4 ms·

This seems like it might be premature optimization. Have you seen any particular tendencies to bad typing habits already that aren't normal for a 6-year-old? Ma

This seems like it might be premature optimization. Have you seen any particular tendencies to bad typing habits already that aren't normal for a 6-year-old? Maybe wait a while to see how his typing develops on its own? By the time we had typing lessons in school I was already touch typing anyway, self-taught from writing stories and getting into silly arguments on AOL chat where you tried to type over each other. I got regular access to a computer at around 12 and was touch typing by 13. Fingers tend to fall into more efficient positions naturally with more typing. I may not use 100% perfect form for every single key (for example, I tend to use my left ring finger instead of little finger for "q"), but it's certainly not a case of index-fingering everything or being super slow (I've gotten to 190ish WPM and have won typing speed/accuracy competitions in high school). Maybe it's worth seeing which way he goes as he starts typing more and if you actually start noticing his speed/accuracy becoming a problem then looking into some typing games? On the other hand, maybe my experience was just pure luck and this is bad advice.

MrJohz 4y ago
My understanding with handwriting is that, while there's theoretically a "correct" way to hold a pen that I vaguely remember learning in school, in practice there's actually a lot of perfectly fine ways hold a pen that will work completely fine. Yes, you probably will struggle if you're grasping it in your fist, but whether the pen rates on your index, second, or third finger is pretty irrelevant overall. I assume that the same applies to typing - there are bad ways to type, definitely, but if you can broadly use all of your fingers while typing, then you shouldn't run into issues in most practical situations, and my impression is that most people who type a lot will quite naturally figure that out. I, for example, don't have particularly good form for leaving my fingers on the right home row keys, but I can easily hit 100 wpm if I know what I'm writing, and I don't ever need to go much faster than that. The flip side is, of course, that the people who _do_ go faster tend to use a different method entirely - either shorthand for paper-and-pen note taking, or stenography with a specific keyboard for typed notes.

MrJohz 4y ago

My understanding with handwriting is that, while there's theoretically a "correct" way to hold a pen that I vaguely remember learning in school, in practice there's actually a lot of perfectly fine ways hold a pen that will work completely fine. Yes, you probably will struggle if you're grasping it in your fist, but whether the pen rates on your index, second, or third finger is pretty irrelevant overall. I assume that the same applies to typing - there are bad ways to type, definitely, but if you can broadly use all of your fingers while typing, then you shouldn't run into issues in most practical situations, and my impression is that most people who type a lot will quite naturally figure that out. I, for example, don't have particularly good form for leaving my fingers on the right home row keys, but I can easily hit 100 wpm if I know what I'm writing, and I don't ever need to go much faster than that. The flip side is, of course, that the people who _do_ go faster tend to use a different method entirely - either shorthand for paper-and-pen note taking, or stenography with a specific keyboard for typed notes.