Teaching Beginning Mouse Skills
Many computer users grow up using the computer so easily that skills for navigating with a mouse are taken for granted. Many of us quickly navigate to just about anything on the screen. For some people this is a skill that must be learned. Whether the person has a cognitive disability or a motor involvement, there is an easy way to learn mouse skills using Microsoft PowerPoint. By setting up a simple program using the “mouse over” hyperlink, the student can learn to move the mouse in different directions. Here are the instructions…
- Open up the PowerPoint program and select New, Blank Slide.
- Open up the “Drawing Toolbar” by going to View, Toolbars, and making sure there is a check beside Drawing.
- On the Drawing Toolbar, select the square, then go to the PowerPoint slide.
- Click and drag to make a rectangular shape (vertically) on one/third of the slide.
- To fill in with color, go to Format and click on Autoshape. In the dialog box, make sure you are on the tab labeled Colors and Lines.
- On the section that says Fill and Color: click on the inverted triangle and you will get a selection of colors.
- Choose a color, then click OK.
- To put a hyperlink on that part of the slide, make sure it is active (it will have small squares around it called handles), go to SlideShow and click on Action Settings.
- Click on the tab, Mouse Over.
- In the section, Action on Mouse Over, select Hyperlink to: then click on the inverted triangle and select a PowerPoint presentation. Links to Electronic E-books work well to increase motivation.
Repeat the directions so that you have another one/third on the other side of the slide covered. Make a Mouse Over hyperlink to a different PowerPoint Book. Once the person can easily go from side to side, make four different sections and teach moving diagonally.
Free Point-N-Click Assistive Mouse
Point-N-Click is a FREE on-screen virtual mouse designed for anyone with a disability that prevents them from clicking a physical computer mouse. As long as they can move a mouse, trackball or other pointing device, they can send mouse clicks to virtually any Windows application. Point-N-Click was designed with ease of use foremost in mind and it is FREE. You can download it at www.download.com and type in "point-n-click" to search. Check out the publisher’s website at http://www.polital.com for other free software assistive technology.