Communication Boards

Park Communication Station : Rotary Beach Park in Haliburton

Park Communication Station : Head Lake Park in Haliburton

The first playground communication boards in Haliburton County were installed at Head Lake Park and Rotary Beach Park in Haliburton in fall 2024. To read the media release for this project, please visit the News section. 

What is a communication board?

Communication boards are an Augmentative and Alternative Communication [AAC] tool that display symbols of commonly used words and phrases. They make communication accessible to everyone, including people with speech and language barriers. They make a thought or spoken message visible.

AAC is any form of communication used to express thoughts, needs, wants and ideas including sign language, vocalizations, gestures, braille and text or symbol selection in a communication book, on a symbol board, on speech-generating devices, or on electronic tablets and phones.

Sometimes people use AAC temporarily, when they are developing spoken speech or have a short-term condition that prevents speech.

Sometimes people use AAC long-term, as children or adults, if they have a chronic or ongoing condition.

We all use different forms of communication to connect.

Haliburton County’s communication board project

The layout and production of Haliburton County’s playground communication board by MacArt Studios uses Picture Communication Symbols and was created in collaboration with municipal staff, and with feedback from augmentative and alternative communication [AAC] users; the County’s joint accessibility committee; speech language pathologists and occupational therapists; and local caregivers, organizations and agencies that support people with communication challenges including people with disabilities, early learners, and newcomers to the community.

The installation of communication boards in our playgrounds helps to create a barrier-free society. They promote inclusion and raise awareness and education of complex communication needs as well as augmentative and alternative communication [AAC].

Some first responders throughout Haliburton County have an emergency communication board available in their vehicles. Please click the image below to download this board.

How to use a communication board

There are many ways to use a communication board. There is no wrong or right way to use the board. Anyone can use it!

You can point to, gesture at, or look at the words you’d like to communicate, while saying them if you are able.

You don’t have to point at every word in a sentence. To say, “Do you want to play,” say that while pointing to the word, “play.” Say, “Let’s go to the swings,” while pointing to the words “go,” and then “swing set.”

Have fun!

Watch an Aided Language Stimulation video to learn more.

Additional resources

For more information

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