There's No Place Like Home -- Robust AAC Vocabularies for Home Boards
The vocabulary set (or board set) you access when you are using augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) really does shape the way you can communicate. When you have quick access to a large number of words and phrases, you can communicate about any topic and express your needs, ideas, and feelings.
But there is no one perfect communication set that is right for every communicator.
Because people have different access methods, mobility concerns, processing styles, vocal patterns, expression types and more AAC needs to be flexible enough to offer a number of robust communication styles so that a communicator can use the one that works best for their strengths and situation.
Within CoughDrop, there are a number of pre-created board sets available for use. Any communicator can jump into one of these languages or make their own copy to customize the buttons and options to fit their specific needs.
We'd like to introduce you to a few of CoughDrop's most popular language sets so you can take a tour and find the one that may be right for you.
Quick Core Vocabulary Sets
Our most popular communication sets are the Quick Core communication options. These sets include a large number of core vocabulary words on individual speech buttons. The sets also provide access to a keyboard for spelling and customized messages.
The Quick Core board sets offer a large number of linked words that can easily be expanded. The smallest Quick Core board set offers 600 primary words and the largest option starts with 4500 available words.
Quick Core board sets come in a variety of sizes to better fit the communicator's needs. Larger buttons are available to increase target size and smaller button sizes expand the available words within a set to thousands of options accessible in 1-3 button presses.
Vocal Flair
The Vocal Flair vocabulary set is a primarily flat but dynamic main core board with quick links to hundreds of categorized support words. Emphasis is put on faster access to more-robust and more-common words, and a keyboard with built-in suggestions is also included, as well as alphabetized word lists, to increase flexibility.
Vocal Flair boards come in a variety of sizes and are customizable to fit the specific needs of a communicator. The smallest Vocal Flair board set starts with 2600 words and the largest holds more than 3500. These boards can always be expanded to include thousands more words.
Sequoia-15
While it is only currently available in one board size, Sequoia-15 is a branching vocabulary set, built in an effort to support communication organized by pragmatic function but with the goal of encouraging expansion into a generalized and core-oriented vocabulary.
Similar to other pragmatic language systems like CommuniKate or PODD, this board set tries to introduce as few context-specific clusters as possible and instead reuse more general clusters like verbs, feelings, etc. The pre-populated set starts with over 1800 buttons and can easily grow to include more.
While these are CoughDrop's most popular and most robust language and vocabulary options, this is by no means the end of available communication sets. You can find a few additional options for AAC home boards in this support article.
There are thousands of pre-populated speech boards created by AAC users and supporters available within CoughDrop. You can search for topic-related boards, activity-specific boards, Gestalt boards, music boards, reading boards, and so much more. Find a number of board ideas for AAC communication here.