Peripherals/Child Friendly Mouse: Difference between revisions

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(not the perfect mouse (but maybe this advertisement should just be deleted))
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Young children have not yet fully developed their motor skills (fine motor skills in the hand and fingers typically develop fully between the ages of 5 and 6) and have trouble using traditional mouse buttons. Studies show they click next to targets. The act of pressing down is not intuitive, causing problems with “drag & drop.” Kids tend to grip all their fingers at the same time, thus squeezing the mouse rather than “clicking.” This leads to frustration and detracts from the educational experience.
Young children have not yet fully developed their motor skills (fine motor skills in the hand and fingers typically develop fully between the ages of 5 and 6) and have trouble using traditional mouse buttons. It is claimed that children click next to targets, that pressing down is not intuitive, and that kids tend to grip all their fingers at the same time so that the mouse is squeezed rather than clicked. This could lead to frustration and detract from the educational experience.


The Child Friendly Mouse was invented by Curtis Whitcomb, a pediatric clinical audiologist and developed with assistance from Dr. Carrie Mori, a pediatric occupational therapist. It seeks to solve the issues facing children when they use a traditional "PS/2" mouse. It fits neatly in small hands and makes the mouse easy to use by including:
The Child Friendly Mouse is intended to solve the problems children have when they use a traditional mouse. Besides being small, it has a single wide soft button under the front.
* a tactile plate that nestles child’s fingers
* a single mouse button which avoids unwanted “right-click” activities
* no top mouse buttons
* light, sound and/or vibration feedback possible


[http://wiki.laptop.org/images/e/e7/Mouse_Squeeze_Flyer.pdf Additional Information]
You can read the [http://wiki.laptop.org/images/e/e7/Mouse_Squeeze_Flyer.pdf advertisement for licensing the patent] from them.

== Contributors ==
* Inventor: Curtis Whitcomb


==Problems==
* This mouse is not usable by children with long fingernails.
* While software can easily map two buttons as one, it can not go the other way.
* Because button presses are horizontal, undesired mouse movement is likely while pressing the button.


[[category:peripherals]]
[[category:peripherals]]

Revision as of 17:46, 11 November 2007

Young children have not yet fully developed their motor skills (fine motor skills in the hand and fingers typically develop fully between the ages of 5 and 6) and have trouble using traditional mouse buttons. It is claimed that children click next to targets, that pressing down is not intuitive, and that kids tend to grip all their fingers at the same time so that the mouse is squeezed rather than clicked. This could lead to frustration and detract from the educational experience.

The Child Friendly Mouse is intended to solve the problems children have when they use a traditional mouse. Besides being small, it has a single wide soft button under the front.

You can read the advertisement for licensing the patent from them.

Problems

  • This mouse is not usable by children with long fingernails.
  • While software can easily map two buttons as one, it can not go the other way.
  • Because button presses are horizontal, undesired mouse movement is likely while pressing the button.
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