Alphabet Charts & Books

ABC spelling charts

Alphabet communication book templates

Alphabets you can eye point to

Alphabets you can point to

Charts for Listener Mediated Scanning

Charts with the alphabet + some words and phrases to point to

Coded alphabet charts

Encoded alphabet charts

Frequency layout spelling charts

High contrast charts

Letter codes

QWERTY alphabet charts

Getting Started

Learning

Communication

Made by Ace

Digital Publications

E-Books

Software

Seasonal resources

Shop

Symbol Charts

Altered colours

Altered spacing to support direct access

Coded access

Combination access

Core vocabulary symbol charts

Encoding

Symbol charts for active play

Symbol charts for creative play

Symbol charts for daily routines

Symbol charts for imaginative play

Symbol charts for playing games

Symbol charts for playing with toys

Symbol charts for reading, looking at photos & telling stories

Symbol charts for watching television

Communication Works 2022

Jubilee

PCS 15

PCS 30

Widgit 15

Widgit 30

<p>To learn more about literacy instruction for people who use AAC or who have complex needs we suggest the following sources:</p>
<p><strong>General literacy: </strong></p>
<p><a href="https://literacyforallinstruction.ca/">Literacy Instruction for Students with Significant Disabilities </a> website with information and guidance</p>
<p><a href="http://www.project-core.com/">Project Core </a> website with information and free professional development modules</p>
<p><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/46177933-comprehensive-literacy-for-all">Comprehensive Literacy for All</a> book with information and guidance</p>
<p><a href="http://www.teachustoo.org.uk/">Teach Us Too</a> UK based charity promoting literacy education for all</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Self Directed Reading: </strong></p>
<p><a href="https://praacticalaac.org/praactical/5-ways-to-make-page-fluffers-and-spacers">PrAACtical AAC </a>blog with tips on making books accessible</p>
<p><a href="https://www.janefarrall.com/self-selected-reading-books-for-every-reader/">Jane Farrall</a> presentation handout with tips and informations</p>
<p><a href="https://tarheelreader.org/">Tar Heel Reader </a>large bank of free online books</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Shared Reading: </strong></p>
<p><a href="https://acecentre.org.uk/resources/all?category=symbol-charts&amp;page=1&amp;subcategory=symbol-charts-for-reading-looking-at-photos-telling-stories">Ace Centre Symbol Chart</a> free printable symbol charts to support reading books</p>
<p><a href="https://www.sharedreader.org/">Tar Heel Shared Reader</a> website with information and free professional development modules</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Letter and Sounds </strong></p>
<p><a href="https://www.janefarrall.com/teaching-and-learning-the-alphabet-playing-with-letter-shapes-and-sounds/">Jane Farrall</a> blog post on teaching the alphabet</p>
<p><a href="https://sites.google.com/view/emergingreaders/home?s=09">Reading &amp; Writing 4 All</a> website with free resources for teaching the alphabet</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Writing: </strong></p>
<p><a href="https://www.med.unc.edu/ahs/clds/alternative-pencils/">Centre for Literacy and Disability Studies Alternative Pencils </a>information and resources</p>
<p><a href="https://acecentre.org.uk/resources/all?category=alphabet-charts">Ace Centre Alphabet Charts </a> free printable alphabet charts to use for writing</p>


Getting Started with AAC and Literacy

<p>This leaflet is a starting point for introducing literacy instruction to people who use AAC and why it is important.</p>


Egg Hunt

15 PCS

30 PCS

15 Widgit

30 Widgit

<div><a title="https://acecentre.org.uk/resources/developing-using-communication-book" contenteditable="false" href="https://acecentre.org.uk/resources/developing-using-communication-book">Click here to learn more</a> about the Developing and Using a Communication Book manual or join us on a <a title="https://acecentre.org.uk/learning/search?category=communication" contenteditable="false" href="https://acecentre.org.uk/learning/search?category=communication">webinar with Ace Centre Learning</a></div>


DUCB Easter

<div>Ready-made to support communication around Easter. Includes pages in all layout options to add to a book made using the Developing and Using a Communication Book template.</div>


Widgit

<p><a title="https://acecentre.org.uk/resources/look2talk" contenteditable="false" href="https://acecentre.org.uk/resources/look2talk">Click here to learn more</a> about Look2Talk or join us on a <a title="https://acecentre.org.uk/learning/search?category=access" contenteditable="false" href="https://acecentre.org.uk/learning/search?category=access">webinar with Ace Centre Learning</a></p>


Look2Talk Easter

<div>Ready-made to support communication around Easter. Includes pages in all layout options to add to Look2Talk communication book for people who use symbol-based eye pointing.</div>


