Student-Specific Accommodations (General)

How to adjust Typing Agent to fit your students' exact needs.

Niki Frisby avatar
Written by Niki Frisby
Updated over a week ago

Since we know that some students have special needs, physical or learning disabilities or are working at a different pace than their classmates, Typing Agent offers an array of student-specific Accommodations for you to adjust.

How Do I Adjust Accommodations?

First, select your classroom.

Then, select the checkbox(es) next to any student or group of students. The accommodations that you adjust will affect whomever you select, whether that is one, all, or multiple students. From the fly-out menu on the right, select Accommodations.

Target Settings

Once you've clicked that Accommodations button, you land on this Target Settings page. Under the Target Settings tab, you adjust your selected student’s WPM, Accuracy, and Proficiency requirements:

The name of the student(s) for whom you're making these changes will appear at the top to confirm that you're limiting changes to them only. The class-based targets will show up automatically so just click on each sell and fill in the targets you'd like the selected student(s) to work toward. For more information on the pedagogy of this, click here. Be sure to pay attention to your 2-star target requirements because when students do the Final Evaluation test, they will not pass that test unless they meet that specific requirement.

Settings

To the right of that Target Settings tab, you will see the Settings tab:

Under the Settings tab, you can find various actions that will alter the Keyboarding Foundations experiences for your students.

Require Correct Letter: If checked, the correct letter must be typed by the student(s). We recommend activating this setting for all students learning to type so they will not be able to move forward until the correct letter is typed. This simple action reinforces typing accurately the first time around.

Allow Backspace: If checked, students can use the backspace key during a lesson. Use this setting only with students who are proficient keyboardists. Be sure to uncheck the Correct Letter Required setting to get this to work properly.

Bypass Experience Points: If checked, students will have to earn experience points to unlock new curriculums at appropriate times, when students have done enough of the program. For more information on Experience Points, click here.

Enable Gritcoins for students: If checked, students will earn Gritcoins for their work in the Keyboarding Foundations curriculums. For more information on Gritcoins click here.

Hide On-Screen Keyboard: If checked, the on-screen keyboard will be hidden during lessons. Use this setting only with students who are proficient typists. This help aid has a two-fold purpose: 1. To model which fingers should be used to type the keys; and 2. To help students stop looking down at the physical keyboard to find keys.

Lock On-Screen Keyboard: If checked, students will continue to see the keyboard on the screen. They will be blocked from changing this setting in their interface.

Skip Placement Test: This feature pertains only to students using the Keyboarding Foundations 3+ curriculum. If checked, no matter how proficient in typing your students are, lessons will begin with the home-row keys. For more information on the Placement Test, click here. (Note: students still take the 2-minute Diagnostic Test before beginning their keyboarding instruction. There is no option to skip this test.)

Games

To the right of that Settings tab, you will see the Games tab:

Under the Games tab, you will be able to manage the gaming experience of the selected students. Remember our Games app is linked to Experience Points so by default, students will have to do a certain portion of the keyboarding curriculum for that app to open. You may override our default setting by adjusting the Experience Points needed. Click here for more information on how to do this.

Enable All Games: If checked, students will be able to play all available games. If you’d only like specific games enabled for them, you can select which are allowed from the options. For an overview of all available games, click here.

Disable Games: If checked, students will not be allowed to play games.

Use Gritcoins: If checked, students will only be able to play the games for as long as the allotted time purchased with their Gritcoins.

Accessibility Options

To the right of that Games tab, you will see the Accessibility Options tab:

Under the Accessibility Options tab, you can adjust the curriculums according to the physical needs of the selected students.

Font Family: From this menu, select the font that will be most legible to your students. (Note: There is a font made specifically for dyslexic students that helps them with often problematic letters.)

Font Size: From this menu, adjust the size of the font that will be most visible to your students.

Hands: From this menu, you can select both hands, left hand only or right hand only to accommodate single-handed typists.

High Contrast: If selected, the students will see a high color contrast in their lessons to improve readability.

Closed Captioning: If selected, all videos will have captions for your student to read.

Text-To-Speech: If selected, the students will hear a voice read all text on the screen.

Enable Type Your Own Adventure Audios: If selected, students may click on the "Play" button to have the text read to them in this particular curriculum.

Enable Accessibility Controls: If selected, students may access more extensive accessibility options to suit their needs. Note that we reserve this option for teachers to decide whether or not the student can use it by selecting this option. Some students like to "play with" the feature, but it is available for those who genuinely need it.

Digital Citizenship

Lastly, and to the right of that Accessibility Options tab, you will see the Digital Citizenship tab:

Under the Digital Citizenship tab, you can select which lessons are allowed for the selected students’ Digital Citizenship experience. Lock and unlock each lesson by clicking the lock icon tile, or select Lock/Unlock All checkbox to allow or restrict all lessons. You can click here to learn more about Digital Citizenship.

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