Author: VernaAnn Kotansky

Outdoor Communication Boards | Master Guide to Funding

Funding Outdoor Communication Boards

Bringing inclusive communication to local parks, school playgrounds, splash pads, and public spaces is one of the most impactful community investments an organization can make. However, securing the budget for purchasing and installing commercial-grade Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) boards often requires navigating multiple funding streams.

Outdoor communication boards provide not only a visible indication of a community’s inclusivity and compassion, but a true safety line and means of complete accessibility in outdoor spaces. These boards connect those who experience communication differences with the rest of their community.

Whether you are a Parks and Recreation director, a school administrator, a speech-language pathologist, an Eagle Scout candidate, or a parent advocate, multiple grant and community options exist to make your project a reality. This guide serves as your central directory for every major funding model available.

1. Municipal, City & County Grants

Local government budgets, county agencies, and municipal parks departments frequently allocate capital funds for civic accessibility and ADA improvements. Inquiring about the possibility of installing outdoor communication boards to your community’s parks department may open the door to more funding opportunities.

County Boards of Developmental Disabilities (DD): County-level developmental disability boards frequently offer capital improvement and community inclusion grants specifically earmarked for adaptive equipment and accessibility signage. Explore our detailed guide on navigating County Board DD grant funding.
Municipalities & Local Government Budgets: City councils, township trustees, and Parks & Rec departments can leverage American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), and civic improvement allocations. Learn more about funding outdoor communication boards through municipalities.

2. Community Sponsorships & Local Business Logos

You do not need to rely solely on government grants. Local businesses, healthcare providers, civic clubs, and corporate sponsors are often eager to fund tangible, high-visibility community assets in exchange for brand recognition. A small donation will result in a lifetime of acknowledgement that donors support and encourage inclusivity and ADA accessibility.

Sponsor Logo Integration: Resources at Lakeshore Speech allows you to add up to 4 school, agency, or corporate sponsor logos to your board layout for free. This creates a lasting community legacy while covering 100% of procurement costs. Read our walkthrough on local sponsor logo advertising and sponsorship models.
Civic Organizations: Groups such as the Lions Club, Kiwanis, Rotary International, and Junior League actively seek local accessibility projects to fund.

3. Comprehensive Grant Directories & Funding Strategies

If you are starting a community campaign from scratch, exploring a combination of national non-profit grants, private foundation funding, and local fundraising events provides the fastest path to procurement.

6 Ways to Fund Outdoor Communication Boards: For an overview of grant writing strategies, PTA/PTO fundraising, healthcare foundation awards, and private donations, review our breakdown of 6 ways to empower every child through communication board funding.
General Funding Overview: For additional strategies on structuring financial proposals for city boards and school districts, see our foundational guide to funding communication boards.
Advanced Procurement Strategies: Review additional options for structuring community communication board funding proposals.

4. Youth Civic Leadership & Eagle Scout Projects

Service projects led by Scouts BSA Eagle Scout candidates and Girl Scout Gold Award applicants represent one of the most successful community pathways for installing outdoor communication boards. Scout leaders handle community outreach, local fundraising, and volunteer installation, while Resources at Lakeshore Speech provides SLP-vetted layouts and commercial-grade panels.

Eagle Scout or Gold Award projects: Following our Eagle Scout and Gold Award communication board project guide will result in not only completing this project but impacting your community for generations.

Next Steps for Your Funding Initiative

Ready to take action? Secure the documentation you need to support your grant application or fundraising campaign:

Review Commercial Pricing: Explore board options, sizing, and hardware specifications on our where to buy outdoor communication boards page.
Review ADA Installation Guidelines: Learn about compliant mounting heights and surface requirements in our playground communication board installation guide.
Request an Official Quote: Contact our team today to receive a formal price quote and digital example to attach to your grant or sponsorship application.

Writing Measurable AAC IEP Goals: SLP Guide

Writing AAC IEP goals that truly reflect a student’s functional communication abilities is one of the most critical responsibilities for school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and special education teams. When an augmentative and alternative communication system, especially low-tech communication boards, is introduced into a school setting, the overarching goal should always be to expand a student’s communicative power, autonomy, and classroom participation.

Too often, well-meaning teams write goals that inadvertently limit a student’s access to language. Drawing on over a combined 60 years of providing AAC speech services alongside current best practice, this guide breaks down how to construct measurable AAC IEP goals, collect accurate progress monitoring data without disrupting classroom flow, integrate self-regulation tools, and properly notate assistive technology in the IEP.

The Biggest Mistake in Drafting AAC IEP Goals (And How to Fix It)

The single most common error school teams make when drafting AAC IEP goals is failing to focus on functional language. Search engine algorithms and educational models often try to categorize progress by rigid metrics, but human communication does not develop in a vacuum. Too frequently, IEP teams get caught up in requiring specific sentence grammar, demanding formal greetings to specific individuals, or restricting target vocabulary to a narrow set of 6 to 8 situational items.

