DIY Audio Comm Board

Written By Greta Gotlieb

Article by Greta

As a mother of a nonspeaking child, I'm looking for creative ways to help my daughter (whom I'll call Emily for privacy) communicate and interact with the world.

Recently, I embarked on a DIY project to create a simple yet effective tool using some basic materials. The goal? To make our daily walks more interactive and fun for Emily, she needs a device to point out things she sees.

I had this idea from watching Emily's younger brother excitedly point out every tree, dog, and bird during our walks, which made me want to give her the same opportunity. When Emily is in the pram, I cannot see if she is using sign language; this makes her act more passively on walks than her brother. Traditional communication devices are often pricey, and as Emily is only three years old, we do not have anything from our SLT that makes sound. I also don’t feel an iPad is always practical for our everyday adventures as she is so young. So, armed with ingenuity and a trip to Kmart, I created something myself.

This project involves creating a box with sturdy cardboard and five pet communication buttons (they come in a box of four from Kmart). Each button can be easily programmed with different words or sounds. For our walks, I chose the words "car," "dog," "bird," "baby," and “digger.”

Creating this communication board was pretty easy. Here's what you need:

  • Hot glue

  • A cutting mat

  • Sturdy cardboard

  • A ruler

  • A cutting knife

  • A rubber band

  • Five Anko Pet Talking buttons from Kmart

  • Printed circle labels 6cms, I recommend laminating them but I didn’t do this

  • Velcro sticker circles for labels and optionally secure buttons in the box

Let me know if I should make a template for the box.

I wanted to make the buttons easily swappable to tailor the board to different activities, like kindergarten visits, playgrounds, mealtimes, or playtime.

There's also potential for this to become a manufactured product or an on-demand 3D printed version. Imagine a more durable plastic version with smaller rechargeable buttons (as the batteries make it heavy). This could provide a professional and polished alternative to the DIY version, making it accessible to even more families.

Also, I’d love my daughter to have her voice, not a recording of mine. Perhaps AI can help create this in the future and add it to our asset library. But would

Emily is still figuring out this new device, so I don’t know if it’ll be a huge success yet. Her brother will probably need one, as taking turns can be difficult.

I’d love to know if anyone has a go at making one of these. Happy crafting!

Greta Gotlieb