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Handout developed by: Tammy Dupre, Region IV AT Facilitator 1

Boardmaker and Speaking Dynamically Pro

Exploring with Sample Boards Click on desktop icon “Shortcut to SDPro Main” Speaking Dynamically Pro main board will come up Explore for 5 to 8 minutes Hit escape and red X in the right hand corner to close the program

Creating a Board from Scratch

Launch the Program: Double click “SDP icon” on your desktop “funny guy” Important Keystrokes: DESIGN mode (Crtl + D) – will allow for editing and creating boards USE mode (Ctrl + U) – will allow your boards to talk and perform an action Getting Started: “Open a new board” will allow you to customize a board to your student’s specific needs Click on “open a new board” *It is very important to save your board once you begin working on it Saving a Board: File Save As Save In: desktop/Shortcut to SDPro on Lres_br5 Double click (to open folder) * Problem with shortcut may appear, just click ok Find the folder with your name Double click (to open folder) Double click Tyrone’s folder and rename the document “Tyrone food choices” Create a Button: Select the “button tool” in the tool palette The arrow will turn into a + sign which is referred to as cross hairs Click and drag your mouse to create a 2 inch by 2 inch square


Spraying Buttons: Click the “button sprayer tool” Move the button tool over the top of the button Click and drag diagonally to spray out 8 total buttons

Adding Background Color: Click on the background Go to colors and select a color Pick a background color by clicking on the color Adding Symbols: Select the “symbol finder tool” (AKA “funny guy”) The symbol finder window will appear Click on the “select categories” button Click on the “clear all standard categories” button

Click on the “snacks” category only Click OK Type in the search text field “granola bar” Click the button to insert the picture of the granola bar


* Repeat inserting the following pictures: Jello, peanuts, candy, chips, popcorn, and chocolate pudding Customizing a Symbol: Click on “funny guy” Type in “I want” Use the arrow keys to scroll through the choices Stop and insert the girl with the yellow hair Click on the symbol The symbol editing tool bar will appear Click on the eraser A window will appear asking if you want to convert the file to a bitmap click “yes”

Erase her head To get a smaller eraser click on the “thickness tool”

Click the “funny guy” Type in “person 62” Click and drag over the head and click on the button “I want” Click “add to”

Click on the head to resize it Click the body to change skin color Click the “fill tool” to paint


Select the color Your finished button should look like this *Always remember to save your work every time you make major changes

Making your boards speak SDP Boards:

1. Sample Boards 2. Templates – activities, journal board sets, simple communication boards and

writing boards

Before you begin to make a main board consider – 1. How many buttons on each board 2. What topics need to be included 3. What vocabulary is needed

Creating a Main Board: File Open Open a “saved board” Look in: Desk top- Double click on “workshop” folder Click on “main board” Click “open”

Saving a Board: Click on “file menu” Select “save as” Look in: Desk top/ Double click on “Shortcut to SDPro” folder Open the folder with your name (create one if there is none, add “new folder”) Click on Tyrone’s folder Type “main board” in the file name window, click save


Adding Symbols: Click on “funny guy” Search for “me” and change words to “about me” click button or hit enter Search for “food” and click on button Search for “shoes” change words to “tie shoes” click button Search for “school” and click on button Change Background Color: Click on the background Go to colors and select a color Click on the button to change the background for the button Adding Speech to a Button: Double click on “about me” icon The button actions window will appear Select “speak message” in the action menu Type in “I want to tell you all about me” Click “use button text” if you want it to speak the text currently on the button Click “speak” to listen to your message Select OK


Giving a Button a Spoken Preview: Double click on “about me” icon The button actions window will appear Select “spoken preview” in the action menu Type in “about me” *If the spoken preview is the same as the button text you can just click “use button text” Giving a Button Recorded Sound: There are two ways to give a button recorded sound

1. By recording the sound through a microphone 2. By playing a saved sound from other boards or

retrieving a sound from your computer Double click on the button “food” The button actions window will appear

