Making Communication Boards Using PowerPoint and Audacity

By Ricky Buchanan • March 23, 2008

Lon Thornburg from the NoLimits2Life and NoLimits2Learning blogs has posted a great tutorial about using the free software Audacity together with either MS Powerpoint or the free OpenOffice Suite to create your own interactive communication boards complete with branching logic.

Lon demonstrates the process in his blog video using Windows, but all of these programs are available for Mac OS X and should work similarly. Audacity works fantastically with Mac OS X and although I haven’t used MS PowerPoint or OpenOffice I believe they are fine with the Mac including Tiger and Leopard.

As far as I know, the Keynote presentation software in iWork ‘08 is unfortunately not able to do this linking of pictures to audio files yet, but hopefully it’ll get there soon.

Website: Making Communication Boards Using Power Point and Audacity

- Ricky Buchanan

Categories: AAC, Information, Supporters, Users
Tags: alternative to boardmaker, alternative to speaking dynamically, communication boards, interactive communication boards, speech boards

About the Author

Ricky Buchanan

Ricky Buchanan is 34 years old and the founder and main writer for ATMac. She's bedridden with severe CFS/ME or perhaps a primary mitochondrial disorder - the doctors are not sure. When she's not working on ATMac or her other websites she composes music, listens to audio books, does other disability advocacy, watches TV with her flatmate, and enjoys her cat.

One Comment For “Making Communication Boards Using PowerPoint and Audacity”

Lon Thornburg Mar 27th, 2008 at 5:17 am

Hey Ricky,
Thanks for the post on the video. I am so glad you picked it up and tweaked the info for the Mac. I don’t use one although I like using them. We have Windows in all our schools and at work so that is what I use. Having you give the Mac view on it is very helpful.
All the best to you!
Lon

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