A speech therapist opens Boardmaker CD on a laptop in a rural clinic. She types “brush teeth” – a PCS symbol appears. She drags it to a 2×2 grid, adds “get toothbrush,” “toothpaste,” “rinse,” “spit.” She prints two copies: one small (for a mini schedule) and one 3″ button size for a physical binder. She saves the board to a USB drive and shuts down the laptop – all offline.

The Legacy of Boardmaker: Transforming Special Education Through Symbol-Based Communication

While you should upgrade to modern tools for daily work, we owe a debt of gratitude to the humble silver disc. It turned a computer into a voice. And for that, the Boardmaker CD will always be a symbol—one of the most important ever printed.

: The primary value of the CD today is creating durable, low-tech communication boards that don't require batteries.

The most cited reason educators cling to their Boardmaker CDs is reliability. Web-based platforms rely entirely on internet connectivity. In many rural schools or older buildings, Wi-Fi can be spotty. When a teacher has a classroom of students with behavioral challenges, waiting for a symbol to load on a buffering website is simply not an option. The Boardmaker CD runs locally on the hard drive; it never lags, never buffers, and never goes down because a server in another country is undergoing maintenance.