*You must have a sound card with a microphone or a built-in microphone to record sound

Click on “record new sound” button, click on “record”, and say into microphone “I’m hungry, I want something to eat” Press “stop”, click OK, and enter the descriptive name for the sound file Practice Program the other two buttons using either Spoken Preview or Recorded Message


Using and Editing Existing Templates File Open a saved board Navigate to the desktop to the “workshop” folder Open “About me” File *Save in “Tyrone’s” folder *Linked boards must be saved in the same folder as the main board Save as “About me-Tyrone” Adding Digital Pictures to Your Boards: Click on the “funny guy” File Import Picture Look in: SDPro- Highlight Tyrone- click “open” “My Symbols\Mine” window will appear You will add a name Type in “Tyrone” Click “add a name” Click “assign categories” Assign the picture a category “other people” Click OK Adding Your Newly Imported Picture: Click on the “funny guy” Click on the button “My name is” A window will appear click on “replace”

Using Existing Templates to Link Boards: Return to the main board Double click on the button “about me” Double click “change board” Click and highlight “About me Tyrone” Click OK Click OK again *Green arrow in bottom right corner signifies the button is linked to another board Change to USE mode (Ctrl + U) to test linked boards.


Practice: File Open from “Desktop-workshop”-“Tie Shoes” board Save as “Tie Shoes-Tyrone” Save in “My board- Tyrone” Link to “Tie Shoes” button

Cool Stuff

Inserting Movies: Double click on “tie shoes” button Click on “cool stuff” Highlight “play movie” Find “workshop folder” Open “Tie Shoe 3” video Click OK Change to USE mode (Ctrl + U) to test video


Launching Applications

Minimize your SDP window Open the file “workshop folder” Right click on the file “telephone practice” Drag it to the desktop Release the mouse and a menu will appear Select “create shortcuts here” Click on “my computer” Open the “C” drive Open “program files” Open “Boardmaker with SD Pro” Right click and drag the file into the SDP externals folder Select “move here” Restoring Your SDPro Window Maximize your “About me Tyrone” board Double click on the “phone number” button Select “cool stuff” under the action categories Select “launch application” Highlight “shortcut to telephone Pratice.Ink” and click OK Go to the User mode to test your board

Speaking Dynamically Pro™ (Win/Mac) v.5.x Design Considerations Introduction Please Note: This tutorial does not replace the expertise of a Speech and Language Pathologist. Please seek the advice of an SLP to help with the design of an augmentative communication system for a student. Speaking Dynamically Pro™ is versatile voice output software that uses linking boards to create a communication environment for a student who requires an alternative or augmentative communication system. The program offers flexibility for the student as the communication boards can be built from “the ground up” and completely designed with an individual student in mind. The designing of these boards involves collaboration with the Speech and Language Pathologist. Please contact your district SLP for assistance in designing a communication system using Speaking Dyanamically Pro™. This tutorial gives general design suggestions for the creation of a set of boards for an individual student. This tutorial assumes…

• The Speaking Dynamically Pro™ program is installed on your computer. • You have launched the program and explored the SD Pro sample boards.

Learning Objectives Completion of this tutorial will give you experience with the following:

• An understanding of the considerations necessary for designing a communication system for a student.

Case Study Billy is a grade 3 student with Down syndrome who has delayed speech development. He currently uses some words, gestures, pointing and symbols for communication. He is participating in modified curriculum in his inclusive classroom. Billy is easily distracted and requires consistency and routine to help him organize his school day. He is dependent on an aid to help him with much of his school routines. The school team would like Billy to have a communication system that would allow him to socialize and interact with others, to exchange information and to make requests. In collaboration with the district Speech and Language Pathologist a colour-coded schedule and a low-tech communication book were created for Billy. He looks forward to using them. The team has now acquired Speaking Dynamically Pro™ and the team is about to set up a communication system for Billy on a laptop computer. They are organizing a full team planning meeting to discuss and design Billy’s new system.

