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Smarty Symbols will be giving a Large Playground Communication Board to a School in the United States Smarty Symbols has recently started an initiative to make playgrounds more inclusive around the world. We have a collection of beautifully designed communication boards for public display.  You can preview our boards here. Children should have access to a personal communication device, but making communication boards available in public areas can benefit not only the children who already have access to their own personal device. Special Education Programs can purchase one of our boa ..read more

What are the benefits of a playground communication board? Playgrounds are important for children’s physical and mental health. They let kids explore their surroundings, run around, and blow off some steam after a long day of school. For kids who have difficulty communicating or engaging with others, playgrounds can also be a great place to practice these skills. However, for non-verbal children practicing those skills can be challenging if their communication tools are not readily available.  One way to make sure playgrounds are inclusive to all children is through the use of a designa ..read more

There are many people who have never even heard of AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) and those that have often shy away from it for lack of knowledge. There are many myths floating around about AAC that are simply not true. October is AAC Awareness Month so let’s separate the myths from the facts. Myth 1: The goal of AAC is to communicate basic needs The goal of AAC is to communicate the needs AND wants of the individual. Communication is social and should bring the individual closer to others. Myth 2: AAC hinders speech development There are countless research studies th ..read more

Our language is made up of small words and enormous words, simple words and complex words, beautiful words and healing words. Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things. I am tempted to think there are no little things. –Bruce Barton.  There are many little words which make up our everyday language, a group of them are called the core vocabulary. WHAT IS CORE VOCABULARY? Core vocabulary is a set of words that we use frequently during communication, they are often short words and can be used in multiple situations and have multiple meani ..read more

One of the biggest problems in AAC is the lack of training for communication partners – and even speech-language pathologists. We have moved ahead of the thinking that we can just put an AAC system in front of the student and think he’ll start communicating. It has finally gotten through to us all that students need direct, structured, modeled instruction. There are a couple of forms this instruction can – and should – take. Aided Language Stimulation is the first and crucial step in implementation. Just as neurotypical children learn language by listening to those around them, so too do AAC ..read more

The great Maya Angelou so wisely acknowledged that “Words are things. We must be careful about the words we use. Someday we will be able to measure the power of words.” Can you imagine living in a world where words did not come so easily and communication seemed near impossible? Maya Angelou could. She spent many years of her childhood completely unable to communicate using speech. She knew all too well the struggles and the isolation. THE GIFT OF COMMUNICATION Oh, what a gift communication is! We often think of communication only as speaking. For many people, though, this is not a good means ..read more

How cool would it be to have the same symbol being represented by multiple characters? Very nice, right? Smarty Symbols is proud to announce our latest innovation: One symbol with multiple characters! Why have communication symbols only offered one option of characters for decades? Maybe because Smarty Symbols did not exist yet! Worry not, we have arrived to shake up and freshen up communication and symbol support for all learners. Picture this: A young female AAC user can have several symbols using a character that is female and young, also a young African-American boy can have a young A ..read more