Choice boards

Also called Choice board, Choosing board, Activity choice board, Choice strip

A board of pictures for one decision: what to play, what to eat, where to go. Small, focused, and made for the moment it's needed.

What it is

A choice board is a set of pictures laid out for one specific decision. Snack time: four snacks. Free play: six activities. Bath: three bath toys. The person points, looks or touches, and gets what they chose. It's offering choices scaled up from two things in your hands to a page of options, and it's usually the first symbol-based thing a person uses.

It differs from a communication board, which carries general vocabulary for saying anything, and from a core board, which carries the words used most across all situations. A choice board is deliberately narrow: this decision, these options, now.

Who it can help

Early symbol users of any age: children in nursery and special school, adults with a learning disability, people with dementia choosing meals or activities, people recovering from a stroke on a ward. It's also useful for fluent communicators in a hurry: a menu is a choice board.

It's a starting point, not a destination. A person whose whole communication is choice boards is being offered a menu written by someone else, every time. They need to move on to a core vocabulary that lets them say what isn't on the board, and the choice board should shrink to the situations where it's genuinely the quickest tool.

How it works

The board shows two to eight options, depending on the person's grid size: fewer and bigger for a beginner or someone with a visual impairment, more for a confident user. Each option is a photo or symbol, and everything on the board must be actually available: a board that shows the trampoline on a day the trampoline's locked teaches that choosing doesn't work.

The partner shows the board, names each option while pointing at it, and waits. The person selects however they can: touching, pointing, looking (partner-assisted scanning if they can't point), or, on a device, by tapping a card that speaks. The partner confirms the choice out loud and delivers it immediately.

Over time, boards become pages. The snack board and the play board and the bath board turn into a communication book, and the words in common (MORE, DIFFERENT, FINISHED, NOT THAT) migrate to a core board that goes everywhere.

Getting started

Make one for the decision that causes the most bother this week. Photograph the real things, print them, laminate, four to a page.

Show it at the same moment every day, name the options, wait, and give the chosen thing. Add a FINISHED symbol from week two.

The Talk board can stand in for a paper board straight away: the food and drink set is a snack choice board with a voice, and a card that speaks lets the person tell the person across the room, not just the one holding the page.

Where to get help

Your speech and language therapist will help pick the right number and type of pictures and the right access method. Free symbols for making boards come from ARASAAC, Global Symbols and Open AAC; Widgit is the paid standard in UK schools. The ACE Centre publishes free printable boards and guidance on moving from choice boards to full vocabulary.