SET-BC www.setbc.org 1 of 5 September 2006

Design Considerations - Planning

1

Question: What topics will the student need to communicate about?

• Consider the student’s day. • Begin with a simple outline.

2

Question: How many buttons can the student successfully work with on a board?

• Consider cognitive ability, fine motor and vision

• Consider frequency of use

3

Question: What does the student need on the buttons to use them successfully?

• Consider button shape o Square buttons talk o Round buttons link to other

boards • Consider button colour

o Pink for verbs o Blue for descriptors o Green for prepositions o Yellow for nouns o Orange for interaction words

(This is the Goossens colour-coding system. Other colour-code systems are also in use and can be explored.) • Consider need for text, symbols or

photos.

4

Question: How many boards will be needed to cover a specific topic?

• Consider the subcategories of a topic: e.g. school can be divided into several sub groupings: art time, circle time, classmates, PE, writing, teachers, assembly, etc.


5

Question: Will the student use buttons that contain complete phrases or will he/she construct phrases from multiple buttons.

• Consider when a board is being used for participation versus communication. Participation boards with buttons containing full phrases are desirable.

6

Question: Will the student require special access equipment? (mouse, switch with scanning, touchscreen, etc.)

• Speaking Dynamically Pro™ works with the touch pad on a laptop computer, a mouse, a switch with scanning or a touchscreen.

Design Considerations – Determining Needs

7

Question: Where will the student communicate?

• Consider the portability issue for a student if the program is on a computer. This will limit the places in which a student can use the program.

8

Question: What will the student need to say in those environments?

• Consider quick comment and clarification buttons.


9

Question: How can you organize a plan?

• On a large piece of paper, or using a mapping program like Inspiration® list the major categories of communication need.

10

• Under each category determine

subcategories.

11

• Under each subcategory, determine

the phrases that the student requires for communication.

12

Question: Plan for the future. Leave room for linking and expansion. This planning will make it easier to add boards as the student becomes adept at using the system and as the needs increase.


Design Considerations - Appearance

13

Question: Is there one design that will facilitate efficient and successful use for the student?

• There are several different design layouts used in communication devices. If possible, look at some of these for ideas. Consider visiting the Dynavox website http://www.dynavoxtech.com/ for more information. The most important aspect in designing a successful board set for a student is consistency in design of buttons and boards.

14

Question: Is there an easy way to ensure consistency in boards?

Answer: Consider creating a template for your student. (See appendix 6 in the Speaking Dynamically Pro User’s Guide or look for the SET-BC tutorial, “Designing Your Own Template with a Message Display.”


Speaking Dynamically Pro™ (Win) v.5.x Designing Your Own Template with a Message Display Introduction This tutorial will show you how to design a simple board with a Message Display that can be used as a template to facilitate ease and consistency when creating boards. This tutorial assumes…

• The Speaking Dynamically Pro™ program is installed on your computer. • You have a basic understanding of Boardmaker and can create a simple

board. • You have created a Student Folder in the “My Boards” section of “My

Documents” (following the tutorial “Making a New Folder in “My Boards”) or know how to create a new folder.


• Creating a message display. • Creating a button with specific appearance and actions. • Spraying this button to create a board with consistent buttons. • Saving the new board into a specific folder.

Case Study Billy is a grade 3 student with Down syndrome who requires augmentative communication support for speech output. He recognizes symbols and is participating in modified curriculum in his inclusive classroom. Billy is easily distracted and requires consistency and routine to help him organize his school day. The SLP and teacher have recently acquired Speaking Dynamically Pro™ and they want to set up a communication system for Billy using SDPro that is consistent from board to board. The teacher has decided that before she creates boards for Billy, she should make a template so that all boards are consistent in button size, border width and background colour. After exploring the sample boards with Billy, the teacher and SLP determine that boards with 8 buttons would be a good starting point.


