Board Maker, A Life Saver
Last Christmas Grandma gave AJ PECS, the Picture Exchange Communication System from Pyramid Education Products. It worked well for a while, or until we figured out that the pictures we had were geared toward school instead of the home and to get more meant to buy more pictures.
When we were going through Early Intervention I had asked about a picture system like this to help him with his language and they did not understand what I was talking about…hmmm?
Well, about a week ago my friend through my special needs group turned me on to Board Maker, the MOST fantastic program EVER from Mayer Johnson. Board Maker is similar to PECS in that it is the same thing but it is also what the schools use so there is continuity from school to home.
What is really great about Board Maker is that they give you a 30 day trial online, you can get the product through Early Intervention (if you qualify), and you can either download or purchase Board Maker category sheets that moms like myself have premade for their own use.
I had difficulty getting the 30 day trial to work (mainly because I did not take the time to figure it out) so I went online and found categories I liked and printed those. I purchased a QuikFinish PL100 10″ Document Laminator
As time permits I have been slowly making them and AJ loves seeing them go up around the house and has started saying the words and using them. I am loving it.
Tags: board maker, autism, speech, school
January 30th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Boardmaker costs $300. I’ve been looking at it and other products for a few weeks, and we’re seriously considering buying a program to help with story writing and signs around the house. Is the $300 really worth it? I’ve been using Publisher (which I already have) and inserting tons of free pictures from Microsoft and other free use images.
January 30th, 2008 at 11:50 am
No, you can download free PDF files from people who have already created them…or you can get the free 30 day trial.
February 15th, 2008 at 7:02 am
[...] Fine Motor Activities that he gets to chose from: *Handwriting (I printed and laminated these so that we could use them over and over again) *Pegs He not only has to stack or create the [...]
June 9th, 2008 at 7:10 am
[...] usually use a combination of PECS picture cards and Board Maker but since we did a major construction project on our home we have gotten out of the [...]
November 20th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Hi, just a suggestion, but my neice is non-verbal and I had no prior knowledge of PECS or official PECS training other than hearing about it in my graduate classes….and I began working with her (at age 2)while I watched her during the day in my home. I used actual pictures of her items and other items I had around the house. At such an early stage of the PECS learning, I felt strongly about using actual “things” that were hers from around the house. I took photographs of her actually eating, or reading a book, picture of her sippy cup, etc. and printed them and laminated them myself. This was VERY EASY to do…..and although it required more work than using a board maker system, it was much cheaper. If you have the time….it is a suggestion worth looking into. I do understand that further down the road, when it gets more involved, it would be difficult to keep up on adding pictures. In the beginning stages though, it is a great way to apply direct connections to the actual ‘things’ and using the pictures for the child to obtain what they want.
January 21st, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Using internet is simple as hell. But I can tell y ou right now, it can be very hard, if you are the first time user.
So, first thing I suggest - open the Explorer, and type in the address you like.
You’ll get there really fast, it depends on your connection speed.
Good luck.