Course Presentations, Keyboard Navigation, and Screen Readers

Two part question about navigating Course Presentations with keyboard controls.

1. What are the controls to navigate to content in a slide?
Details: The first time I navigate to a Course Presentation Tab moves focus to the content in the first slide. The screen reader reads the content from top to bottom. This seems right to me. For all subsequent slides, and if I return to the first slide:
Tab moves focus to the Show Keywords List button below the scroll bar.
The arrow keys only allow me to navigate between slides on the scroll bar.
Enter allows me to select a slide on the scroll bar but does nothing once I have selected a slide.
Shift+Tab allows me to access slide content, but the screen reader reads content from bottom to top.
This is a very unsatisfactory user experience. Surely there is a better way, no?

2. How can I use keyboard navigation to navigate a screen-reader to read non-interactive text in a slide that does not contain any other content types?
Details: Unless the text is attached to a link, a question, or some other interaction, I can't find any combination of keystrokes that will navigate a screen-reader to text within a slide. The screen reader can read the text, but only if I point to it with a mouse, which is useless.