Designing Your own Template With a Message Display

1

Launch Speaking Dynamically Pro from the desktop icon. From the Boardmaker/SDPro Startup Screen click Open a new board.

2

Save this new board: go to File Save as...The default location, “My Boards” will open. Locate the “Billy’s Boards” folder that you created in a previous tutorial. (Refer to the Making a New Folder in “My Boards” tutorial.) Double-click the “Billy’s Boards” folder to open it.

3

In the File Name box, delete “Untitled 1” and type in the name “Template.” Click Save to save the board.

4

Our student, Billy, requires a message display on his board. Begin by adding this message display to the board. Go to Dynamic Buttons Message Display.


5

A “Message Display” box appears. Notice that there is a dotted orange border around the box. This indicates that it is selected. With it selected, position it along the top of the board, by using the up or down arrows on the keyboard or clicking and dragging it.

6

Increase the size of the message display by positioning the cursor over the bottom border until the double-headed arrow appears. Click and drag the border to 2 inches long.

7

Double-click inside the “Sample Message Text” box to bring up the “Message Display Settings” box. Uncheck “Select Entire Message After Speaking”. Check “Selectable Display”. Select OK.

A broken orange line indicates one button is selected.


8

Next create one button that will contain all of the features that we want in all the buttons. Begin by creating a 2 inch square button. (Hint: holding the Shift key down as you click and drag will create a square button.)

9

Consider which items will remain the same from board to board.

• Shape of corners: e.g. rounded or square

• Shape of button: e.g. round, square or rectangular

• Colours of buttons and borders • Specific actions • Thickness of border • Shadow or no shadow for borders

10

All the changes to the button that are carried out in steps 11 – 15 require that the button be selected. (Click on the button to select it; the orange dotted line indicates that it is selected.)

11

Round the button corners.

• Select the corner tool. • Click a corner selection.


12

Thicken the border.

• Select the Thickness tool. • Click a line thickness selection.

13

Create a shadow effect.

• Select the Shadow Tool. • Click the shadow icon.

14

Colour the button:

• Select the “Color Tool”. Select “Button.”

• Click a colour swatch to choose a colour.

15

Colour the border:

• Select the “Color Tool”. Select “Border.”

• Click a colour swatch to choose a colour.

16

Assign actions to a button. Double-click on a button to bring up the “Action Menu.” For this tutorial we will select from the “Basic Action” menu:

• Speak Message • Type Message • Play Recorded Message • Change Board • Return to Last Board • Text Preview • Spoken Preview • Recorded Preview • Picture Button


17

We want all of Billy’s buttons to Speak when selected. From the “Action Menu” click “Speak Message”. An “Enter Text” box will appear. Select “Use the Text Above” and click OK. This will leave the text box blank for now and we can add the text we want on the individual boards.

18

We want all of Billy’s buttons to type the message to the Message Display window. Click “Type Message”. An “Enter Text” box will appear. Select “Use the Text Above” and click OK. This will leave the text box blank for now and we can add the text we want on the individual boards. Save the board. (Ctrl + S)

19

Select the button sprayer tool and spray 7 more buttons (click and drag). All these buttons will contain the actions that you programmed into the original button and they will retain the appearance as well.

20

With all the yellow buttons selected, use the left or right arrows or click and drag to centre the block of buttons from left to right.

21

Create a smaller button and position it in the bottom left corner of the board.


22

Adjust the appearance of the button and spray one more. Move the second one to the bottom right corner. These will become the “Back” and “Main” buttons for your boards.

23

Assign actions:

• Double-click the left button to bring up the “Action Menu.” Assign “Return to Last Board.”

• Click OK to return to the board.

24

The right button will be used to return to the student main page. You can add this action to the button once you’ve created a main page. If you have created a main board for your student:

• Double-click the right button to bring up the “Action Menu.” Assign “Change Board” and select “+main” from the pop-up menu.

• Click OK to return to the board.

25

Select appropriate icons for both buttons.


26

Colour the background:

• Click anywhere on the background to deselect all buttons.

