Core words
The words reused in every sentence: I, want, help, more, stop. The board to start with.
Open the core board →Aphasia · Stroke · ALS · Cerebral palsy · Head injury
Communication board for adults
A free communication board with adult words on it. No cartoons, no reward sounds, no vocabulary built around snack time. It says I need help, leave me be, listen to me, and I am still here, because those are the things adults actually need to say and most boards cannot.
FreeNo sign-upFree to copy and share
Tap words to build a sentence. Each word is spoken as you tap.
For adults communication board
Use it here, or press Print this board for a clean one-page copy. Printing works to PDF from any browser.
Using this board well
Adult wording is not a preference, it is the point
An adult holding a board covered in cartoon faces gets read as childlike by the room before they have said anything, and that changes how people speak to them. The tool meant to restore their voice quietly costs them their standing.
If they read, give them a keyboard too
For a literate adult, typing beats tapping through symbol pages by a wide margin, and every page of navigation is delay added to a sentence they already know they want to say. A board is the fallback, not the ceiling.
Aphasia fluctuates, so keep both
Word finding after a stroke can be fine one hour and gone the next. A system that only works on a good day is not a system. Keep the board even if someone mostly types.
Wait longer than is comfortable
A sentence built by pointing takes many times longer than a spoken one. Filling the silence is the single most common way an adult's conversation gets taken away from them.
Common questions
What is a communication board for adults?
A board with adult vocabulary and adult imagery, covering feelings, needs, pain, and conversation, rather than the classroom vocabulary most boards ship with. It is used by people with aphasia after a stroke, with ALS, with cerebral palsy, or by anyone whose speech is unreliable.
What is the communication board for adults with ALS?
One with adult words and no childish imagery, covering care needs, comfort, and conversation. People with ALS keep full language and comprehension, so symbol pages are friction rather than help. As ALS progresses, partner-assisted scanning or eye pointing works with a printed board, and many people later move to an app or an eye-gaze device.
Can someone with aphasia use a communication board?
Often yes, though aphasia is not one condition. Some people lose word finding but keep comprehension entirely and do well with a board plus a patient partner. Others read well enough to type. Many need both, on different days.
Is it too late to start as an adult?
No. Adults take up AAC successfully in their sixties, seventies, and eighties. The obstacle is almost never age: it is being handed a system built for a child, with no time to learn it, by people who talk over the silence.
Other free boards
Hospital communication board
Intubated & ventilated · ICU · Post-stroke · ALS · Post-surgery
Open this board →Communication board for autism
Nonspeaking & minimally speaking autistic people, any age
Open this board →A printed board cannot speak
SayHarbor is an AAC app that speaks aloud, fully offline, and comes with you. Speech is never behind a paywall. It is coming to iPhone and iPad. In the meantime, see the AAC apps that are free today.