Word by word or sound by sound

Also called Symbols versus spelling, Choosing a mode, Mixed-mode communication

Symbol cards, letter keyboard, phonics keyboard: three ways to say the same thing on one device, and how to choose the mode for the moment, not for the person.

What it is

A talking board can offer three routes to the same sentence. Word by word: press a symbol card and the word is said. Letter by letter: type it on a keyboard and the device reads it out. Sound by sound: build the word from its sounds on a phonics keyboard ("sh" plus "o" plus "p") and hear it blended.

Most people assume a person is one kind of user: a symbol user or a spelling user. Most people who use boards are both, and which route is right changes with the sentence, the room and the amount of energy left in the day.

Who it can help

Anyone whose device offers more than one route, and anyone deciding what device to get. Symbols are fastest for the common words and need no spelling. A big-key keyboard says anything at all, slowly, and needs literacy. A phonics keyboard sits between: a person who can hear the sounds in "dog" can build it before they could spell it, and the board says it back, which is also how reading is taught in every English primary school.

Offering only symbols to a person who can spell is limiting; offering only a keyboard to a person who cannot is cruel. The honest answer is usually all three, and the question is which one now.

How it works

The Talk board carries all three on one screen set: 308 symbol cards in 14 sets, a phonics keyboard using the full UK grapheme set (the same letters and letter-groups children learn in phonics lessons, so "igh", "ch" and "ee" are single keys), and a big-key letter keyboard. Anything built on any of them can be spoken, and a sentence can mix them: symbol for "I want", phonics for "Nan's".

Choosing the mode is about cost. Each symbol press costs little but only covers the words on the board. Each letter costs more, and a name costs a whole word's worth. A phonics word costs about as many presses as its sounds, which for most short words is fewer than its letters, and it teaches segmenting and blending as a side effect.

Fatigue, noise and urgency shift the choice. In a hurry, symbols. For a name, letters or sounds. For a joke that only works with the exact word, whatever gets the exact word.

Getting started

This week, show the person all three routes without deciding for them. Say the same sentence three ways on the board and let them see it done. Then, when they reach for one, let them.

If the person is learning to read, use the phonics keyboard for one word a day that is not on the symbol board: their name, the dog's name, a word from school. Hearing the sounds blend into the word they meant is the lesson.

Never remove a route because the person "isn't ready". The keyboard costs nothing to leave on the screen, and the day they use it will surprise you.

Where to get help

Communication Matters for AAC and the ACE Centre for assessment of access and literacy in AAC. The British Dyslexia Association explains phonics and literacy for people who find spelling hard. See literacy and AAC for the case that everyone who uses a board should be taught to read.