• Select the “Color tool”. • The “Background” colour palette will

appear. Click a colour swatch to choose a colour.

27

Billy’s boards will have a black background. Make a final save: go to File Save (or Ctrl+S). Each time you want to make a new board for your student, open this board and immediately go to File Save as… open the student folder and save the board with a new name. Choose a name that will help you remember what the board is being designed for. This will leave your “Template” board available to use over and over again.

Tip… Templates are great timesavers – you can save your own template in the SDP Template folder.


Speaking Dynamically Pro™ (Win) v.5.x Exploring the Sample Boards Introduction This tutorial will show you how to explore the sample boards in Speaking Dynamically Pro™ using the program’s main board. This tutorial assumes…

• The Speaking Dynamically Pro™ program is installed on your computer.


• Locating and opening the Speaking Dynamically Pro™ sample boards. • How to put the program into “use” and “design” modes. • Understanding how boards link together. • Seeing some student communication possibilities with the program.

Case Study Billy is a grade 3 student who needs to use augmentative communication for speech output. His teacher has recently acquired the Speaking Dynamically Pro™ software for Billy and she now wonders how Billy will use the program. She would like some ideas for implementation and so she and Billy are going to explore the sample boards in the program. She will observe Billy’s ability to navigate some of the boards and do her planning from this observation.


Exploring the Sample Boards

1

Speaking Dynamically Pro™ comes with a set of linking sample boards. To navigate to the sample boards, double-click on the Boardmaker with SDPro icon on the desktop.

3

From the Boardmaker™/SDPro™ startup screen click “Open a Template”.

4

Locate the “SDP Sample Boards” folder and double-click to open. You can also locate the Sample Boards files by following this path… C:\Program Files\Boardmaker\Templates\SDP Sample Boards

5

Double-click “+main” to open the SDPro main sample board.

6

Once the main board opens, you need to put the program into Use mode in order to explore the sample boards. In the top menu bar, go to Dynamic Boards

Use or Ctrl+U.

Folder containing sample boards.


7

The small green arrow in the bottom right corner of each button indicates a link to another board. To explore the sample boards, click buttons to move to different boards. When you are finished exploring, click the “Stop” sign to exit the program or press the Esc key on the keyboard or use Ctrl+D to return to “Design” mode.

Tip… Ctrl+D = Design Mode Ctrl+U = Use Mode


Boardmaker/Speaking Dynamically Pro (Win) v.5.x Importing Images into Boards Introduction This tutorial will show you how to import web images into a Boardmaker/Speaking Dynamically Pro board. This tutorial assumes…

• The Speaking Dynamically Pro program is open on your computer. • You have created a basic board and saved it. • You have an internet connection. • You know how to open an internet browser.


• Customizing a communication board by importing an image from the internet. Case Study Billy is a grade 3 student who needs to use augmentative communication for speech output. He recognizes symbols and is participating in modified curriculum in his inclusive classroom. He currently uses boards created in Speaking Dynamically Pro to support communication and participation. His teacher has assigned a weekly show and tell and Billy would like to be able to bring his favourite book, “WhereThe Wild Things Are,” by Marice Sendak and tell about it. His teacher is creating a “Show and Tell” board for him and would like to include some images from the book but she doesn’t have a scanner. She will look to the internet for images.


Locating an image

1

Begin with the board you’ve created and saved.

2

Minimize the Boardmaker/Speaking Dynamically Pro program by clicking the minimize bar in the top right corner of the screen.

2

We will use the Google website for this image search Open an internet browser. Go to www.google.ca Click “Images” and type in what you’d like to search for (such as “Where The Wild Things Are”), then click on Search Images.

3

You will see several images. Right-click on the image you prefer. A menu will appear. Look for the choices to Save Picture As… or Copy. You have the option of saving the image to your computer. For this tutorial that is not necessary. Click the Copy feature. This will copy your image to the Clipboard.

The minimize bar is the short horizontal line

Click here for Google Image Search.


4

Return to your SDPro board and select the button in which you’d like to paste your image. (Click the button to select it. The dotted orange border indicates that it is selected.) Use the Edit Paste feature (or Ctrl+V) to paste the image into the selected button. You now have a button for Billy’s favourite book “Where the Wild Things Are”. Save your board: File Save (or Ctrl+S).

5

If you like you can add PCS symbols to your buttons along with the images from Google. *Remember that some images you will encounter have copyright protection. Please use images that are freely shared.

Tip… Importing an image from the internet is faster than scanning the same image from the book.


Speaking Dynamically Pro (Win) v.5.x Making a New Folder in “My Boards” Introduction This tutorial will show you how to make a new folder in the “My Boards” section of Speaking Dynamically Pro™. This tutorial assumes…

• The Speaking Dynamically Pro™ program is installed on your computer. • You know how to open the program.


• Creating a new folder for an individual student’s boards. • How to save to the new folder.

Case Study Billy is a grade 3 student who requires augmentative communication support. He recognizes symbols and is participating in modified curriculum in his inclusive classroom. Billy’s teacher and SLP have explored the sample boards in Speaking Dynamically Pro™ and decided that Billy needs a set of boards created just for him. These boards will be saved in one folder called “Billy’s Boards”.


Making a New Folder

1

A fast way to make a new folder is to use the Save as… feature in the program. From the Boardmaker™/SDPro™ Startup Screen click Open a new board.

2

When the new board has opened, go to File

Save as... (Boardmaker™/Speaking Dynamically Pro™ installs a folder called “My Boards” in the “My Documents” area of your computer.) When you select File Save as... this default location “My Boards” will open.

3

To create a new folder locate the “new folder” icon and click on it.

Save As…will open the default location “My Boards”

4

A New Folder will appear in “My Boards” and it will be selected (the blue background means it is selected.) You can just type right over this text to give it a name like “Billy’s Boards.” Or, you can backspace to clear the words “New Folder” and type your new name. (You will use this folder in a follow-up tutorial.)


Speaking Dynamically Pro™ (Win) v.5.x Using a Personal Template to Create a Main Board Introduction This tutorial will show you how to create a main board interface for a student from the user-made template created in a previous tutorial. This tutorial assumes…

• The Speaking Dynamically Pro™ program is installed on your computer. • You have created a personal template for your student following the tutorial

“Designing Your Own Template with a Message Display”. • You have created a Student Folder for your student in the “My Boards”

section of “My Documents”.


• Creating and personalizing a main board from a user-made template. • Saving a main board. • Creating and saving boards to correspond with the buttons on the main

board. • Creating links from the main board buttons to the corresponding boards. • Creating a shortcut to the student main board on the computer desktop.

Case Study Billy is a grade 3 student with Down syndrome who requires augmentative communication support. Billy is easily distracted and requires consistency and routine to help him organize his school day. He recognizes symbols and is participating in modified curriculum in his inclusive classroom. The teacher and SLP have created colour-coded schedules and a low-tech communication book for Billy and he looks forward to using them. His school team has recently acquired Speaking Dynamically Pro™ and wants to create a main board that will be simple for Billy to understand and use. He will need to be able to communicate about school work such as reading, math, art, music and science. His family is active in the community and Billy often has interesting outings on the weekends and after school. He would like a way to communicate about these home and community experiences. He also buys lunch in the cafeteria once a week. He will also use Speaking Dynamically Pro™ as a writing tool, so the teacher and SLP want to make certain that he has access to a writing display on his main board. After looking at sample boards with Billy they have determined that an 8 button main board would be a good starting point. Billy will use these categories: About Me, School, Home, Community, Food, Social, Feelings and Writing.


