Which is easier trackball/mouse/ etc?

[Jimjams]

DS1 had an assessment months ago by the IT outreach team. The woman who did it was very good and spotted that he had trouble looking at the screen and moving the cursor at the same time. He can't do both things at once. So he tends to stare at the screen, or look at the mouse repeatedly clicking. We talked about using a touch screen etc but both decided that it would be better to try and move him onto using a mouse properly. He can do it with me- tellling him when to click, but he can't move the cursor really- actually not sure he can see it thinking about it. Hmmm maybe the first thing I should do is make it bigger?

Anyway I have tried mouse, trackball and one of those laptop pad things. Problem with the mouse is he tends to hold the buttons down as he moves the mouse so all my files move into each other iyswim. It's quite good though in that if he moves his arm then the arrow moves in the same way. The trackball etc is a little less obvious. ALthough some dyspraxia experts recommend trackballs for dyspraxics I think.

Anyway with the holidays from hell coming up I really want to try and get him using the computer- if possibly indepently for a couple of programs- although am well aware that may be over-ambitious.
So any tips? Is there an ABA way to teach mouse skills? Lots of physical prompting I guess- although he doesn't like me holding my hand over his when he's using the mouse.

Oh and Davros am going to take a look at the diff roads to learning site tonight..... NOt sure whether there's any point in us sharing postage though as it would cost to send from one to the other iyswim....

I am not sure on which i best but some others things you can do:

In your Control panel on the PC you can change what the mouse buttons do. For example you can disable the right click or the scroll button - to avoid loads of things happening. And you can slow down/speed up reactiosn to double clicks and movements, etc.

And yes, I would enlarge the pointer - or change the cursor icon to something more obvious to him than an arrow.

I've got a document with tips on computer use that came out of a meeting of our support group. I'll send it to you. Its quite old so I can't remmebr what's on there but things like enlarging cursor and disabling right click. Once you've done that, a good tip is to put a bit of velcro on the left click (do you know if he's left or right handed?). Have you looked at Big Keys and Intellikeys? All getting rather expensive though. I suppose the ABA way would be simply to prompt and reinforce massively when he gets things right and/or find programs he finds reinforcing (cause and effect?). People do seem to think that its so much better to go straight to the "real" thing, i.e. use a proper mouse, use keyborad and not touch screen but, if those things are not realistic then I would do whatever works. I'll send that document to you this morning. BTW, my DS is totally indifferent to the computer but I'm also planning on working on it during the hols, we can compare notes! Agree about Diff Roads but P&P might be cheaper to share but not worth it if its only marginal.

I think the mouse is realistic (think not 100% sure) but will take a while- I'd like to give a really good bash at it if possible. He is VERY interested in the computer. Although gets a bit stimmy (likes to watch the mumsnet bar thing at the bottom when I refresh the page- he thinks that's really funny).

I have the inclusive technology catalogue- maybe its time to spend more money. He does love switch it at home. Washing machines and ironing boards provide all the reinforcement needed

As we're on a Mac we don't have the problem with right/left clicks. Just a problem finding software.