Ending International AAC Awareness month with Board Builder and Symbol Creator v2!

The International AAC Awareness Month occurs during October and during this time we have been making sure that a new version of Board Builder is ready for use with the ability to add freely available open licenced symbols as well as personal images.

This has come about thanks to a Winston Churchill Trust COVID-19 Action Fund We have adapted some of the Mulberry Symbols as this set is one of the only English symbol sets specifically developed for adults. The new medically based symbols, are growing as we make new boards and can be voted on for their levels of acceptance via our survey system. Please vote on them so we can make improvements. It only takes a few moments!

All the symbols available to chart creators using Board Builder are linked from various repositories such as Global Symbols, Open Symbols and the Noun Project. However, now you can add your own images and save your boards for future use by registering on Global Symbols. This allows you to return to the boards or charts, keep them private or make them public to share with others. The boards are saved in open board format (.obf or .obz format for linked boards) or can be downloaded and printed as a PDF. We have made some samples and instructions.

Symbol Creator (found in the top menu of Board Builder where you manage your own library of images) has been developed to help you create combinations of symbols from those open licenced symbols that allow for adaptations or to create your own symbols and to add to your own images. Labels and text can be added if required, although Board Builder allows for labels to be added as a separate element for use with text to speech in an app such as Cough Drop and Cboard.

Please pass on the links in this news item as we want as many people as possible to try the apps as we develop more templates that will allow for information sheet designs as well as variouos grid based charts. We hope anyone will be able to use the resources and our training pages are freely available to help those interested in Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC).