Photo vocabulary cards

Here is my solution for communicating with H.:

I found the best site last night and spent a while making all these photo cards which I printed out and then laminated this morning.  (I plan to put them all on a ring to keep them together.)  It took me a few minutes to figure out how to make it work, but after I did, I was able to make exactly the cards I wanted.  Essentially how it works is that you choose what word you want on the card and type it in.  Then there is a second box which you will type the key word for it to search for a photo.  You can scroll through several photos to find the one which works best.  I didn't always get a photo exactly as I was hoping, but for the most part they were close enough.  I used some of the example card sets, which you can change if you like, and then made other cards as I thought of them.  I covered food, clothes, modes of transportation, emotions, things found in a typical hotel room, types of places we might me (pool, hotel, park), and items I know we are taking for her.  I will still do cards for each family member to add.

This site would be great for making any type of vocabulary card.  (J. even jokingly suggested I make a set for some of our less communicative children.  At least I think he was joking.)  The only downside is that there is no way to upload a specific photo.  But, hey, it's free.

This is probably the better solution even if I could shell out the money for an iPad.  It's lighter and easier to carry around, plus it is easier to see all the options at once.  For a visual person like me, this is a big plus.  My plan is to have whoever is acting as interpreter to explain what each of the cards means and then she can use the picture to find what she wants to tell us and use it to communicate with us.

Not a bad evening's work, huh?