2-Symbol Combination Practice
Practice verb + noun combinations on AAC.
Session summary (SOAP)
Stays on this screen. Nothing is saved or sent.
Mark a card Correct, Correct with cue or Incorrect and the summary writes itself here.
How to run it
Model before you expect. Say and hit both symbols yourself several times in the natural context before you ever put the card up as a demand. When you do run the cards, accept the second symbol as success even if the first is missing — put + in is a win when the child was hitting only put last week. Pair each card with the real object where you can: open + door works better standing at a door. Ten minutes is plenty, and a session that gets through six cards with real modeling beats one that races all fourteen.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentSet up the moment, then wait with an expectant look for 10 seconds.Log as correct
- GesturePoint toward the device or the right area of the page.Log as cued
- ModelTouch the symbols on the device yourself while you say the message.Log as cued
- Partial physicalOnly if the team agrees and the student accepts touch: a light touch at the elbow toward the page. Never press the symbol for them.Log as cued
Adjust it
Fewer symbols on the page, and model the message several times before you expect it.
Wait longer before prompting, or expect one more symbol in the message.
Matching IEP goal
During structured activities, Student will use their AAC system to combine symbols into a message in 8 of 10 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than a gestural prompt.
Send it home through the parent portal →About this activity
Fourteen two-symbol messages for an AAC user moving from single hits to combinations: want + juice, go + outside, eat + apple, more + music, help + me, stop + car, open + door. The pairings are deliberately ordinary — these are the messages a five-year-old actually needs across a school day, not a vocabulary list built to look impressive on a board.
What to listen for
Watch the order. A child who hits juice + want has the combination and not yet the sequence, and that is a different target from a child who hits only juice. Notice which verbs generalize: want and more usually come first and stick, while stop and put arrive later. The moment worth recording is an untaught combination — a child who produces eat + cookie from this set has generalized rather than memorized.
Carrying it home
The strongest thing a family can do is model on the device without asking for anything back. Hit go + outside as you open the door, eat + apple as you hand one over, and then say nothing. Twenty models a day with no demand attached builds the map faster than any drill.
What's in this activity
- want + juice
- go + outside
- eat + apple
- more + music
- help + me
- like + dog
- stop + car
- open + door
- play + ball
- read + book
- drink + water
- see + bus
- put + in
- make + cookie
Questions
- Does this replace the student's own device?
- No. It is practice material for the combinations, not a communication system. Run it alongside the device the student actually uses so the symbols and the motor plan stay the same.
- What if my student only hits one symbol?
- That is the expected starting point. Model the pair and accept the single hit, then expand it aloud — the child hits juice, you hit want + juice and say it. Expansion is the mechanism here.
- Is it free?
- Yes, the board plays in full with no account. Signing in adds goal tracking and homework assignment, nothing else.
Use this board with your caseload
With a free account, every correct, cued and incorrect mark is saved to the student and scored against their IEP goal, with the data written up for you. Assign it as home practice through the parent portal.
Track progress freeFree for SLPs. No card, no trial clock.