PHOTOsyms is a free photo communication board creator. It allows you to use any image you have on your computer to make communication boards in grids from 2 to 24 symbols on a page (the sizes of the images automatically changes). I was able to use my own photos, images from the internet, (the free)
Sclera Pictos, and (the also free)
Imagine Symbols on boards. This is a quick, easy and free alternative to Boardmaker if all you need to do if make boards (no worksheets, activities, or anything else, just boards). (I could not get the Boardmaker PCS Metafiles to import into PHOTOsyms.) It runs in Windows and Mac.
There are no directions to speak of so here are some tips:
- extract all the files before you run the application
- put the images you want to use in the My PHOTOsyms folder (took me awhile to figure this one out)
- use the slider bar under the larger box on the left to resize the image
- use the slider bar under the grid on the right to change the number of boxes in your grid, this can be done after adding a few images and they will stay put
- after uploading a picture you should adjust its size and then click add to put it in the grid, repeat until you grid is full - it isn't easy to edit so plan out what you want
- make sure your images are saved as what you want them called in your grids because whatever they are saved as is how they will come up on the grid
Thanks to
The Assistive Technology Blog for the link to this software.