When a child learns to speak verbally, they enjoy constant, unrestricted access to every word they hear in their environment. Limiting an AAC user’s low-tech board to a handful of items (such as a single row of snack items) artificially restricts their cognitive and linguistic growth. While direct instruction should certainly focus on manageable chunks, the system available to the child must offer rich, flexible “power words” or core vocabulary.

Consider how adults interact: very few people walk up to colleagues with a rigid, formal greeting like “Hello, how are you today?” Expecting an AAC user to master non-functional routines before granting access to broad core words limits their ability to express true wants, needs, and opinions.

Clinical Insight: If an IEP goal is written solely around requesting a specific snack, what happens when the student isn’t hungry? You create an environment where communication is forced, often triggering frustration, shutdown, or behavioral escalation. Focus goals on broad communicative functions across multiple environments instead.

Integrating Emotional Regulation & Self-Advocacy in AAC IEP Goals

Communication and emotional regulation are deeply intertwined. When a student becomes dysregulated or experiences sensory overload, their ability to process complex language drops significantly. Integrating self-regulation vocabulary directly onto low-tech communication boards provides a crucial bridge for interoception and co-regulation.

A highly effective strategy for teaching self-regulation vocabulary involves external media or preferred characters. Before expecting a student to reflect on their own internal state during moments of distress, introduce video clips or character stories. Once the student successfully identifies the character’s emotions and the calm-down steps needed, they can transition to self-reflection more easily.

CLASSROOM CO-REGULATION CHECK-IN FLOW

- - - - Step 1: External Identification: Use character media to label emotions
      - Step 2: Universal Modeling: Adults state real feelings on balance board
      - Step 3: Internal Application: Student selects strategy (e.g., “breathe”)

Classroom-wide strategies, such as utilizing an emotional balance board, allow teachers, staff, and SLPs to conduct daily “check-ins” for everyone in the room. Adults must model genuine emotional states rather than defaulting to “happy.” Demonstrating that an adult can feel “tired” or “frustrated” yet use a strategy (like “breathe” or “stretch”) to remain ready to work establishes a powerful, inclusive learning model.

Evidence-Based Frameworks for Measurable AAC IEP Goals

According to guidelines from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), effective AAC intervention relies on evidence-based practice to measure functional daily outcomes. To remain legally compliant under SMART criteria without falling into the trap of over-prompting or context-bound limitations, structure your AAC IEP goals around participation and message units across natural school routines.

SMART AAC IEP GOAL ARCHITECTURE

- - - - Timeframe/Setting: Across 3 daily small group or classroom routines
      - Student Target: [Student] will initiate or respond using low-tech AAC
      - Functional Metric: To express up to 5 meaningful core messages
      - Support Level: Given adult modeling and direct cues
      - Mastery Criteria: In 3 out of 5 consecutive data collection opportunities

Plug-and-Play Goal Examples Across Core Domains

To create AAC IEP goals that transition seamlessly across settings, utilize these functional, evidence-aligned templates:

1. Initiation & Participation Goals

“Across 3 daily classroom activities, [Student] will independently initiate or respond to peers and adults using a low-tech AAC board to convey at least 5 functional core messages (e.g., ‘more’, ‘go’, ‘different’, ‘stop’, ‘help’) given adult modeling across 4 out of 5 observed sessions.”

2. Self-Advocacy & Rejection Goals

“When experiencing a change in routine or task difficulty, [Student] will utilize low-tech AAC to express a self-advocacy phrase (e.g., ‘need help’, ‘take break’, ‘all done’) prior to behavioral escalation in 80% of opportunities across 3 consecutive weeks.”

3. Social & Play Interaction Goals

“During unstructured play or recess, [Student] will use a low-tech AAC system to engage in multi-turn interactions with peers by commenting or requesting turns (e.g., ‘my turn’, ‘look’, ‘go fast’) for at least 3 communicative turns given minimal direct cues in 3 out of 4 trials.”

Notice how these AAC IEP goals avoid specifying exact item names or restricting language to a single desk setting. They evaluate total functional communication output, encouraging generalized use across the entire school day.

Real-World Data Collection for Busy School Teams

Data collection is often the biggest hurdle for school teams managing AAC IEP goals. SLPs and special education teachers want reliable progress tracking, but stopping a rich therapeutic interaction to make physical tally marks interrupts natural communication flow.

