redhat 9 installation question

[Jes and guide dog Harley]

Hi folks,
No, I don't have redhat installed yet, but I had a question concerning speakup. I notice that if I hit the dot five to hear the
current selection while I am arrowing through a menu, I hear nothing. However, when I hit it twice to spell, double talk lt says,
cross bars. Any idea what is going on here? I notice this also when I hit left or right arrows on the normal keyboard keypad.
Thanks for any help.