Picture Talk Board

How to use it

Tap a picture button and the board says the word out loud and adds it to the sentence strip at the top. Tap Speak (or the strip itself) to hear the whole sentence, Back to remove the last word, and Clear to start again. The home page holds core words such as I, want, help, more, stop and finished. The tabs open topic pages for food and drink, feelings, places, people, school, play, and body and help. Use Full screen on a tablet so the buttons fill the screen.

Choose the grid size (3 × 3 up to 6 rows of 8), a voice from the ones installed on your device, and the speaking speed. You can hide the words, make the text larger, or switch the whole board to French words with a French voice. Edit board lets you change any button's word or emoji, add your own buttons and pages, and save the board as a file to open on another device. Lock editing hides these controls from students. Everything stays in this browser.

Buttons are coloured by word type, using a common colour key: yellow for people and pronouns, green for actions (verbs), blue for describing words, pink for social words, orange for things and places (nouns) and purple for questions.

What is an AAC communication board?

AAC stands for augmentative and alternative communication: any way of communicating that adds to or replaces speech, from gestures and picture cards to a picture communication board or a speech-generating device. A free AAC board like this one can support non-speaking students, emerging communicators, students who speak some of the time, and English language learners who know what they want to say but not yet the words.

The most powerful habit is modelling, also called aided language input: as you talk, tap the words on the board yourself ("Let's go play"). Students learn to use a board by seeing it used, without being made to perform. Keep the layout stable, so each word stays in the same place and motor patterns can build, and add new words rather than moving old ones. Treat every message as real communication, and avoid testing questions like "Show me apple."

This online communication board is a classroom support. It does not replace an assessment by a speech-language pathologist (SLP). Involve an SLP to choose and set up a full AAC system for a student.

• Model two or three words during a routine (snack, recess, reading) every day for a week.
• Which core words could a student use in every subject?
• Add a custom page for a class topic, with the words students ask for most.

Free to use, no account needed. It runs in your browser: nothing you type, and no sound from your microphone, is sent to Fieldbook.