More tools and methods

I have a lot of trouble with using computers, but at the same time, computers allow me to do so much more than what I would be able to do with just my hands. I came up with a list of rules for myself regarding computer use. I wrote this list to remind myself just where the best use of each technology is. It would be nice to have just one method that works for every occasion, but I have yet to find one. My computer rules:

Typing

There are four methods of typing available to me. These are dictation, cut-paste, mouth stick and fingers.

Dictation should always be used for in-line writing that involves just one portion of one document, with minimal editing. This would be appropriate for the following:
• Journal/reflection writing
• e-mail/letter writing
• short answer test questions
• non-edit writing in a long document
MacSpeech Dictate gets very confused when you switch between programs, documents, and places in the document. There are certain navigational commands to "insert before___", but this is little help when you need to scroll up a page or more to find your insertion point.
While I would like to avoid all instances of hand typing, the following are more suited to this, and if done in moderation, will lead to greater productivity, less software crashes, and more accurate results. The down side is that I have a lot of these instances and it always leads to more pain and being grumpy. These are the acceptable "cheats" where it is acceptable to use my fingers:
• editing PowerPoint
• editing a multiple-choice test
• spotty edit of a long document

Cut-paste is a little clumsy, but as long as you have a foot mouse, you can get by with a few tasks you might need to accomplish. The concept is this: you cut and paste words, letters and phrases from the documents and websites you already have access to, in order to construct the word you need. For example, if I wanted to research the Egyptian pyramids, I would try to find keywords to Google that will lead me to a page of this sort. Perhaps I already have a travel website bookmarked, and from there I could copy Egypt and Google it. From that search, there would likely be many pages with pyramid information. There are also many documents already on my computer that I could mine for words and letters if I wanted to construct from scratch.

The mouth stick will probably be of more use once I have a dedicated workstation with a good stand to hold the mouse stick ready for use at any time. Even then, I expect only to use it in extreme circumstances, such as when I am already in a great deal of pain. It works well for brief periods of typing, and typing that does not require any control, shift, alt or command keys to be pressed simultaneously. However, it can be useful for the following
• password login
• brief e-mails

My fingers are a last resort, but I have yet to find any system that completely frees me of using my fingers.

Mousing

There are four types of mousing available to me at this point. These are nose mousing, head mousing, foot mousing, and finger mousing.

Nose mousing is not yet practical until I have a dedicated workspace with a good mouse for the nose pad. Once I have this set up, the nose mouse will be a good alternative to integrate into my mousing behavior. It would probably never be used entirely on its own, but would be a good way of taking the pressure off of my other overworked body parts.

Head mousing should always be used for dedicated computer work. It is appropriate for
• surfing the Internet
• creating documents
• dictation
• reading
Because it is configured to track a location on my head, it is best if I do not use this for tasks that require looking at off-computer resources. For example, it would NOT be good for
• scanning documents
• grading homework
• using physical book resources
• data entry from physical paper/book/file

Foot mousing is by far the most precise, most versatile, most comfortable means of mousing. However, it has its limitations. It does not work well on all surfaces. It does not work well in all motions. The first fatigues quickly if it has to struggle. These are its major limitations:
• No carpet. Using the mouse pad on carpet doubles the resistance. It also tends to make the mouse pad creep, and you soon find your foot reaching further and further.
• Minimal scrolling. Using the left-right scroll wheel is acceptable for occasional document navigation of two pages or less. However, when working with larger documents, or lots of Internet pages, the foot fatigue from this motion quicker than any other foot mousing action.

Finger mousing or hand mousing is a last resort, but is acceptable in brief instances.

