“Bigger, brighter and simpler to use than a regular keyboard, these are especially suitable for special needs students – particularly those with visual impairments.”
ICT for Education, July 2004
“This keyboard motivates children to type by increasing the number of correct hits and thus a successful outcome. The lower case keys are immediately recognisable.”
Rose Goddard, SENCO
“…these keyboards are inviting and easy to use”
Times Educational Supplement
“Our BigKeys is already in great demand and has opened up ICT opportunities for our younger pupils.”
Margaret Sahin, Early Years Teacher, Bardwell Special School, Bicester, TES Extra Special Needs, November 2004
“The provision of a BigKeys Early Learning System (BELS) – a lowercase coloured keyboard with picture support has enabled one young pupil with Down’s Syndrome and a language disorder to readily access the computer and begin to develop some understanding of the keyboard layout and carry out some very simple literacy activities.”
Deirdre Arnott, SENICT Co-ordinator, Glasgow Education Services
“I like the clear, logical layout and it was easy to convert from ABC format to Qwerty. The overlays are useful, allowing the teacher to switch easily when working on a one to one with a child and they are easy to manipulate, strong and easy to clean. This is good for children with literacy problems. An excellent product."
Pat Greenhalf, Foundation Stage Teacher
(Tester’s report for Nursery World Spring 2005)
IT DOES WHAT IT SAYS ON THE BOX
"AT LAST! I have found a piece of hardware that ‘does what it says on the box’."
"I purchased 2 BigKeys keyboards for each of our nursery and reception classes. The simple layout and colours has helped the children with their alphabet and number skills, and built their confidence in being able to do things on the computer with ease. I particularly like the large cursor keys. They are excellent!"
ICT Co -coordinator , Primary School – Co. Durham
THEY WOULDN’G LET THEM GO!
"We purchased 4 BigKeys keyboards – 2 for the ICT suite, and 2 for the Foundation classes to share, with the intention of moving the BigKeys to another class at the end of the term.
"The children found the uncluttered layout so easy to use that they needed less help from their teacher, and made great progress with their literacy learning. As you can imagine the teacher said they were brilliant.
"Everyone was so enthusiastic about the BigKeys keyboards that they would not let them go to the next class. We had to buy another 4 BigKeys to keep the other classes happy!"
Foundation CoordinatorPrimary School – South Yorkshire,
THE PLACE IS FULL OF THEM
“In our technical college, 39% of the students have a visual impairment. I used to use yellow stickers on the key tops to help the students, but then I discovered BigKeys LX keyboards.
"They are available in a variety of designs to assist with many types of visual impairment, and with their chunky keys and large lettering have aided our students tremendously with their work.
"I have just moved into a brand new Learning Resource Centre and the place is full of them. We use Y-connectors so that every terminal has a BigKeys LX for the student and a standard keyboard for their helper. I would recommend them to any college."
ICT Manager Technical College, Kent
IT BUILDS THEIR CONFIDENCE AND KEEPS THEM INDEPENDENT
Our reception children are very independent. They do like to be able to do things for themselves but sometimes get a little frustrated when it takes time. This is especially true when they are keyboarding, but the BigKeys keyboard really helps.
When they are searching for letters, a simple “it’s a red one” or “it’s a yellow one” from me helps them locate the key they need quickly and builds their confidence.
The simple format makes using the computer easy and as a result the children just love it. It has helped them learn to type their names and generally just get used to computing.
Foundation CoordinatorPrimary School Hampshire
IT HELPS WITH THEIR ALPHABET SKILLS……..
I purchased 2 BigKeys keyboards for the nursery class. Suddenly the alphabet made sense to the children. BigKeys made the letters stand out and be recognized in a way that was not possible with a standard keyboard. BigKeys are excellent!
ICT Coordinator Primary School Derbyshire
USE AN EGG TIMER!
We use a BigKeys keyboard in our nursery class and it is one of the ‘stations’ that the children can choose to go on during the day. It is their favourite station. There are usually 3 children at a time working with the computer. Each has a turn with the time controlled by a huge 5 minute egg timer, eagerly watched by the others. I was amazed the way the two children watching were eager to help their friend, and how everyone kept to time without argument.
Head teacher, Primary School Cumbria
AN EXCELLENT FIRST KEYBOARD
BIGKEYS was bought for a little boy who had a special need. He used the BigKeys and it made all the difference to his work. However, the other children loved it so much they wanted to have a go too and I was surprised to see how much better they worked with BigKeys than the standard keyboard. As a result we had to buy 2 BigKeys for general use and are delighted with the increase in computing and literacy skills. I can recommend BigKeys as a first keyboard or and early learning keyboard for all young children.
Nursery teacher, pre-school playgroup Glamorgan
WE NEEDED BIGGER KEYTOPS
We bought a BigKeys keyboard because the nursery has a laptop and the laptop keys are too small for the little children to see and press. The children absolutely love it. They are quite able to work on the computer 2 at a time using an egg timer to be fair. I suggested they write their fathers day cards on it, and they were so enthusiastic about this, and proud of themselves afterward, that that happy confident feeling has stayed with them.
Pre-school teacher, Buckinghamshire
BIGKEYS HELPS THE CHILDREN WORK AS A TEAM
We have 2 BigKeys keyboards, one for each of our pre-school classes. They are robust and fun for the children to use. They sit at the computer station three at a time with one person in control of the computer and mouse and the other two helping. BigKeys is such a fun product and is so easy to use that the children are now helping each other learn in a way that they did not do before.
Reception Teacher Oxfordshire
NO MORE CRASHING
Before we had BigKeys we used a standard keyboard. When the children used the computer it kept crashing perhaps because the children were pressing too many keys at once. Since we bought BigKeys this has not happened once.
Preschool teacher, Hampshire
BIGKEYS HELP CHILDREN’S LITERACY SKILLS
BigKeys has made a world of difference to the literacy skills in my class. Before BigKeys I had trouble motivating the children to learn their letters, but everyone wants to have a go on the computer now BigKeys is there.
Each child has a name card, and they have to copy their name before they can click and drag pictures. Then they print their work off to take home at the end of the day.
Reception teacher, Infant School, Lincolnshire
INCREASE LITERACY LEARNING
We purchased BK for use throughout the school and it caused an increase in literacy learning throughout the lower school.
Special School, Berkshire
MORE TIME TO TEACH
When we used a standard keyboard it used to take on average 10 minutes for the computer to freeze and crash during our IT lessons. Then we bought a BigKeys and the computer has not crashed since.
Key worker, Primary School, Dorset
A GREAT CONFIDENCE BUILDER
The BigKeys keyboards with their simple format have helped the children to have the confidence to work with the computer in every subject. They are brilliant!
Reception Teacher, Primary School, Northumberland
Lyndhurst School
The BigKeys keyboards were bought for the nursery department. The children absolutely love it. They know it is a keyboard just for them and they love the friendly colours and the big keys. They just want to have a go and achieve something and that makes all the difference to their learning. It is brilliant!
Nursery teacher, Manchester
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