The most effective, real-world solution leverages the collaboration between the SLP and paraprofessionals using a verbal signal system:

Establish Cues Prior to the Activity: Before initiating a group lesson, the SLP provides a streamlined data tracking sheet to the paraprofessional or support staff.
Use In-Line Verbal Signals: During instruction, the SLP naturally integrates pre-determined phrase signals to indicate performance to the data collector without interrupting the student.
- Example Success Signal: When the SLP says, “Yessiree!”, the paraprofessional records a positive (+) mark for an independent or target response.
- Example Cueing Signal: When the SLP says, “Let’s try…”, the paraprofessional records a cue/prompt (-) mark.
Empower Support Staff: This approach delivers accurate data, actively models AAC cueing techniques for paraprofessionals, and makes support staff feel like integral partners in therapy. Over time, paraprofessionals naturally begin noting secondary observations, such as attention levels, sensory triggers, and peer responses.

Writing Assistive Technology and Low-Tech AAC into the IEP

To ensure that low-tech communication tools are available, supported, and properly funded across all learning environments, Assistive Technology (AT) must be discussed at every IEP meeting. Proper placement across the document safeguards the student’s legal rights and clarifies expectations for current and future educational teams.

1. Present Levels of Academic and Functional Performance (PLAAFP)

Clearly document what AAC systems the student currently uses, how they are implemented, and the specific level of support required. Be explicit about environment-specific variations (e.g., “Student utilizes a low-tech 35-location core board during small group instruction with direct verbal cues, and an outdoor playground communication board during recess with peer modeling”).

2. Assistive Technology Section (Characteristics over Brands)

When defining the required tools, always list the system characteristics rather than brand names to preserve flexibility and ensure access regardless of vendor changes:

Static Display Low-Tech Board: “Provides an AAC system utilizing a 35-cell static display with clear picture/icon representation incorporating core and fringe vocabulary customized for classroom and community environments.”
Dynamic Display High-Tech System: “Provides an AAC system with a 128-location dynamic display with voice output representing the student’s age.”

3. Accommodations & Special Education Services

To ensure low-tech systems are supported across all settings, write broad, flexible language into the accommodations page:

“Access to low-tech and high-tech AAC systems across all educational settings, including but not limited to static display boards, playground communication boards, dynamic display devices, and localized sensory/emotional support boards.”

By establishing these characteristics directly in the accommodations, administrators can easily justify district funding proposals for high-value classroom tools or consult our comprehensive guide on implementing communication boards in school environments.

Key Takeaways for Building Long-Term AAC IEP Success

Developing functional AAC IEP goals requires stepping back from rigid, isolated drills and looking at how communication unfolds across a student’s entire day.

Prioritize core “power” vocabulary over context-bound target lists.
Frame AAC IEP goals around multi-setting participation and functional message units.
Support self-regulation by linking emotional boards directly to daily routines.
Employ simple, signal-based data collection methods to maintain natural session flow.
Document system characteristics in the IEP to guarantee equipment access and funding.

For families seeking home-based strategies, explore our resource on choosing an AAC communication board for kids. If your school district or therapy team requires custom board configurations or professional consultation, reach out to our team to request a quote today . Together, we can build inclusive, communication-rich environments where every student has a voice.

Easy Communication Board Installation Guide : The 36″ Rule

The Board Is Funded. Now What?

The grant came through, the sponsor said yes, and production is underway. This is the moment most playground committees, school boards, and park directors finally exhale. Months of fundraising, pitch meetings, and design reviews have paid off. However, the physical arrival of your hardware is not the finish line; it is the beginning of the most critical phase of the project. The ultimate success of your inclusive playground project relies entirely on proper execution during the communication board installation phase.

How your board is placed, anchored, and oriented determines whether it becomes a vibrant, daily tool for connection or a piece of overlooked park background. To ensure your investment delivers on its promise of accessibility, you must approach the communication board installation process with the same rigor you applied to securing your funding.

Maximizing Impact Through Strategic Communication Board Installation

Where you place your board dictates how often it will be used. It is a common mistake to relegate these boards to the perimeter of a park simply because it is easier to dig post holes near an existing fence line. However, accessibility requires centrality. A board placed too far from the action becomes an isolated monument rather than an interactive tool.

The board needs to go where children already naturally congregate—near the main entrance, adjacent to the most popular inclusive play structures, or at a central gathering point where paths converge. This principle applies just as much to aquatic environments, pool areas, and splash park layouts as it does to traditional mulch or poured-in-place rubber playgrounds.

If children have to leave the play zone entirely to express a thought or request a turn on the swings, the board is too far away. During your planning sessions, observe the natural flow of traffic on the playground to identify high-traffic zones where the board will be highly visible but will not obstruct the safe fall zones of adjacent equipment.

The 36-Inch Rule Is Not a Suggestion

When executing a communication board installation, precision matters down to the inch. The single most important guideline we give every customer is this: the top of the board should be no more than 36 inches from the ground line. This specific installation height ensures the entire grid of symbols remains within the physical reach of wheelchair users, toddlers, and individuals of shorter stature.

The U.S. Access Board’s strict guidelines for accessible play areas support this benchmark directly, emphasizing that forward and side reach limits must be respected to accommodate all body types. If a board is mounted too high, the top row of core vocabulary icons—often containing crucial words like “help,” “stop,” or “go”—becomes entirely inaccessible to the very children who need them most.

