mouse software for unsteady hand

Question

mouse software for unsteady hand

My mother has this thing called essential tremors which basically causes her hand to shake, making it difficult for her to use a mouse with any real accuracy. I have found a hardware solution in the assistive mouse adapter http://www.montrosesecam.com/buy-now.html a little pricey... wondering if anyone could steer me to a piece of software that has highly customizable parameters for the mouse that helps get rid of the involuntary hand shakes. Thanks.

dan

iMac, Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Posted on Sep 15, 2007 6:34 PM

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Answer 1

Sep 15, 2007 7:52 PM in response to Dan Erlandson

Have you looked in the Universal Access preferences of System Prefs.? There are settings in there that may enable you to tune the current mouse, or adapt keyboard input, so that her disability may be compensated. I am thinking particularly of "sticky keys" for the keyboard and "Mouse keys" (numeric keys instead of mouse).

Remember also that in this panel is a box to check (bottom left): "Enable Access for Assistive Devices"

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Answer 2

Sep 15, 2007 8:59 PM in response to Dan Erlandson

How about a Track Ball insread of a mouse? Some people with tremors can use them because the hand rests on it and only the fingers move.

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Answer 3

Sep 16, 2007 6:09 AM in response to Dan Erlandson

Thanks for the replies... I had already looked at the system preferences (universal access) and it does not really have much to it to help a person with a shaky hand. Cursor size, initial delay in movement of mouse and maximum speed is all that it does. Looking for something more configurable. I had thought of a trackball, although it will take the 80 year old sometime to relearn the necessary movements! I need to get onto download.com and browse through the shareware to see what is available. The device at the link that I posted looks really interesting, but I have found posts by Windows useres who have said that there is software out there (steadymouse.com) that basically does the same thing. I've searched for a mac version, but have not found it. Just wondering if anyone has seen something like that for the Mac.

dan

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Answer 4

Sep 16, 2007 10:00 AM in response to Dan Erlandson

She might find it easier to use the keypad instead of a mouse. Turn on Mouse Keys by pressing Option five times. Keypad-5 is click, Keypad-0 is click and hold (release with Keypad-5. The other Keypad digits (1 2 3 4 6 7 8 9) move in the appropriate direction. See the "Mouse" tab of "Universal Access" system preference. The "?" at the bottom-right gives details.

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