Make a printable communication board for an adult

About the Communication Board Maker

Someone who cannot speak well enough to be understood right now still has things to say: the pain is in my back, I want my glasses, call my daughter, not yet. After a stroke with aphasia, in intensive care with a breathing tube, living with dementia or ALS, or with a temporary loss of speech, the words may not come, but pointing still works. A communication board is a printed page of pictures and words to point at, and the helper says the chosen word out loud.

The Communication Board Maker builds that page for the person in front of you. Pick a template, change any square's picture, word and colour, add a second language or a photo from your device, and print at true size on Letter or A4. The boards follow the look of the book Communication Boards for Adults, with large print, plain pictures and Yes and No on every page. Everything you build stays in your browser on your device.

What a board helps with

Pointing to communicate

A need, a feeling or a question becomes one touch on a square. The helper reads the word out loud, which keeps the conversation moving even when speech is gone.

Yes and no

The strip along the bottom of every board gives the person a way to confirm, refuse or say not yet, so a wrong guess can be corrected at once.

Spelling

The alphabet and E-Tran boards let a person who can spell point to letters, with a helper writing them down, or a partner reading eye gaze through the board's open centre.

How the board maker works

Ten templates come with the board maker: a quick board, a hospital bedside board, four big choices for intensive care, a pain board, aphasia core words, two alphabets, an E-Tran letter board, a large-print dementia day board, and a blank board. Each one opens in the Studio on a sheet of paper at true size, where every square can be changed: tap it to change the word, pick another picture from a catalogue of about five thousand (the book's own pictures, Mulberry Symbols and OpenMoji), take or choose a photo, or make it words only. The grid runs from one square to eight by six, and drag one square onto another to swap them.

Printing is from the browser or as a PDF, with the page size set for you so a print at 100% is the board at true size. Boards save as you work, in your browser on this device, and a backup file moves a board to another device. Large print, every template, every picture set and photos are free, with no account. A second language under every word, high contrast and the mirrored E-Tran page are Pro print options, and the PDF download is Pro; a free account gets one print or PDF a day with them. Nothing about the person using the board is sent anywhere.

Screen or paper?

A board is paper by nature: it goes on the tray table, the bed rail or the wall, and it works when the tablet is charging. The board maker is for the board the book does not have, with the person's own people, places and words. The book is the ready-made set: 112 boards across essentials, hospital and care, daily living, conversation and make-it-yours pages, with four of its boards free to download.

The printable version is the Communication Boards for Adults (112 boards) on rehabworksheets.com, and there is a free starter set to try first, with no email required.

Using it well

• Put on glasses and hearing aids. Before anything else. A board that cannot be seen or a question that cannot be heard is the most common reason pointing fails.
• Say the title out loud. Then wait. Name the board, give the person time to look, and let them point before offering choices.
• Confirm with Yes and No. Say the word they pointed to out loud and check it with the strip at the bottom. A quick no saves a long misunderstanding.
• Laminate it or use a sheet protector. A board on a ward or at a dining table gets wiped, splashed and folded. A laminated copy or a sheet protector keeps it readable for weeks.
• Keep it where the hand can reach. On the tray table, clipped to the bed rail or taped to the wall at eye level, not in a drawer. The board only works when it is there.

Common questions