Freestanding, Fence-Mounted, or Equipment-Mounted

Our heavy-duty boards are engineered to adapt to diverse environments, meaning your communication board installation can be executed in several distinct configurations depending on your site’s infrastructure.

Freestanding Boards: Opting for a freestanding board set inside a ground-mounted aluminum or steel frame offers the highest level of flexibility. It allows you to control the exact location, orientation, and height without relying on existing structures.
Fence-Mounted Boards: If your playground is tightly enclosed, utilizing a secure fence-mounted setup can save valuable square footage while keeping the board at eye level.
Equipment-Mounted Boards: Integrating the board directly into an existing play tower or sensory wall keeps the communication system embedded right in the middle of the action.

While we do not install the communication boards, we do provide communication board installation suggestions. We also recommend working with your building and grounds departments as they are experts in the structures and materials utilized for your specific playground.

Navigating Sun, Weather, and Vandalism

Outdoor environments are notoriously harsh on public infrastructure, which is why durability must be factored into your communication board installation strategy from day one. Our boards are built for outdoor permanence, manufactured from high-grade, non-glare aluminum protected by UV-resistant, weatherproof finishes and advanced anti-graffiti clear coats.

This same uncompromising durability standard applies across our full product line, including our specialized therapeutic riding center boards, which face extreme outdoor exposure, dust, and moisture daily. By ensuring your mounting hardware is zinc-plated or stainless steel, you prevent rust streaks and structural degradation over years of exposure to rain, snow, and intense summer heat.

Planning for Proper Orientation and Angle

A successful communication board installation accounts for the movement of the sun. A board that faces directly into the blinding afternoon sun becomes unreadable during peak park hours due to glare, casting shadows that obscure the symbols.

Before mixing any concrete or drilling into fences, visit your installation site at multiple points throughout the day—specifically mid-morning and late afternoon. Look at how the light hits the proposed location. Adjusting the angle of the frame by just fifteen or twenty degrees can drastically reduce glare and increase readability. Remember: a board mounted at the perfect physical height but facing an blinding angle still creates an unnecessary barrier to communication.

Training the Adults Who Will Model the Board

The physical communication board installation is only half the battle; the social installation is what gives the board life. A one-hour orientation session for school staff, park rangers, and local parents is a worthwhile investment that we support directly.

Our comprehensive guide to encouraging communication board use covers how adults can model the board naturally during play. Children learn augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) by seeing others use it. When parents, speech-language pathologists, and peers point to the symbols while talking (“Look, I am going to the slide!”), they validate the system and show children how to navigate the grid.

Document the Installation and Celebrate It

Once your communication board installation is complete, document the results thoroughly. Take clear, high-resolution photographs of the board from multiple angles, verify and document the correct installation height for your records, and capture joyful photos of children interacting with the symbols.

These photographs serve multiple purposes. They become the evidence base for your next inclusive community funding application, demonstrating to stakeholders that their money was well spent. Furthermore, they provide excellent promotional content for your official ribbon-cutting celebration, building community awareness and inviting families from neighboring areas to come utilize your newly accessible facility.

If you are ready to take the next step in transforming your community space, request a free quote today. Let our team walk you through every phase of the journey—from custom graphic design and symbol selection to precise communication board installation guidance and long-term maintenance strategies.

Your Back-to-School Checklist: 6 Steps Increasing Inclusion

The Window Is Open Right Now

If you are reading this in July or August, you are sitting in one of the most important funding windows of the year. This back-to-school checklist is built from more than a compbined 60 years of experience helping schools, recreation departments, and advocates turn the idea of inclusive playground boards into reality. We are here to help you along the way to providing your community the necessary steps for obtaining communication board.

When speech-language pathologists (SLPs), parents, and educators approach a new school year, they often focus entirely on classroom materials, seating charts, and individual education programs (IEPs). However, true inclusion does not stop at the classroom door. True inclusion extends to the recess yard, where social-emotional learning actually happens. By utilizing this strategic back-to-school checklist, you can navigate the bureaucratic systems smoothly and ensure that non-verbal, minimally verbal, and augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) users have a communication board that gives them a voice on the playground before the autumn leaves begin to fall.

Step One: Identify Your Location This Week

Before anything else on your back-to-school checklist, you must get incredibly specific about where the communication board is going to live. Do not leave this decision to a general contractor or a maintenance crew who may not understand the specific needs of AAC users. You need to physically walk the playground layout yourself. Notice where children naturally gather, where the traffic bottlenecks occur, and where the most popular play structures are located.

Keep the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility guidelines, the standard 36-inch height rule for wheelchair access, and high-traffic placement in mind as you scout locations. The board needs to be highly visible, easily approachable, and positioned so that a child does not have to leave the main play area just to communicate a basic need. These essential physical logistics are covered in much more depth on our dedicated playground communciation board page, which you should review before finalized planning.

