Is My Child Too Young to Learn to Type?
Although typewriters were first used in business offices, it wasn’t long before teachers started introducing them into the classroom. As a new method of communication, typing was seen as a useful skill for future career development, although at first most of that was also in a business setting, for people who would become secretaries and office workers. However, even though many schools offered (or required) typing classes, and even though studies showed that students who used typewriters for their writing often showed better English skills, improved spelling, and more fluent writing, in general classwork was still done by hand. Today, more and more schools are using computers in the classroom, and even inviting children to bring their own handheld devices to school. There are software games and lessons designed for children as young as 3 years old, and even babies as young as 6 months old have their own computer games using the keyboard! Obviously, the answer to the question “Is my child too young to learn to type?” is “No!” – with a few explanations, that is. Very young children won’t enjoy being forced to repeat key-letter matching over and over. They’ll learn best if they’re learning unconsciously while playing a game. Babies don’t generally have the hand-eye coordination to accurately hit small keys on a keyboard one at a time, much less in letter combinations that form words. Let them learn where things are on the keyboard at their own pace until they’re able to deliberately locate and…