Using a Personal Template to Create a Main Board

1

Please note: Speaking Dynamically Pro™ has two modes: Design and Use. In Design mode the user creates boards and buttons and assigns actions to them. In Use mode the user selects buttons to make things happen: speech, text, etc. Launch the program from the “Boardmaker with SD Pro” desktop icon. From the Boardmaker/SDPro Startup Screen click “Open a saved board”.

2

The default location, “My Boards” will open. Locate the student folder you created (Billy’s Boards). Double-click to open it.

3

Double-click the “Template” board from the student folder. (Created in the tutorial “Designing Your Own Template with a Message Display.”) Your template will open.

4

Go to File Save as… to save the template as a new board. (Because your template was saved in the student folder, this folder will open.) Name your blank template “+main.” Click “save.” (Naming the main board with a + will cause it to automatically open in “Use” mode if a shortcut to it is placed on the computer desktop.)


5

Delete the unnecessary “Back” and “Main” buttons in this way: Select them: click on the first one – an orange dotted line will appear around it – hold down the shift key and click in the second button. They are now both selected. (They will both have a dotted green line around them.) Go to Edit Cut or backspace to remove these buttons.

6

You should have a clear understanding of what the student needs on the main board. (Refer to the tutorial “Design Considerations”.) Add symbols and names to your buttons. Go to File Save or Ctrl+S to save your main board.

7

At this time you should create boards for each of the buttons you created on the main board. The buttons on this sample are: About me School Home Community Food Social Feelings Writing Go to File Open Click “Open a saved board” Double-click the “Template” board from the student folder.


8

Go to File Save as… to save the template as a new board. (Be certain you save these boards in the student folder you created.) Name your blank board “About Me.” Click “save.”

9

Now go to File Save as… to save the “About Me” board with a new name. Name this board “School” and click “save.” Go to File Save as… to save the “School” board with the new name “Home.” Follow this routine until you have created all 8 boards for the 8 buttons.

10

When you’ve completed the “Save as…” task, the last board you saved will remain on top of your main board. Return to the main board. (Click on the board behind to return to it.)

→

11

Linking buttons to boards: Double click on the first button, “About me” to bring up the action menu. Click on “Change Board” to bring up a listing of all boards you’ve saved in the folder that contains your “+main” board.


12

Double-click the “About Me” board to link it to this button. Click OK and OK again to return to the main board. (A small green arrow in the bottom right corner of a button indicates that the button links to a board.) Repeat these steps to link each main board button to its corresponding board.

13

It is extremely useful for the student to have a shortcut to his or her personal main board on the computer desktop. A very quick way to do this is to go to File Save As… which will bring up your list of boards saved in the student’s folder. Locate “+main” and right click on it. A popup menu will appear. From this menu, place your cursor on “Send To”. (You may need to wait a second or two for the next menu to popup.)

14

Another popup menu will appear. From this menu click on “Desktop (create shortcut)” to send a shortcut to the desktop. Click “Cancel” to return to your board.


15

Save your main board with all its changes. Go to File Save or Ctrl+S Close Boardmaker/Speaking Dynamically Pro. Locate the desktop icon “Shortcut to +main.bm2” that you created. Rename the desktop icon to identify it as your student’s main board:

1. Right click on the icon on the desktop

2. From the pop-up menu click “Rename”

3. Type in a new name such as “Billy’s Main”

16

Test the desktop shortcut:

1. Double-click the desktop icon “Billy’s Main”

2. The program will open to the student’s main board in “Use” mode.

3. Try the buttons to see if they link back and forth.

4. Use Ctrl+D or Esc to return to “Design” mode.

Tip… You can quickly locate your boards by going to My Computer My Documents My Boards specific folder specific board


Speaking Dynamically Pro Tutorial Speaking Dynamically Pro is dynamic screen communication software that works with a computer to allow the system to be used as a speech-output device. Interactive educational activities are also available through the program which allows the user more options and experiences. Tutorial To access Speaking Dynamically Pro open the Boardmaker program by going to the Start Menu, Programs, Mayer Johnson, and then clicking on Boardmaker. The program will open into a main screen with three different selections from which to choose, open a new board, open a saved board, or open a template. For this tutorial, you will need to click “open a new board”. A new blank Boardmaker document will open on the screen.

