Getting started

How to Make a Communication Board at Home

VOIS Team · 17 August 2026

You don't need an expensive device or specialist equipment to give your child another way to communicate.

A simple communication board can be made at home using paper, photographs, a printer if you have one, and a little thought about the words that matter most in your child's day.

And importantly, a paper communication board is still AAC.

It isn't a pretend version of AAC or something that only counts until you get an app. Low-tech communication boards can be useful communication tools in their own right.

Here's how to get started.

What you need

You can keep this very simple.

You'll need:

• a sheet of paper or cardboard;
• photographs, printed pictures or simple drawings;
• scissors and glue or tape;
• a pen or marker;
• clear plastic, a plastic sleeve or laminating if you want the board to last longer.

If you don't have access to a printer, draw the pictures yourself or cut suitable pictures from packaging and magazines.

The artwork doesn't need to be perfect.

The important part is that your child can begin connecting a picture or word with something meaningful.

Step 1: Think about what your child needs to say

It can be tempting to start by filling a board with nouns: juice, biscuit, ball, car, TV, Mum.

Those words are useful, but communication is about much more than naming or requesting things.

Your child also needs words that can work in lots of different situations. These are often called core words. Examples include:

• more
• stop
• go
• help
• want
• no
• finished
• again
• look

Words like these are useful because they can be used throughout the day. More might mean more bubbles, more food or more tickles. Stop could be used during play, while getting dressed or when something feels uncomfortable. Help can be useful almost anywhere.

A good starter board therefore includes a mixture of these flexible words and words that are particularly important to your child.

Step 2: Add your child's own words

Now think about your child's actual life. What do they regularly ask for? Who are the important people around them? What activities do they love? What situations regularly cause frustration because they're difficult to communicate?

Your board might include:

• Mum
• Dad
• Gran
• water
• yoghurt
• outside
• swing
• iPad
• toilet

Another child's board may look completely different. That's exactly the point. AAC should give a child access to language that makes sense in their own world.

Photographs can be particularly useful here. Instead of using a generic picture of a teddy bear, you might photograph the teddy your child actually sleeps with every night.

Step 3: Put the board together

You don't need dozens of pictures to begin. Start with a manageable selection and arrange them in a simple grid. Place each picture in its own space and write the word underneath it.

Try to keep the pictures large enough for your child to see and point to comfortably.

Once you're happy with the board, cover it with clear plastic, place it inside a plastic sleeve or laminate it if you can.

Then put it somewhere your child can actually access it. A communication board sitting in a cupboard cannot do much communicating. You could have one on the fridge, another near the play area or a small version that travels in your child's bag.

Step 4: Use it yourself

This is one of the most important parts.

Don't simply place the board in front of your child and start asking them to point to things. Show them how it works.

If you're about to go outside, say: "Let's go." At the same time, point to go on the board.

If your child hands you something they cannot open, you might say: "You need help." Then point to help.

You don't need to ask them to copy you. Children need opportunities to see AAC being used as communication, rather than experiencing it only when someone asks them a question. Modelling AAC during normal activities is a recognised approach used to support AAC learning.

Your homemade board is real AAC

There can be a feeling that a printed communication board is only something you use until you get a "proper" AAC device.

That's not a particularly helpful way to look at it.

AAC can be low-tech or high-tech. A paper board doesn't run out of battery. It can go to the bath, sit beside the swimming pool, stay in the car or act as a backup if an electronic device isn't available.

For some children it may be where AAC begins. For others it may remain one part of a larger communication system.

The format matters less than whether the person has access to communication when they need it.

Growing beyond the first board

Over time, you may realise that your child needs access to far more language than can comfortably fit on one homemade board. That's normal.

You might create additional boards, introduce more vocabulary or explore an electronic AAC system. This is also where a tool such as VOIS can help.

VOIS allows families to use photographs from their child's own world and pair them with recordings in a familiar voice and the language spoken at home. A vocabulary that begins with a handful of meaningful photographs can then grow as the child's communication needs grow.

The important thing is not whether you start with paper or a screen. It's that your child has another way to say:

• I want that.
• I don't want that.
• Help me.
• Look at this.
• I'm finished.
• I have something to say.

And you can start building that opportunity with a piece of paper today.

This article provides general educational information and is not a substitute for individual advice or assessment from a qualified speech-language therapist or healthcare professional.