Core 8 with high contrast PCS

Balloons 8 with bigger gaps

Colours

Arts and Crafts

Make Up

Bath

Kerplunk

Simon Says

Read Dear Zoo

Reading

<p>Check out <a href="https://youtu.be/fCgGy8dFIFE">this video</a> to learn about the eBook features</p>
<p>There is a lot of emphasis on communication partner skills in this resource. That is because communication does not happen in isolation – it is a social act involving two or more people. The person who is communicating with someone who cannot rely on speech needs to develop a range of skills that will enable them to support that person to fulfil their potential.</p>
<p>Please note that this resource is not suggesting that paper-based AAC is ‘best’, or that using paper-based communication resources is a prerequisite to using an electronic communication aid. It is simply about valuing the role of paper-based communication systems, and sharing lots of ideas and strategies to help develop and support them. You may well find that many of the ideas and strategies are useful when it comes to other forms of communication too</p>


Getting Started with Paper-Based Symbol Resources

<p>The aim of this resource is to introduce you to paper-based AAC involving symbols to enable you to support those who can’t rely on speech to communicate. Communication enables us to express ourselves, learn, have fun and be active members of society. Supporting communication with symbols can unlock so many opportunities for those unable to rely upon speech to communicate.</p>


<div><a title="https://tarheelreader.org/" contenteditable="false" href="https://tarheelreader.org/">About Tar Heel Reader:</a> A large library of open-source, accessible, texts for individuals with disabilities of all ages.  Tar Heel Reader addresses the extreme shortage of easy-to-read books on topics that appeal to older students. Books are contributed to the site by teachers, students, parents, and others from around the world.&#8221; It&#8217;s free to create a log in which allows you to read and write books!</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>


Spring Book Collection

<div>We&#8217;ve made a collection of free accessible books with a Spring theme on Tar Heel Reader perfect for shared or self-directed reading!</div>
<div></div>
<div>
<div>Learn how to use <a title="http://tarheelreader.weebly.com/switch-access.html" contenteditable="false" href="http://tarheelreader.weebly.com/switch-access.html">switches with Tar Heel Reader here </a></div>
</div>


<div>Ready-made to support communication around making, toppings and tasting pancakes. Includes pages in all layout options to add to Look2Talk communication book for people who use symbol-based eye pointing.</div>


Look2Talk Pancakes

<p><a title="https://acecentre.org.uk/resources/look2talk" contenteditable="false" href="https://acecentre.org.uk/resources/look2talk">Click here to learn more</a> about Look2Talk or join us on a <a title="https://acecentre.org.uk/learning/search?category=access" contenteditable="false" href="https://acecentre.org.uk/learning/search?category=access">webinar with Ace Centre Learning</a></p>


<div>This pack includes:</div>
<ul>
<li>3 pages for sentence building</li>
<li>1 symbol Choice Board: Spring Things</li>
<li>1 symbol Choice Board: Descriptions</li>
</ul>


Spring Writing

<div>This symbol supported resources is based on the principles of Predictable Chart Writing,  a process for pupils with emerging literacy skills.</div>


