Your First Week with SpeakPad

You don't need any AAC experience to start. Here's what the first week actually looks like.

Day one: setup

Install SpeakPad and a short setup walks you through your child's language, a starting communication level, and a voice. At the end, a ready-made board with common vocabulary is waiting, no blank page to fill in. If you want a different focus later, such as mealtime or emotions, there are 13 vocabulary sets waiting in caregiver settings.

What your child sees

Your child gets one calm, uncluttered board. They tap picture symbols to build a message in the bar at the top, then tap Speak to hear it read aloud. Back removes the last word; Clear starts over. The grid never rearranges itself: a word stays exactly where your child last found it, which is how the motor memory that makes AAC fast actually builds.

Colors aren't decoration. They follow the Fitzgerald Key used across speech therapy: green for actions, orange for things, blue for describing words, and so on, so the same color means the same part of speech everywhere in the app.

The one habit that matters most: model, don't test

The single biggest predictor of whether a child picks up AAC is whether the adults around them use it too, out loud, during ordinary moments. This is called aided language stimulation: you point at symbols on the board as you speak, the same way you'd narrate for a child learning to talk normally.

It doesn't need a dedicated session. Tap “more” as you offer more snack. Tap “all done” as you clear the plates. Tap “help” if they're stuck with a zip. You're not testing them or waiting for a response, you're showing them the board is a real way to talk, not a quiz. And when you'd rather the device didn't talk over you, Modeling Mode makes your taps silent.

Expect them to just watch at first, or to mash buttons out of curiosity. Both are normal parts of learning a new language, not a sign anything is wrong. There's no need to ask “what's this?” and wait for an answer; keep talking and modeling instead.

Their first sentence

A first sentence is often just two or three tapped words, not a full grammatical statement. The board keeps a five-second undo if a stray tap or a sleeve wipes the message, so nothing is lost by exploring.

Making the board theirs

Within a few days you'll spot words your child needs that aren't on the board, and words they'll never touch. Tap the gear icon and pass the gate to open the board editor; these are the edits most families make in the first week:

• Add a word: tap any empty cell, type the word, and pick from 16,900+ built-in symbols
• Change or remove a word: tap it to edit the label, symbol, or color, or to delete it
• Use real photos: when choosing a symbol you can take or pick a photo instead (the actual dog, Nana, the exact snack); for people and favorites, nothing beats the real picture
• Hide rather than delete: every word has a hidden-from-child switch, so the board stays small without losing anything, and a hidden word comes back exactly where it was
• Resize the grid: Manage → Board Settings sets the rows and columns (sub-boards follow the home board, so tiles stay where muscle memory expects them)
• Try a different set: if the starting vocabulary doesn't fit, swap it all at once in Manage → Settings → Layout & Display → Vocabulary Set; SpeakPad previews the new home board and backs up your boards first
• Flip a Quick Setting: Manage → Settings opens with Quick Settings at the top — Speak on Tap, Show Core Zone, Auto-Return to Home, Show Keyboard Button, and Word Forms are the switches families change most in the first week

If something isn't working

No sound, can't find a word, or want to check a setting: the Support page covers troubleshooting and every caregiver tool in detail. For the caregiver side specifically, the next guide walks through the board editor.