Text Entry Competency for Students with Learning Disabilities in Grade 5 to 6

Abstract

This study intended to understand the computer text entry skills for students with learning disabilities in grade 5 to 6. 35 students with learning disabilities, who received special education services in resource room at school, and 35 non-disabled students participated in our study. Mandarin Chinese Character Entry Training system (MCChEn system) was used to measure the students' text entry skills. SPSS19.0 was used to compare the difference in text entry skills between children with and without learning disabilities. In addition, the correlations between the abilities of recognition in Chinese characters, and text entry skills were also explored. The results indicated that children with learning disabilities perform significantly poorer than children without disabilities in recognizing Chinese characters orally and in computer text entry skills. Chinese characters recognition is an important factor affecting Chinese Character entry skills in children with learning disabilities. The tool, Mandarin Chinese Character Entry Training system (MCChEn system), we utilized is able to discriminate the computer text entry skills between children with and without learning disabilities. The results of this study can provide educators important information about text entry skills of children with learning disabilities, in order to develop further training programs.