Pancake Day

Identifying vocabulary for topic pages

<p>Throughout our work there are many many unanswered questions; Whats the best way? Whats the fastest? What works for a client and why?</p>
<p>The problem is many of these questions are either hard to answer – or require a long detailed research study. Well we have one such question to do with our ongoing work supporting people who we assess to use morse code; Whats the fastest way of learning it? If you speak to traditional Morse users they largely say “Auditory” “You can’t use it fast unless you have heard it”. What they traditionally mean is the dot and dash sounds – because a lot of people use it for amateur radio operating where this is the medium. But – if you are using it to write – without hearing the sound – is it really auditory?</p>
<p><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/030802269405700405">A study looked at this</a> – and concluded a mixed approach was probably best – and interestingly that auditory alone wasn’t useful.  But the sample was small and the cues not that engaging. So how can we easily fix this?</p>
<p>Well we have taken the morse-learn game that Google made – and further developed it. Mainly:</p>
<ul>
<li>Adding Auditory cues</li>
<li>Adding Visual cues that match the auditory cues (Download posters and cards if you need them in different colours: <a href="https://morse-learn.acecentre.net/HelloMorse-Poster-Cards-AllColors/HelloMorseAce-Poster-Cards-Blue.pdf">Blue</a>, <a href="https://morse-learn.acecentre.net/HelloMorse-Poster-Cards-AllColors/HelloMorseAce-Poster-Cards-Green.pdf">Green</a>, <a href="https://morse-learn.acecentre.net/HelloMorse-Poster-Cards-AllColors/HelloMorseAce-Poster-Cards-Orange.pdf">Orange</a> or <a href="https://morse-learn.acecentre.net/HelloMorse-Poster-Cards-AllColors/HelloMorseAce-Poster-Cards-Peach.pdf">Peach</a>)</li>
<li>Provide the ability to turn on/off these cues – along side the dot/dah sound</li>
<li>And we can keep track of your learning – anonmously – to see how fast users take to get through the game. We honestly can’t track anything more – not your location, not your hobbies or dogs name. Just how fast it takes you to learn – and with what settings you are using. (If this means something to you  – take a look at the code <a href="https://github.com/AceCentre/morse-learn">https://github.com/AceCentre/morse-learn</a> )</li>
</ul>
<p>By having no authentication and making this truly open to anyone (and most important of all – FUN!) we hope to gain a greater understanding of how fast it takes people to learn morse.</p>
<p>Tips:</p>
<ul>
<li><b>Use chrome if you can.</b> Its slightly less buggy (backstory: It was a chrome only experiment. We’ve done some work to make it as work as well as we can on safari/iOS but its not without some issues still)</li>
<li>Stick to one device. As we have no login system we can’t migrate you from one device to another.</li>
<li>Please try and stick with the settings you are given. These are randomised to make sure a random sample of people are provided different options</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Check it out at<a href="https://morse-learn.acecentre.net/"> https://morse-learn.acecentre.net </a></b></p>


Morse Learn

<p>Morse Learn is a game to enable everyone to learn morse code by attaching mnemonic cues to letters. It has auditory and visual cues so is accessible to both blink and deaf users.mnemonic</p>


Developing and Using a Communication Book (I) 23rd Mar 22

<p>As provided as an example at <a href="https://acecentre.org.uk/ebooks/designing-and-using-alphabet-charts/index.html#/reader/chapter/59">Designing and Using Alphabet Charts (acecentre.org.uk)</a></p>


High Frequency Words & Phrases with QWERTY alphabet for Pointing

<p dir="auto">pasco is a development project by the <a href="https://acecentre.org.uk/" rel="nofollow">Ace Centre</a> to create a AAC app to support people who require auditory scanning only. This may be with one or several Text to Speech (TTS) languages or recorded speech. The app supports auditory cues in a headphone and main speech out of the main speaker of a device. Currently only these features are supported in iOS &#8211; other platforms are due to be supported in the future.</p>
<h2>So what is pasco?</h2>
<p>pasco is designed for a specific need and is a development project led by Ace Centre. Its primary purpose is an AAC solution for individuals who need an auditory scanning system and who possibly require multi-lingual support. We felt a system that would work on a range of platforms would be useful so the software is web-based, however it can be  specially created to work off-line on iOS, Windows or Android. In the first phase of this work, we focused on iOS mainly because the individual client we are working with has an iPhone.</p>
<p>What pasco will do:</p>
<ul>
<li>Have an auditory cue and main voice, these can be different voices</li>
<li>The cue and main voices can be recorded messages rather than text-to-speech</li>
<li>The cue and main voices  can be split between a wired headphone and the internal speaker of the iPhone</li>
<li>Be able to spell using purely auditory scanning – speaking out each letter as it is written and then speaking out the whole word on a space or finish command</li>
<li>The language can be created and edited  using a simple text file – where each tree is just an indented list of words or phrases</li>
<li>Support one switch scanning</li>
<li>Support direct access, so that a communication partner can use it and/or so that clients who are able to make small movements are able to use it.</li>
</ul>
<p>Try out the app on an <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pasco/id1317265884?ls=1&amp;mt=8">Apple iOS device (iPhone or iPad) by downloading the free app here</a>. The web version can be trialled at <a href="https://app.pasco.chat/">https://app.pasco.chat</a> . Please note that the different audio for a headphone and device speaker is only available in the iOS app.</p>