My Students Are a Resource

I am currently in my first semester of student teaching, and am navigating all of the challenges that go with this learning process. Lesson planning, grading, resources, and classroom management are all things that you never really learn until you actually do them. I’m doing them!
Managing the classroom is actually easier than I thought it would be, because I have found wonderful resources.
The first resource is people. I have given my students jobs to help me with things like materials distribution, writing on the whiteboard, jotting down notes, etc.. I have seen this used effectively in other classrooms and I know that it is an excellent opportunity for the students to practice responsibility. I would give my students jobs, even if I did not have a disability. Some students do not want the responsibility, and I do not force it on them. However, other students specifically request to have a job. Often, they don’t care what the job is. They just want the opportunity to help. I would have expected that from lower elementary students, but these are high school sophomores.
I have explained my condition to them, but only so they understand the times that I refuse to do something. The student jobs are rewarded with payment in candy. It is a small token (one piece per week) but it is a gesture to show that I do not take their assistance for granted. When a student volunteers to have a job, they are usually volunteering for the entire week, and will receive a piece of candy, a pen, a hacky sack, or a toy at the end of the week.
One of the most valuable student jobs is that of audiovisual. This student sits at the computer at the front of the room, and functions as my hands at the computer during class. They open up my lesson plan that I have posted to a website, so I can review it periodically. They open up my PowerPoint presentation, and follow my cues to advance slides as I lecture.
I am able to walk around the room, and very quickly they tune in to my subtle cues to advance slides. This gives me a great deal of freedom to stay in close proximity with the entire classroom.
I do not have any of my assistive software or hardware at school, so I am unable to do any computer work in the classroom. This has been a challenge, as I have yet to find a system that is portable on a daily basis. Hauling my laptop, foot mouse and headset with all of the accompanying cables is a physical hardship I endure periodically, but cannot do on a daily or weekly basis.
I’m still exploring assistive technologies, looking for the perfect combination of portability and accessibility. I will soon be using the new MacSpeech Dictate, which allows for Bluetooth. This will be a big improvement over the 6 foot cable and the partially dismantled Logitech headset I use now. Most headsets come with speakers, which is particularly bulky, especially when I never need speakers in dictation. All I need is a microphone, the smaller the better.

The Tools

I just completed my first semester of graduate school. It was a lot of hard work, and it would have been, even if I had full use of my hands.
There are three major tools that made graduate school possible for me. The first tool I bought was a digital voice recorder. At the time, I was sitting around the house on medical leave, trying not to do anything with my hands for days at a time. I did a lot of thinking, and had a lot of ideas that I did not want to slip away. I couldn’t write. I couldn’t type. I didn’t have a secretary to dictate everything to.
I got the voice recorder and it was amazing. I recorded all of my thoughts, whether they were grocery lists or profound insights. The grocery lists I was able to replay at the store with out ever having to transcribe them. The other thoughts and insights, I was able to transfer directly to my computer as audio files. I would be able to listen to them sometime in the future.
The second tool I acquired was MacSpeech Dictate. Without the ability to type, I was locked out of any computer usage. MacSpeech gave me the ability to write things down, compose e-mails, research things, et cetera. This was great, but I was still using my hands for mousing, and that was not a good thing. I researched this problem, and found that there are a variety of hands-free mouse solutions. I initially hoped that I could direct everything with my voice. There are some programs that have the screen divided into a grid, and with some practice, the user can tell the cursor where to go. MacSpeech cannot do this. I was able to add some programming to MacSpeech, to allow various mouse clicks. This was extremely important, because I needed to do a lot of mouse clicking pursuing substitute teaching assignments.
The third tool I acquired was the foot mouse. After I discovered that voice recognition would not replace certain mousing activities, such as click-and-drag or navigating websites, I started looking into other forms of hands-free mousing. The most attractive initially seemed to be the head-mouse, but its thousand dollar plus price tag means that I will have to explore that option later. There is a two-pedal foot mouse that operates on a joystick type of principle. I’m interested in it, but for $400, I’m not certain it is going to be completely effective. My biggest concern was keeping my legs in that same position for extended periods of time. Anyone sitting at a desk, knows that you have to shift positions periodically to remain comfortable.
Ultimately I got a foot mouse with a mouse pad and a Click pad separately. The mouse is simply an optical mouse that you strap to your foot. Nothing fancy. The click pad is a separate device with five buttons and a scroll bar. You can right-click, left click, left double-click, zoom in, zoom out, and scroll. There is an alternate button, like a shift key, to allow programming those buttons with secondary functions. I’ve never tried using it.
Between MacSpeech and the foot mouse, I can do virtually everything computer-related without using my hands. I need to use my hands to open my laptop, press the power button, and plug in any cables, but other than that, my problems are solved. Sort of.
There are drawbacks to each of these solutions, but perhaps I will save that for another blog post. The significant point I want to make here is that these tools have allowed me the freedom to still function in a digital world and BECAUSE OF a digital world.