Welcome! Here, you’ll find answers to the most commonly asked questions about our innovative communication tools. Our goal is to help you understand how Communication Boards by Smarty Symbols can enhance communication, learning, and play in various settings—from school playgrounds to community parks.
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The main difference between the two playground communication board designs for schools is the number of words included on the board. The School Playground Communication Board features a total of 78 words and is designed for elementary schools from kindergarten to 5th grade, while the Simplified School Playground Communication Board features a total of 55 words and is designed specifically for pre-K playground environments. Both boards are weather-resistant, fully customizable, and promote communication and social interaction among students. The School Playground Communication Board includes a wider range of vocabulary words and is suitable for a broader age range of students, while the Simplified School Playground Communication Board is designed with younger students in mind and features essential vocabulary words that are most relevant to pre-K playground settings.
Playground Communication Boards by Smarty Symbols are custom designed communication boards designed to make spaces more inclusive for all communicators. They utilize our diverse and inclusive library of symbols to support effective learning and interaction.
Absolutely! Customization is at the heart of Smarty Symbols. You can select from over 60,000 images in our Smarty Symbols Image Library to tailor the communication boards to your specific educational requirements.
You can purchase our Communication Boards directly from our website. You can also send a purchase order or request a quote using our contact form.
Yes, we provide a range of support materials and training guides to help you make the most out of your Communication Boards. These resources are designed to help you implement and use our products effectively in your educational settings.
When we choose symbols for children who have difficulty speaking, it’s important to give them a chance to try different symbol sets to see which ones they understand and prefer. This is because not all children understand the same symbols, and it wouldn’t be fair to choose symbols that are used by the majority of children if they don’t work well for others.
Research has shown that children who use alternative communication methods can understand symbols even if they look different from one set to another. This means that giving children access to multiple symbol sets can help them improve their language and communication skills. It also shows that children who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) are capable of generalizing the representation of symbols across different symbol sets. This means that they can recognize and use the same symbol across different symbol sets, even if they were not directly taught that symbol in that particular set.
There is research that shows that children can generalize the representation of symbols across different symbol sets. One study published in the Augmentative and Alternative Communication journal in 2018 found that children with complex communication needs were able to learn and generalize symbols across multiple symbol sets, including those with different graphic styles and organization. The study suggests that providing access to multiple symbol sets can benefit children’s language development and communication skills. Another study published in the American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology in 2016 found that preschool children who were trained to use a particular symbol set were able to generalize to novel words represented by different symbol sets. Overall, these studies suggest that children have the ability to generalize symbol representations across different symbol sets, which supports the use of multiple symbol sets in communication boards and other AAC devices.
In addition to the research supporting generalization across different symbol sets, Smarty Symbols offers a unique advantage in promoting diversity and inclusion. Many symbol sets on the market today offer limited options for character representation and lack modern images that may better resonate with students. Smarty Symbols was designed with diversity and belonging in mind, offering a range of inclusive images that better reflect today’s diverse society. By allowing students to embrace and connect with modern, inclusive images, educators and SLPs can better support their students’ communication development and overall well-being. Ultimately, it is important to choose a symbol set that aligns with your values and promotes the best outcomes for your students.
Smarty Symbols opens its first Latin America office in Salvador, Bahia, to deploy Portuguese-English communication boards across Brazilian schools, parks and clinics.
Playgrounds across Arizona are getting a voice. When SLP Ebony Green teamed up with visual communication experts, two communication boards were installed at Tumbleweed and Apache parks, each featuring 72 colorful, bilingual symbols that empower non-verbal and minimally verbal children to express themselves through play. This community-driven initiative not only bridges communication gaps and fosters new friendships but also serves as a blueprint for any town looking to bring inclusive design solutions to their local parks.
The City of Plantation, Florida, marked a significant milestone in promoting inclusivity and communication accessibility. With the proclamation of “Communication Board Day,” the city celebrated the remarkable contributions of Pamela Rowe, MA, CCC-SLP, and her collaboration with Smarty Symbols. This unprecedented event highlights the transformative power of communication boards in creating inclusive playgrounds and public spaces.