Pasco

<p>At Ace Centre we meet a number of clients where traditional AAC solutions aren’t suitable. Here are some examples</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>Said is a 45-year-old man who lives at home with his wife. Said and his wife are Kurdish and have lived in the UK for 10 years..  Said speaks and understands English, his  wife has limited English and speaks to Said in Kurdish. He has Motor Neurone Disease which has now affected his speech to the point others can no longer understand him. His eyesight is poor. He still operates a TV remote by holding the remote between his thumb and forefinger – but can only operate the 4 way TV controls. He wants to spell out whole words and communicate his care needs with carers. He has tried eyegaze technology in the past but this has not been successful.</em></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>Fen is a 56-year-old woman who lives in the UK, she is a first-generation immigrant from China. She has had a brainstem stroke limiting her physical skills to a small thumb movement. It is not clear what Fen can see – her family and care staff feel she can hear better than she can see. Prior to her accident she spoke and understood verbal Chinese (Mandarin) well with her family members. Fen now lives in a care home where staff are English speaking. Fen would like to make her care needs known to staff and her family would like to communicate further with her. Fen has begun to use a partner assisted auditory scanning system using a paper-based book put together with her family. As this system is in Chinese  it is not accessible to care staff.</em></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>Joel is a 6-year-old boy who has a significant visual impairment and physical difficulties. He lives at home with his Mum, Dad, baby brother and dog. His family speak both Portuguese and English. He has trialled some AAC by auditory fishing (dragging his hand across a device and hearing a cue about what is underneath it) and selecting with a switch – but this has proven difficult. He can activate a switch well with his head. He has begun to use a partner assisted scanning book with his mother e.g to choose  activities to play with; to make comments  like telling his mum he loves her.</em></p>
<p>In these cases, there is a range of issues but in general, we need to identify solutions that:</p>
<ul>
<li>Use one or four discrete (in close proximity) movements to operate a device.</li>
<li>Be able to support different languages</li>
<li>Support auditory cues. This  may be with the cue in one language and the main voice in a different language</li>
<li>Where a language cannot be supported with text to speech, it needs to be possible to have audio recordings for the  cue and main voice.</li>
<li>Really simple to edit the vocabulary items for support staff, with the ability to take something already in existence and import the language into a different system</li>
</ul>
<p>Some auditory scanning solutions exist but these are all traditionally grid-based[KS1]  systems which are designed to do multiple things like support symbol systems and access methods such as eyegaze.  Often the language can be edited but it’s hard to import from something like a word document to the software. Few solutions can really support re-organising large blocks of language and “trees” (lists of words organised in categories or blocks) [KS2] of words quickly. If we imagine that, for someone who has a visual impairment, the words are not in a block but are in a list – then it makes more sense to have the words in a list. On paper based systems words and phrases are traditionally organised in lists rather than grids. This led to the question – can we replicate something similar on an electronic system to solve some of these issues?</p>
<div>
<h2>Introducing Paul Pickford</h2>
<p>Paul Pickford is a user of Assistive Technology and a past client of the Ace Centre. You can view more about Paul in the video below.</p>
<p>Paul now uses head controlled technology to operate his computer and has been keen to raise funds for Ace Centre. He contacted us to donate some money to help us fund a bespoke solution to one or two of our clients. We identified the need from the case studies above and sketched out what was required. We are hugely grateful to Paul for offering this and hope that his input helps the development of AAC solutions for many individuals. The result is pasco – Phrase Auditory Scanning Communicator.</p>
</div>
<p><span style="background-color: #ebf1a4; float: right;"> </span></p>
<div class="responsive-embed widescreen"><iframe title="Paul Pickford" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8lxpvI3lk8w?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<p><span style="background-color: #ebf1a4; float: right;"> </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>So what is pasco?</h2>
<div class="rounded-img aligncenter wp-image-6308 size-medium"><img loading="lazy" src="https://acecentre.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Screen-Shot-2018-04-20-at-12.58.48-144x300.png" alt="" width="144" height="300" srcset="https://backend.acecentre.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Screen-Shot-2018-04-20-at-12.58.48-144x300.png 144w, https://backend.acecentre.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Screen-Shot-2018-04-20-at-12.58.48-600x1248.png 600w, https://backend.acecentre.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Screen-Shot-2018-04-20-at-12.58.48-492x1024.png 492w, https://backend.acecentre.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Screen-Shot-2018-04-20-at-12.58.48-640x1331.png 640w, https://backend.acecentre.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Screen-Shot-2018-04-20-at-12.58.48.png 672w" sizes="(max-width: 144px) 100vw, 144px" /></div>
<p>pasco is designed for a specific need and is a development project led by Ace Centre. Its primary purpose is an AAC solution for individuals who need an auditory scanning system and who possibly require multi-lingual support. We felt a system that would work on a range of platforms would be useful so the software is web-based, however it can be  specially created to work off-line on iOS, Windows or Android. In the first phase of this work, we focused on iOS mainly because the individual client we are working with has an iPhone.</p>
<p>What pasco will do:</p>
<ul>
<li>Have an auditory cue and main voice, these can be different voices</li>
<li>The cue and main voices can be recorded messages rather than text-to-speech</li>
<li>The cue and main voices  can be split between a wired headphone and the internal speaker of the iPhone</li>
<li>Be able to spell using purely auditory scanning – speaking out each letter as it is written and then speaking out the whole word on a space or finish command</li>
<li>The language can be created and edited  using a simple text file – where each tree is just an indented list of words or phrases</li>
<li>Support one switch scanning</li>
<li>Support direct access, so that a communication partner can use it and/or so that clients who are able to make small movements are able to use it.</li>
</ul>
<p>Try out the app on a <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pasco/id1317265884?ls=1&amp;mt=8">Apple iOS device (iPhone or iPad) by downloading the free app here</a>. The web version can be trialled at <a href="https://app.pasco.chat">https://app.pasco.chat</a> . Please note that the different audio for a headphone and device speaker is only available in the iOS app. For some support see: <a href="https://acecentre.org.uk/page/pasco-support/">https://acecentre.org.uk/page/pasco-support/</a></p>
<p><strong>Warning</strong>: Please remember this is very much a development project. <strong>There is limited support. If you are looking at this app to see if it is something that may help you or someone you are supporting please contact your local AAC service for guidance on whether this is the correct solution for your needs. </strong></p>
<h2>What do we expect to happen now?</h2>
<p>pasco is an open source development project. We believe that to meet the wide range of needs of our clients a large number of solutions are required. As part of this mix of solutions, a broad number of individuals are best supported by a business model of good long-term support and maintenance. As well as providing a solution for a few niche use cases, we hope to inspire the development of future AAC software and solutions focused on this area of need. To do this we aim to share publicly case studies and data regarding the use of the app going forward on this page. <a href="http://github.com/acecentre/pasco/issues">Issues with our software will be publicly available here</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>