Click the button tool to select. Click inside the document to begin forming the button, then drag the mouse down and to the right to create a button approximately two inches by two inches. Release the drag when the button is the desired size. Click on the

button sprayer tool then left click and drag the mouse to create four more buttons.

Click the symbol finder tool to open the symbol finder box. Type “breakfast” in the search string box. After finding an acceptable graphic by using the white arrows to scroll through the graphic choices, and then click on the first button to insert the graphic desired for breakfast. Type “lunch” in the search string box. Once a graphic is found, click on the second button to insert the graphic. Type dinner in the search string box and then click the third button after finding a graphic. Finally, click snack in the search string box. After choosing a graphic, click on the fourth button to insert the graphic into the button. Click the “X” in the upper right corner of the symbol finder to close the symbol finder tool. Click on the file menu at the top of the screen, then click “save as” to save the board in the desired location. Be sure to save the board in the “My Boards” folder, and save it as (your name) “main board”. Click the minus button in the right upper corner of the board to minimize the board. Open a new board by clicking on the file menu at the top of the screen and clicking “new board”.

Click the button tool to select and create a button around two inches by two inches in the new board. Select the button sprayer then click and drag the cursor to create three additional buttons.

Click the symbol finder tool to open the symbol finder box. Type lasagna in the search string box. After finding an acceptable graphic, click inside the first button to insert the graphic. Type corn dog in the search string box and then click inside the second button once a graphic is found to insert the graphic. Type pizza in the search string box and then click the third button after finding a graphic. Finally, click macaroni and cheese in the search string box. After choosing a graphic, click on the fourth button to insert the graphic into the button. Click the “X” in the upper right corner of the symbol finder to close the symbol finder tool. Click the “X” in the upper right corner of the symbol finder to close the symbol finder tool.

Click the button tool to select and create a small button on the bottom of the board on the left side. Click on the right side of the board to create another small button, the same size as the previous button created.

Click the text tool to engage, and then click inside the new button on the left and type the text, “last”. If the text is too small to read, highlight it with the cursor, then click the text menu on top and select a larger font size. With the text tool, click inside the new box created on the right and type the text, “main”. Go to the file menu, select “save as” and save this new board as “lunch options” in the “my boards” folder. (***Note: For the boards to link properly, all boards need to be saved in the same folder.***)

Click the pointer tool and then double click inside the main button. An action menu will appear. Click to select “Change board”. Both saved boards should appear as options in the pop up menu. Click to select your main board and click “ok”. The action menu should now show the change board action you’ve added to the button.

Click “spoken preview” in the action menu and type “go back to main board” in the text box that appears. Click the speak button to hear your preview read by the computer.

Click ok to finish adding the spoken preview text. Notice, there are now two actions associated with the button. Click OK to close the action menu. Your “main” button should now have a small green box with a black arrow in the bottom right corner. Double click the “last” button and then click “Return to last board” and click ok. Add a spoken preview to this button by selecting “spoken preview” in the action menu and typing “go back to the last board” in the text box. Click ok to close the action menu. Minimize the board by clicking the minus button in the upper right corner of the board. Click the maximize button for your main board. With the pointer tool, double click the “lunch” button. The action menu will appear. Click “Change Board,” click to select “lunch options,” and click ok. Make sure “Change Board” is under the assigned actions and then click OK. The lunch button should now have a green square in the bottom right corner. Test the button actions by clicking “Dynamic Boards” on the top menu and selecting “Use” or press ctrl U on the keyboard. To return to the design mode, press Ctrl D. The main lunch board should appear full screen. Click it, and it should take you to the “lunch options” menu. Hover the mouse over the back to main board button. The text you entered should be spoken aloud. Click that button and you should be brought back to the main board. Press escape on the keyboard, or control and the D key to go back to design mode and close the program.