In our Menlo Park tutoring office, we’ve worked for years with students on developing keyboarding skills. It’s a particularly powerful tool in helping reluctant writers and other struggling students to gain a foothold of confidence that can serve as a foundation to re-engaging with their academic development.
Whether it is surfing, spelling, or just about any other skill, people feel good about themselves as they gain mastery. Building speed and accuracy in typing is rewarding in its own right: the gains are directly measurable and consistently rewarding. As these skills grow, more benefits ensue.
Students who struggle with fine-motor skills, spelling, organization and production of verbal language and other elements of writing especially appreciate the options they develop as they master keyboarding and other communication tools. As typing becomes increasingly automatic, students can direct more energy toward other aspects of writing production. They become confident that they can get great results. Even first drafts become easier for most. The option to treat pre-writing, writing and the many aspects of revision as discrete steps is invaluable in becoming a better writer.
Because kids may not get instruction in the right doses at the ideal times in school, it can be important to provide some of that support at home. As soon as kids begin to spend regular time on the computer, they should begin to get some systematic instruction in good computer habits.
It is much easier to teach good skills than to change bad habits. It would be a rare instance in which “excessive keyboarding” becomes a genuine problem. If students are doing it “excessively,” odds are they are doing it because it is successful for them. It is far more common to err in the other direction, i.e. that is, to fail to support the use of these important tools or to wait too long to start.
Students should be keyboarding regularly by fourth grade and as early as first grade for many. There is no specific age that is too early; you need to use your judgment to find the balance between offering a useful tool and pushing an additional learning task on a child before he or she is ready. When in doubt, don't rush it.
Remember: the confidence that grows from becoming a better typist and the practical benefits that follow will give students of all ages confidence in their academic world.