<p>At Ace Centre we meet a number of clients where traditional AAC solutions aren’t suitable. Here are some examples Said is a 45-year-old man who lives at home with his wife. Said and his wife are Kurdish and have lived in the UK for 10 years..  Said speaks and understands English, his  wife has limited&hellip;</p>
<p><a class="moretag" href="https://backend.acecentre.org.uk/project/pasco/">Read the full article</a></p>


pasco

<p class="f4 my-3">Phrase Auditory Scanning COmmunicator &#8211; AAC App for iOS and the Web</p>


<p>Hit your switch when you find two images that match. There are lots of themes to choose from as well as uploading your own images.</p>
<p><a href="https://backend.acecentre.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Ace-Centre-Christmas-Snap-Instructions.pdf">Checkout this help sheet to learn how play Snap with your switch.</a></p>
<p>Why not try it out with our free EyeCommander eye blink switch app?  <a id="LPNoLPOWALinkPreview" title="https://acecentre.org.uk/blog/introducing-eyecommander" contenteditable="false" href="https://acecentre.org.uk/blog/introducing-eyecommander">Introducing EyeCommander | Ace Centre</a>.</p>


Snap!

<p>A fun and engaging switch accessible game made by Ace Centre.</p>


<p>Hit your switch when you find two Christmas images that match. There are other themes to choose from as well as uploading your own images.</p>
<p><a href="https://backend.acecentre.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Ace-Centre-Christmas-Snap-Instructions.pdf">Checkout this help sheet to learn how play Snap with your switch.</a></p>
<p>Why not try it out with our free EyeCommander eye blink switch app?  <a id="LPNoLPOWALinkPreview" title="https://acecentre.org.uk/blog/introducing-eyecommander" contenteditable="false" href="https://acecentre.org.uk/blog/introducing-eyecommander">Introducing EyeCommander | Ace Centre</a>.</p>


Christmas Snap!

<p>A fun and engaging switch accessible game made by Ace Centre with a festive theme.</p>


<p>Download and have fun while reinforcing use of key concepts and visual behaviour strategies. Pack includes:</p>
<ul>
<li>Instructions and ideas for use</li>
<li>Communication chart</li>
<li>symbols for decorating</li>
<li>bauble template</li>
<li>now/next and mini-schedule</li>
</ul>


Baubles

<p>A resource pack which can be used in different ways. Direct and comment while decorating ornaments or support positive behaviour by illustrating what will happen over Christmas &#8230; and anything else you can think of!</p>


<div>Download and have fun while reinforcing use of key concepts and words. Packs include:</div>
<ul>
<li>Instructions and ideas for use</li>
<li>Communication chart</li>
<li>Dice</li>
<li>Playing cards</li>
<li>Cut-outs to build a snowman</li>
</ul>


Build a Snowman

<p>A resource pack which can be used in different ways. Whether directing someone to create a snowman or playing a game to see who can build Frosty first.</p>


A brush strokeResources

Resources