Needs board: free printable PDF

Who it’s for

Anyone who can’t easily ask for the basics out loud: children and adults who don’t speak or don’t speak much, people whose speech is hard for others to understand, and people who lose their words when they’re tired, upset or in pain. It suits a person who can point to a picture, look at it, or say yes when a partner points to it. Parents, teachers, aides and care staff can all use the same board, so a need is understood the same way everywhere.

When a needs board helps

• Before outings: a look at bathroom, a drink and food before the car, the bus or the store can head off a hard moment later.
• At school or work: a break, quiet, headphones and space let a person say the room is too much before it becomes too much.
• At bedtime and on sick days: rest, medicine and a hug are within reach when talking is hardest.
• With new people: a babysitter, a substitute teacher or a new caregiver can read the board on day one.

How to use it

1. Keep it where needs come up. At the table, in the classroom, in the car, by the bed. A board in a drawer can’t be used.
2. Show how it works. Point to the words when you name your own needs: “I need a drink,” pointing to I, need and a drink. This is called modeling.
3. Offer it at the right moment. Before you leave the house, ask “Bathroom?” and point to bathroom.
4. Answer fast. When the person points to a need, meet it if you can, right away. That shows the board works.
5. If you can’t, say why and when. “Food after reading.” A first-then board can show it, and a wait card helps with “not yet”.
6. Use yes and no to check. Ask “Do you need a break?” and hold the board so yes and no are easy to reach.

The quick words

The row along the bottom is for moments when there’s no time to look for a picture. Answer stop and it hurts quickly, every time, even if you aren’t sure it was meant: a person who finds that stop works has a way to say it without pushing away. All done ends an activity without a fuss. If someone points to it hurts, the where does it hurt board can help find out where and how much.

Children and adults

The pictures are plain, so the board works for an adult as well as a child. With a child, expect to do most of the pointing at first, showing the words through the day. With an adult who used to talk, after a stroke for example, treat the board as a shortcut, not a lesson: hold it up, ask, and let them choose. In the hospital, the hospital communication board adds the nurse, water and a pain scale; at home, the communication board for adults has grown-up pictures and topics.

What’s on the PDF

One page, headed I need…, with the words I and need to point to first. The 12 needs are teal. The quick words use the colors of the core word board: pink for yes and no, green for stop and blue for all done.

I need

• bathroom
• a drink
• food
• a break
• help
• quiet
• a hug
• rest
• headphones
• space
• medicine
• outside

Quick words

• yes
• no
• stop
• all done
• it hurts

Printing tips

• Laminate it, or slide it into a sheet protector, so it can be wiped clean.
• Swap a picture for something personal: glue a photo of their own cup, or of the bathroom door at school, over the picture.
• Print copies for school, the car and the grandparents’ house, and show each person how it’s used. Keep every copy the same, so the hand learns where each need is.
• Need words that aren’t here? Change them in the board maker with the edit link at the top of this page, or read how to make a communication board.