Step Two: Build Your One-Paragraph Case

The second phase of this back-to-school checklist focuses on clarity and conciseness. You do not need a massive, fifty-page formal grant proposal to get this project off the ground. In fact, a long document might delay approval during the busy summer months. What you actually need is one tight, high-impact paragraph that answers four essential questions: Who does the board serve? What specific problem does it solve? What tangible playground dynamics will change? What exactly does the project cost?

When administrators review funding requests, they look for immediate clarity. Your paragraph should explain that the board serves all students—including those with autism, speech delays, Down syndrome, and English language learners. It solves the problem of playground isolation and behavioral frustration caused by communication barriers. If you need help refining your narrative, our detailed post on who truly benefits from inclusive playground boards gives you the exact clinical and social language required for the “who” question.

Step Three: Send Three Emails Before the End of This Week

The most common reason an inclusion project stalls is not a lack of available funding—it is a lack of initial momentum. Momentum is the heartbeat of this back-to-school checklist. To beat the summer administrative rush, you must send three specific emails before this week concludes.

Your Director of Special Education: Frame your request around IDEA Part B assistive technology funds. Districts often have unspent or flexible allocations in these accounts that must be utilized for systemic student support.
Your Building Principal or Recreation Director: Frame the communication board explicitly as an ADA improvement and a proactive universal design for learning (UDL) initiative. Principals love turnkey projects that improve school climate.
Your County Board of Developmental Disabilities: Local county boards frequently have community grant cycles, capital improvement funds, or family support dollars designated specifically for community-wide inclusion projects.

Step Four: Line Up Your Sponsor Conversation

While you are waiting on internal administrative responses to drop into your inbox, move directly to the next item on your back-to-school checklist: identifying local corporate partners or civic organizations. Look for community-minded small businesses, local Kiwanis or Lions Clubs, or a regional pediatric dental practice that prides itself on community involvement.

When you approach these potential partners, offer them a permanent logo placement on the bottom of the sign. This turns a simple donation into a long-term marketing and community goodwill asset for their business. To make this conversation an easy win for you, up to four custom sponsor logos are included on every single board we manufacture at no additional cost.

Step Five: Request Your Quote and Justification Language

Do not guess at prices or installation variables. Contact our team to request a formal quote as early in your timeline as possible. Having a real, line-item PDF quote completely changes the nature of your funding conversations; it transforms your idea from a vague concept into an actionable, shovel-ready project.

Additionally, we provide fully customized justification language for grant applications and district purchase orders at no cost. This specialized language links the communication board directly to state educational standards and federal accessibility mandates—a critical detail many advocates miss when trying to navigate their back-to-school checklist without expert support. Furthermore, if your facility project includes pool, splash pad, or aquatic spaces in addition to the traditional playground, mention that during your quote conversation. Funders respond incredibly well to multi-site, multi-environment inclusion requests that maximize their financial impact across an entire community.

Step Six: Plan the Celebration Now

It may sound counterintuitive, but planning the ribbon-cutting ceremony before the board is even fully funded is a vital psychological step on this back-to-school checklist. Visualizing the finish line makes the project feel real to your committee and sustains collective momentum when bureaucratic delays happen.

Set a tentative date on the school calendar for early autumn. Plan to invite your corporate sponsors, your PTO, the school community, and the local press. A public dedication ceremony provides sponsors with the visibility they deserve and shows the community that your school takes equitable play seriously. For creative ideas on invitations, student-led demonstrations, and media outreach, check out our comprehensive guide to boosting community engagement to make that dedication day unforgettable.

The Resources You Need

The new school year is coming quickly, and the playground should be ready to welcome every single child on day one. As you work your way down this back-to-school checklist, remember that you do not have to invent these wheels from scratch. Lean on federal frameworks and local data to support your claims. For instance, the official IDEA Part B overview provided by the U.S. Department of Education is an invaluable legal reference to cite when drafting your initial email to your Director of Special Education.

Do not let another school year slip by with a playground that unintentionally excludes children. Request your free quote today, download our full design catalog, and let our team help you check this vital project off your list before the school bells ring.

Sponsor Logo – Create Lifetime Advertisers

The Ask That Almost Nobody Is Making

Every community has local businesses that want to do something meaningful. What very few of them have been offered is a permanent sponsor logo placement, something that sits in a public space for a decade or more, visible to every family that walks through that playground.

For small businesses, a permanent sponsor logo means a huge return on a minimal investment. It means their marketing is kept within a modest budget. In many cases, there is no such thing as a marketing budget and provinding a permanent sponsor logo gives the small business visibility where they might not have had any before.

