Settings

For caregivers: hold the ⚙ for 1 second to open.

Voice

On the ABC page, Michael says about 9,000 everyday words; the other voices say the board's words and spell the rest, letter by letter.

Loud voice Evens out the voice and makes it louder, for a noisy room or a quiet phone speaker. Turn the phone's own volume up too.

Pages to show

Find a word

Turning pages

Swipe to change pages The ◀ ▶ arrows always work too.

Page stickers (QR and NFC)

A sticker by the fridge can open Food, one by the door Places. Scan a QR sticker from the page list (tap the page name, then 📷), or with the phone's camera. A sticker only turns the page; it never says anything by itself.

🏷️ QR stickers to print ›

Scanning (if tapping a picture is hard)

Scan the pictures The pictures light up one after another; tap anywhere on the screen (or press a switch) to choose the one that's lit. Hold ⚙ as usual for Settings.

Fun effects

Calm answers Yes, No, every feeling and the Talk page all get the same few gentle sparkles, so no answer is more fun to pick than another. Off: they keep their usual sparkles.

Reading

Tap the words to show them big Tapping the words at the top fills the screen with them, for a cashier, a noisy room, or someone across the table. Darker page names Darkens the lighter colours a little (I want, Food, Fun, Mom & Dad, Yes) so the white writing is easier to read.

Talking in sentences

Build sentences Each picture is still said straight away, and its words also line up at the top. 🔊 says them all, one after another; ✕ starts again. The next picture after 🔊 starts a new sentence, and so does a 2-minute pause. Tapped, the words at the top show just the last words big, with a button for the whole sentence. Word suggestions on the ABC page Three words to pick from above the letters, from what's been typed so far (words he has spoken before come first; they're remembered while Count taps on this phone is on). Numbers on the ABC page A row of numbers (1 to 9, then 0) under the letters. Numbers are said as words (15: "fifteen"). Recent sentences with the big words The big words also show the last few things said; tap one to say it again.

Visits (the Time page)

When is Dad coming? and When is Mom coming? on the Time page count down to the next visit set here. With no date set, they just ask the question.

Screen

Bigger pictures (6 on a screen) Each page shows 6 bigger pictures; its other 6 are on the next screen ("Food 2"). Bottom row hidden behind the ◀ ● ■ buttons? Tick this to move the board up above them. Usually it fits by itself. Keep the screen on The screen stays on for 5 minutes after each tap, so it doesn't go dark in the middle of a sentence. Then the phone locks as usual.

Photos and voices

Give any picture a photo (take one, or choose one already on this phone), or record a voice for it (a family member saying the Tongan words, for example). They're kept on this phone only, never put on the website.

📷 🎙️ Change a picture or voice… ➕ Make a new picture…

Most-used pictures

Counted on this phone only, never sent anywhere. Quick repeat taps on the same picture (less than 3 seconds apart) count once.

Count taps on this phone Keep a list of what was said today Each picture or spelled sentence, with the time, kept on this phone for 2 days only and never sent anywhere. Health words (Ouch, Body, Sick, Help) are shown in red. Chime for health words A chime comes before anything on Ouch, Body or Sick, and Help, so staff across the room hear it. Clear the counts

Status

Check for updates now

Pictures: Fluent Emoji © Microsoft, MIT licence. Voices: Kokoro, Apache 2.0. ABC page words: wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0) and WordNet 3.0. QR stickers: QR Code Generator (MIT) and jsQR (Apache 2.0).

📖 Staff guide › 🖨 Paper board to print › 🩺 Health pages to print › About & credits › Done

Tap the photo where a spot should go, then choose what it says. Tap a spot to change or remove it.

Show the words on the spots Done

Each step is a picture and a line of words. Tap a step's picture to give it a photo or a recording.

➕ Add a step Done

A spot

🧩 Say one of the board's pictures… ⌨️ Type the words… Cancel

Change a picture or voice

Choose a page, then tap the picture to change. 📷 = has a photo, 🎙️ = has a recording.

🎙️ Go through this page, one picture at a time Done

Picture

Voice

Done

Choose a picture

Cancel

A photo for Talanoa

➕ Make a new picture with it 🖼️ Put it on a picture already on the board Cancel

Wait timer

A pie that shrinks while he waits, and a chime at the end. Choose how long:

Close

Modelling

Use the board yourself while you talk with him: the best way to teach it. While modelling is on, your taps are said but not counted, and the brown bar turns purple. 👆 then a picture makes it glow for a moment without saying it (a hint). It switches itself off after 10 minutes without a tap.

🧑‍🏫 Start modelling

Word of the week

One picture to use often this week. It gets a small gold star on the board for 7 days, to remind everyone to show it.

Close