Spotlight on resources: The SEN Keyboard

Allow me to introduce a resource that I have been using with a couple of the young people that I work with. This is the SEN keyboard: not only a distinctively colourful, child friendly item, but very helpful in a number of ways.

• A couple of the young people that I work with have challenges with their vision. This means that it is hard for them to notice differences in shapes or to clearly see shapes when there is limited visual contrast.

• The colours on the SEN keyboard differentiate the letter from the function keys: with the vowels highlighted in purple. The keys contain BOTH a lowercase and capital letter depiction of each letter, as opposed to a standard keyboard.

• The keys are island keys (that rise well above the surface of the keyboard) to elicit a distinctive compression for activation. This additional pressure helps children to really feel where the key is positioned. The larger keys are easier to see as they are larger than standard keys. This means that accidental touch of an adjacent key is reduced.

• The SEN keyboard uses the Comic Sans font: in which the letter ‘a’  looks like the letter ‘a’ that they have been taught to write: it is amazing how many fonts do not!

• The SEN keyboard can easily be attached to any chromebook, laptop or PC via a USB cable. It is also surprisingly lightweight, considering its size.

Using the SEN keyboard has enabled one of the young people that I see to access her learning and to therefore more fully demonstrate her understanding. She has subsequently been more willing to engage in the completion of learning tasks, which had previously been a challenge.

This particular keyboard is reasonably priced at £25, so can make a helpful addition to a young person’s resources, without breaking the bank! Well worth a try I’d say!

Rachel White
Children’s Occupational Therapist