What a Sponsor Logo Placement Actually Looks Like

At Resources at Lakeshore Speech, we can include up to four sponsor logos across the bottom of every playground sign we produce, at no additional cost. This is not a small print acknowledgment. It is a permanent, outdoor-grade sponsor logo on a piece of infrastructure designed to last.

We sometimes describe it as lifetime advertising for a one-time gift. That framing resonates with business owners immediately, because it is accurate.

We work to maintain a price point on our products that is not prohibtive, so the amount you are asking for may seem more minimal than expected. For example, a communication board quote may come in at $725 (including shipping), if you aim for 4 sponsors, that would be an ask of $182 per sponsor. Permanent sponsor logo for life-time for under $200!

Why Businesses Say Yes

We have been part of enough of these conversations to know what makes a business agree to a sponsor logo placement. It comes down to alignment, visibility, and simplicity. When a business owner understands the full breadth of who the board serves — covered in detail in our post on who benefits from inclusive playground boards — they stop seeing a niche accommodation and start seeing a community asset.

The ask is clean. There is no ongoing commitment, no annual renewal. The business provides funding, we add their sponsor logo to the board, and their name becomes part of something lasting.

How to Structure the Ask

When you approach a local business about a sponsor logo opportunity, the conversation should be brief, specific, and visual. Come with a number from a free quote, and show them a draft of the artwork if you have one.

The Businesses Most Likely to Say Yes

Pediatric and family-focused businesses, businesses with a personal connection to disability or inclusion, local banks and credit unions, and healthcare providers are all strong candidates for a sponsor logo conversation. Local civic organizations like the Rotary or Lions clubs are strong supports of local activities and may be a great connection. Many of our customers have closed a pool communication board project this way, pairing a grant with one or two local sponsors to cover the full cost.

What to Do When a Business Says No

It happens, and it is rarely permanent. Thank them genuinely, leave a one-page summary, and ask to follow up next budget cycle. Our community engagement guide has more detail on how to keep these relationships warm.

In the meantime, four sponsor logo spots means four opportunities. If one business covers installation and three others contribute toward the board itself, the project is fully funded.

Making It Official

Once a business commits, collect their logo file, confirm the spelling of their name, and share the draft artwork before production. A business that feels genuinely appreciated for a sponsor logo contribution becomes a long-term partner for your next project.

If you are ready to start building your sponsorship plan, request a free quote so you have accurate cost documentation to bring to every conversation.

A Grant Shortfall – What Do We Do?

The Call Nobody Wants to Make

You did everything right. You built the case, you wrote the application, you waited. And then the letter came back with a number lower than what you asked for. This grant shortfall problem happens more often than most people realize, and it does not have to be the end of the story.

At Resources at Lakeshore Speech, we have been in this conversation more times than we can count. A school district receives a partial grant. A recreation department gets approved for less than the full project scope. In every one of these situations, the question is the same: now what?

First things first, do not abandon your idea. Creating a community of compassion and acceptance IS something to fight for and work towards. Consider this momentary letdown as fuel to propel you forward to reaching your goal.

What We Do When there’s a Grant Shortfall?

Our mission is to ensure that everyone has a voice on the playground. We view communication as a fundamental human right, an idea anchored in the ASHA Communication Bill of Rights. That belief does not pause when a grant comes in short.

When a customer comes to us with a grant shortfall, we sit down and look at the project together. Sometimes the flexibility is in the design elements, the size of the boards or custom color background, for example. Sometimes it is in the scope of the project itself, and we work with the customer to identify which board or which location will have the greatest immediate impact.

It is easy for us to adjusted project timelines to allow a community to apply for a second funding source to cover the gap. We have reviewed application language and offered assistance in rewriting or adding information that may lead to increase funding opportunities. We have worked creatively within tight constraints to deliver a board that still meets the clinical and accessibility standards we hold ourselves to, at a price the community can actually afford.

What to Do If Your Funding Falls Short

If you are in the middle of a funding effort and facing a grant shortfall, here are the steps we recommend.

Do not stop at one funding source. Our six ways to fund communication boards post covers the stacking strategy that gets most projects to full funding.
Come back to us with the real number. We will look at the project with you and tell you honestly what is possible within that budget.
Consider a phased approach, starting with the highest-traffic location and using documented impact to apply for the next round of funding.
Look at sponsor logo opportunities with fresh eyes. Up to 4 logos can be added to our communication boards at no additional cost. This is a great way to promot businesses and provide them lifetime advertisement.
Work with your maintenace or building and grounds departments in creatively developing in-house options for installation. Installation costs are often modest and can be very flexible.

This applies whether the project is a playground installation, a pool or aquatic center, or a therapeutic riding center , a grant shortfall does not have to end any of these projects.

A Note on Honest Conversations

When you contact Resources at Lakeshore Speech, you are talking to licensed Speech-Language Pathologists who understand the clinical need for this product and the community impact that follows when it is installed. If your experience a grant shortfall, call us. If your grant gets denied entirely, call us.

