Hypermobile wrists and finger joints

[jomica]

scissor control

 

DS (9) has problems with hypermobile wrists and finger joints and the OT recommended - amongst other things - some special scissors. The company she recommended to buy them from was one with an NHS contract, but their sales to the public were at a much higher cost. I bought the scissors anyway, but (as usual) they got lost at school.

 

Anyway, I went looking online for some more, preferably cheaper if they are to get lost at such alarming regularlity (despite having his nametape sewn into them!!) and found this company:

 

http://www.peta-uk.com/index.html

 

The cost is a third of what I paid with Nottingham Rehab Supplies, so just wanted to say shop around! The new scissors are exactly the same and I don't mind so much if they get lost now.

 

Alphasmart

 

On a different note, at DS's annual review last week we agreed that he would get an alphasmart and have some touch typing lessons. I've looked at them online - are they simple to use? How long did it take to learn how to use it? Is it pretty similar to a computer keyboard? Any drawbacks?

[Kazzen161]

The alphasmarts are very easy to use if you are used to computers. There are different types of alphasmart, and they have a different feel to the keys - the neo feels like a laptop, the older one feels more like a standard PC keyboard. The thing I don't like is that you can only see a few lines of typing at a time.

 

Karen

[Karen A]

Hi As mentioned above the main drawback with Alphsmart is that only a few lines show on the screen at once.Ben uses computer at home and Alphasmart for longer bits of writing in school.If you could provide a strong enough case and your child will be using a key board in secondary school it may be easier to push for a lap top now.Karen.

[jomica]

Thanks Karen and Kazzan, that's really worth knowing. Presumably it's a bit irritating having to scroll up and down during a longer piece of writing?

[fairynormal]

My son has very poor motor skills and has used an alphasmart since Y2 (he's Y5 now) The school had countless problems connecting it up to a laptop to print his work off. Apart from that he loved using it and ended up teaching other children how to use them. That's when they actually let him use it! They were determined that he WOULD learn to write properly depite being told several time by the Ed Psych and various docs that he will probably never be able to write to a decent standard and that it doesn't really matter that much anyway in this computer age.

[LKS]

Hi Jomica, my ds has used an Alphasmart for about 4 yrs now. He is in yr 8 and currently uses a neo. Have to agree with the others in that only being able to see several lines of your typed work at a time is really frustrating. In fact this was such a problem for ds in yr 6 SATs that he had to do them on a PC. The benefits I suppose of the Alphasmart is that it is light and quite strong and I think it comes with a KAZ typing programme. I have been pushing for a laptop for ds for several years because it is not just his writing but charts, diagrams, and maths that causes him problems and this gets worse and worse the older he gets and the more difficult the work becomes. So far the school are not keen as they say there could be problems with a laptop being stolen

[Kazzen161]

The older alphasmart you can only see about 2 lines, the neo you can see about 4 I think.

 

There can be problems if the child has to share the alphasmart with other children - only about 9 pieces of work can be stored then you have to download them onto a PC, so you can re-use the files. My son tried using one (on a shared basis) and he kept finding his work had been deleted before he could download it.

 

Here's a link showing the newer alphasmarts.

 

 

www.inclusive.co.uk/catalogue/acatalog/alphasmart_corner.html

 

Karen

[jomica]

Thanks, everyone, for your helpful replies. I think I'm going to push for a laptop from the start. We don't have any alphasmarts in school anyway, so maybe they'll be more open to the laptop idea as all the teachers know what to do with those. I think you've provided me with plenty of ammunition to make the case.

 

Cheers!

[Karen A]

My son has very poor motor skills and has used an alphasmart since Y2 (he's Y5 now) The school had countless problems connecting it up to a laptop to print his work off. Apart from that he loved using it and ended up teaching other children how to use them. That's when they actually let him use it! They were determined that he WOULD learn to write properly depite being told several time by the Ed Psych and various docs that he will probably never be able to write to a decent standard and that it doesn't really matter that much anyway in this computer age.

 

Thankyou so much for posting this.I can see that we are going to have the same problem.It helps to know that others are in the same boat.Having battled to get a Ststement that included detail re need for Alphasmart he is hardly using it. Karen.

[Kathryn]

L is at FE college and has an alphasmart on loan. She uses it to communicate as there are times when under stress she has difficulty speaking, but doesn't use it for written work.

 

At school she was given a laptop in year 10 but found it extremely heavy to lug around, and the complicated procedure for figuring out which lessons she needed it for, making time to go and get it, returning it later was too much of an added burden on top of everything else she was trying to cope with.

 

I hope you find the right machine for your son, jomica. it can make all the difference. After years of struggling with handwriting and getting really frustrated during exams, L is about to do computerised versions of level 2 literacy and numeracy exams (GCSE equivalents).

 

K x

[KateBall]

My son has bendy fingers (don't know the technical term) - they bend backwards and make it difficult for him to write. Consequently (and presumably also because of his special needs anyway) he is way behind on writing and gets very frustrated with it. I've never heard of these Alphasmarts but having looked at a picture of them I've realised that my old Psion 7 would be perfect for him. have a look on http://www.newth.net/psion7/index.html

 

They don't sell them any more except I've seen some on ebay quite cheap. The screen is big and they are easy to use. The word processor part is very easy to use and you can print via a cable to the computer.

 

I'm going to see if the school would allow him to use it.

 

Am I likely to get opposition do you think? Do they like the children using a laptop when the others aren't. Presumably he would also have to practice writing too but I envisage it being useful in lesson where he needs to write stuff and yet because he can't then it reflects on the subject which otherwise he might show he's really good at - eg science.

[Kathryn]

Am I likely to get opposition do you think? Do they like the children using a laptop when the others aren't. Presumably he would also have to practice writing too but I envisage it being useful in lesson where he needs to write stuff and yet because he can't then it reflects on the subject which otherwise he might show he's really good at - eg science.

 

Well they wouldn't object if it was a walking aid he needed! It's not a privilege but an essential support. Talk to the senco: there shouldn't be any objection, especially if you are buying this yourself. The main problem is making sure the teachers know what's going on - when L did work on her laptop nobody seemed to know whether she should hand in the disc or print out the work herself, even after an exam! She didn't use it in Maths or science, only in the subjects where a lot of writing was required.

 

It will be interesting to see if the new Disability Equality Duty which all schools now have to comply with, will make it easier for children to get access to laptops in schools.

 

K x

[Kazzen161]

They may stress that they will not be responsible if it gets lost (or stolen).

 

 

Karen