forget which is the one by us as I don't go there often) for like only 25 bucks...it was made by crayola. I have seen them also at wal mart (the exact same ones). It is 'qwerty', but i know they also have them in the alphabetical layout...her teacher had bought some this summer and showed them to me which is why i bought one for at home thinking it would be nice for her to have the same thing here & there. It has a USB plug to plug in which is nice. I brought my old computer up to the kitchen and have it set up for the kids to bang on. Hope you can find one like this, I know in those special needs catalogs things always seem so overpriced! Good luck! :)

Lisa O.

PS: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10339309#ProductDetail figures it is even cheaper now! LOL!

[mpalmer118]

Lisa I was just about to paste a link to that same keyboard. :) We bought that one for home use for Rachel. It is great. Alot of the extra stuff is left off, so not as much visual clutter. The keys are big and with lots of color contrast. And it is dirt cheap!

For school they have been trying several different kinds of keyboards, but haven't found the "right" one. Definately check and see if his IEP has adaptive equipment written, if not ask for revision to add it, there are plenty of easily provable reasons and benefits.

[Randiscan]

Thanks so much guys!!!! I am definately going to give all this information to Kim to present to school on Monday. Actually his IEP is coming up so these tips are going to be extremely useful!!! Just wondering why some of you bought your own keyboards if the school district would supply them? Usually his school is pretty good with helping us with everything that we need. Right now Kody is very sick with the flu :(
Kisses and hugs to all your kids!
Happy Easter to all!

[Mother's Heart]

mary,

I was going to ask about the keys and vision. Is the contrast good enough that they fairly easy to see? In the picture I looked at it didn't seem clear.

[mpalmer118]

The orange keys (which are numbers) and the purple keys (puncuation) don't really have enough contrast, but we are focusing more on words, so it hasn't been too much of an issue. The green and blue keys are pretty bold so the white letters stand out pretty well, also since the keys themselves are enlarged the letters are bigger.

Randi- Technically we could request the equipment go back and forth from home to school, but I didn't want the responsiblity of that. So when we found a keyboard for her to use here that was inexpensive we just went for it.

[Randiscan]

Oh ok Mary. See for Kody the different color keys I think would be to busy. He would need big keys but only in black and white. I am not sure but that is what I am thinking. He is just doing so good on the computer....he is just surprising us everyday :)

[Mother's Heart]

have you already seen the Graystone company's Big Keys keyboards then?

[Mother's Heart]

wow. I went to their page to get the link for you and they have a new high contrast keyboard. black on amber. I'm jealous. :)

http://www.bigkeys.com/

my son has low vision but loves the color keys. I personally think they are harder to see but I let him have his choice, knowing I could spend 12 more dollars and get a separate keyset if need be.

[skigirl1689]

I used Intelikeys for many years and I remember they had different options for keyboard overlays (they're plastic sheets that the keyboard recognizes and adjusts to work for the specific sheet). They also have the plastic cover with the individual key holes. I know my school bought me one for use at school and we had one at home as I typed most of my homework. I no longer use it as the district refused to order a new one for months and during that time I got really good at using the regular keyboard.

I will pray for the Philly officers. One of the Oakland officers was from my hometown here in Michigan so there was a huge funeral here last week. My sister's classmate was his niece so it hit close to home.

~Becca

[andromeda31]

Hi Randi,

I bought my own since it was so cheap...when things are cheap like that I just do it on my own...figure it to be a 'donation' to the school, LOL. They are in a big big budget hole here, as is every school around here it seems. I was surprised (and so were the teachers) that the new laptop was approved and made an appearance so quickly. But my thinking is I don't demand a whole lot from them so when something is important for her it should be done quickly, and it was! I am really pleased with what her school/teachers/aides do for her...now the bus company on the other hand... :rolleyes:

Lisa O.

[Randiscan]

Wow I love that black on amber one. I will have to see if that would work for him. Becca ...it is the Pittsburgh Police not Philly.. :) But thanks for the prayers
Lisa, I think our schools our in a budget crunch also so I don't know what they are going to say to any of this but we shall see. We won't even start discussing the bus company....we have really really bad complaints with bus companies!!!
Randi