Request a free quote and let us help you build the strongest possible case for your community.

What to Expect From Our Design Consultation: 6 Easy Steps

The Call That Changes Everything

Most people who contact Resources at Lakeshore Speech for the first time are not starting from zero. They have already decided they want signage for their playground. What they do not know is what happens next — what our design consultation actually looks like.

The process is simpler than most people expect. Here is exactly what the conversation looks like, from first contact to finished board.

Step One: Understanding Your Space and Your Community

The first thing we want to know in any design consultation is where the board is going and who is going to use it. What kind of space is it — a school, a public park, a pool or splash park, a clinic? What does the surrounding community look like? What languages are spoken by the families who use this space?

These questions matter because our communication boards arenot one-size-fits-all. It is designed around the community it serves.

Step Two: The Science Behind the Layout

One of the first things we tell every new customer during their design consultation is this: you do not need to worry about which icons go where.

The layout of our boards is built on a scientific, evidence-based foundation developed by licensed Speech-Language Pathologists with deep expertise in AAC. Our standard board contains 35 cells, each holding an icon paired with a word or phrase covering the most functional concepts for a playground or recreational environment.

Step Three: Custom Icons for Your Specific Space

Every playground, pool, clinic or public space has something unique about it. We create custom icons for any element that is not covered by our standard vocabulary set, as part of our standard design consultation process.

This is also where the conversation about languages happens. Our boards can include up to three additional languages beyond English, each with a one-time setup fee per language. Every cell on the board can carry up to four languages simultaneously.

Step Four: Sponsor Logos at No Additional Cost

Here is something that surprises almost every customer: we can include up to four sponsor logos across the bottom of the board at no additional cost. For a Rotary Club, a Lions Club, or a local business with a genuine commitment to community inclusion, that is a meaningful offer — and one we discuss in depth in our community engagement guide.

Step Five: The Aha Moment

There is almost always a moment in a design consultation where something shifts — where the person on the other side of the table stops thinking about the board as an accommodation for a specific child and starts seeing it as something the whole community has been missing. Sometimes it happens when we talk about cost. Our boards are priced at approximately 50 percent less than comparable products on the market.

Step Six: Installation Guidance Without the Contractor Bill

We do not install the boards ourselves, and we are transparent about that from the start. What we do provide is detailed installation guidance for your building manager, grounds crew, or facilities department, including two non-negotiables: the top of the board should be no more than 36 inches from the ground, and it should be placed in a high-traffic area where it is easy to see and easy to reach. The U.S. Access Board’s accessibility guidelines for play areas support both of these recommendations.

What You Walk Away With

By the end of your design consultation, you will have a clear picture of what your board will look like, what it will cost, who it will serve, and how to get it funded and installed.

If you are ready to see what a board could look like for your space, request a free quote today.

County Board of DD: An Overlooked Grant Source

The Money Is There. It Is Just Not Where You Are Looking. Check out your County Board.

If you have ever searched for funding for inclusive playground communication boards and come up empty, you are not alone. Most schools, recreation departments, and parent advocates start in the same place: they look for a grant with obvious keywords in the description, find nothing that fits perfectly, and conclude that the funding does not exist.

It does exist. The problem is that it is rarely labeled the way you expect it to be — and the single most overlooked source is your local County Board of Developmental Disabilities.

Why the County Board of Developmental Disabilities Gets Overlooked

This is the funding source that surprises people most, and it is the one that funded a full multi-site project for the City of North Olmsted Recreation Department — covering new playground signage installations, retrofits on existing playgrounds, and a dual-sided camp communication board. All of it, fully funded.

A County Board of Developmental Disabilities exists in every county in Ohio, and similar agencies operate under different names in most states across the country. Their mission centers on improving the lives of individuals with developmental disabilities, and community inclusion is a core priority. A project that makes a public playground accessible and communicatively inclusive for children with developmental disabilities fits directly within that mission.

Most people searching for grant funding go straight to education foundations, PTA budgets, or broad community grants, all legitimate paths we encourage customers to explore, and ones our funding strategies post walks through in detail. But a County Board of Developmental Disabilities is frequently overlooked because people associate them exclusively with residential services or adult programming. In reality, community inclusion initiatives for children fit squarely within their funding priorities.

How to Approach Your County Board of Developmental Disabilities

The key is knowing how to frame the request. Your application should speak clearly to the population served, the barrier being removed, and the community impact of the project — not simply describe the product.

To find your County Board of Developmental Disabilities, start with the National Association of County Behavioral Health and Developmental Disability Directors, which maintains a directory of county-level agencies across the country.

If you are not sure how to frame your application, we provide customized justification language to every client at no cost, and our community engagement guide breaks down how to build that case before you ever submit it.

Beyond the County Board: Other Sources Worth Stacking

A County Board of Developmental Disabilities grant rarely needs to stand alone. ADA transition plan funds, IDEA Part B assistive technology budgets, and Community Development Block Grants can all be stacked alongside a county grant to fully fund a multi-site project, an aquatic installation through our pool communication boards program, or a clinic-based system through our clinic communication boards page.

What to Do Right Now

If you are reading this in June, July, or August, you are in a prime window. Grant cycles for county DD boards are often open in the summer months, ahead of the new school year.

Identify the playground or playgrounds in your community that would benefit most.
Contact your County Board of Developmental Disabilities and ask whether community inclusion projects are currently fundable.
Request a free quote so you have accurate cost documentation ready when you apply.

The funding exists. The populations who need this are waiting. The first step is knowing where to look.

You are not alone, we are here to help.

Request a free quote and we will provide the justification language, board specifications, and cost documentation you need to make your application as strong as possible.

The North Olmsted Story: A Full Grant Win

A Vision Without a Budget Is Still a Vision Worth Having

When the City of North Olmsted Recreation Department first reached out to Resources at Lakeshore Speech, they already knew what they wanted. They had a new playground going in, existing playgrounds that needed to be retrofitted, and a genuine commitment to making their spaces inclusive and accessible for every child in their community. What they did not have was a clear path to paying for it.

This is the most common place communities find themselves. The vision is there. The will is there. The budget is not — at least not yet. Our community engagement guide covers how to build that vision into a case for stakeholders, but North Olmsted‘s story shows what happens once that case is built.

The Conversation That Changed the Scope

When we sat down with the director of the North Olmsted Recreation Department, the conversation quickly expanded beyond a single board on a single playground sign installation. As we talked through the populations they served — the children with communication differences, the families who spoke languages other than English at home, the summer campers who came with a wide range of needs — it became clear that one board was not going to be enough.

It also became clear that their summer camp program had a specific and underserved need. Counselors were working with children who were multilingual, non-verbal, or both, and there was no consistent visual communication system in place to support either group.

Out of that conversation came an idea we had not originally planned for: a dual-sided camp communication board. One side was designed for campers — giving children a way to express themselves, make requests, indicate needs, and interact with peers. The other side was designed for counselors — providing a visual system for giving directions, managing group transitions, and communicating clearly with children who could not reliably process rapid verbal instructions.

This is the kind of customization that comes from a real conversation, not a catalog order. And it is the kind of solution that funders find compelling, because it solves multiple problems with a single investment.

Where the Money Came From

The North Olmsted Recreation Department staff did the hard work of researching their funding options, and they found it in a place that surprises many of our customers: the Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities.

County Boards of Developmental Disabilities exist in every county in Ohio, and similar agencies exist in some form in most states across the country. Their mission is to support individuals with developmental disabilities and to fund initiatives that improve access, inclusion, and quality of life in the community. The National Association of County Behavioral Health and Developmental Disability Directors is a useful starting point if you want to find your own county’s equivalent agency.

The grant covered the full cost of all the boards North Olmsted needed — the new playground installation, the retrofits on the existing playgrounds, and the camp boards. What began as a budget problem became a fully funded, multi-site project.

What North Olmsted Got Right

There are a few things the North Olmsted team did that made their funding effort successful, and they are worth noting for any community that wants to follow a similar path.

They started with a clear vision of what they wanted and where they wanted it, which made the scope of the project easy to communicate to a funder.
They expanded their thinking beyond a single board when the conversation revealed a broader need, which made the project more impactful and more fundable.
They identified a funding source that was specifically aligned with the population their project served, rather than applying broadly and hoping for a match.
They leaned on the expertise of the Resources at Lakeshore Speech team to provide the documentation, specifications, and justification language that grant applications require.

If your project also includes a pool, splash pad, or aquatic center, the same funder logic applies just as well — our pool communication boards have been funded through nearly identical county and foundation grants.

What Your Community Can Learn from This

The North Olmsted story is not unique to North Olmsted. It is repeatable. The elements that made it work — a clear need, an expanded vision, a well-matched funding source, and a committed staff — are available in communities across the country.

If you are a recreation director, a special education coordinator, or a parent advocate wondering how your community could fund inclusive playground boards, start by asking one question: who in our county or region has a mission that aligns with communication access for children with disabilities? We help our customers ask and answer exactly these questions, and our guide to boosting community engagement covers how to keep that momentum going once the boards go up.

The Board That Went Up

North Olmsted now has communication boards on their new playground, retrofitted onto their existing playgrounds, and a dual-sided camp board that serves both campers and counselors across languages and communication styles. Every child who comes to those spaces has a voice. Every counselor has a tool.

That is what a funded vision looks like.

If you are ready to start building yours, request a free quote and let’s talk about what your community needs.

Who Truly Benefits From Inclusive Playground Boards?

The Assumption That Limits Impact

When a school principal or recreation director first hears about inclusive playground boards they almost always picture the same child: a non-verbal child with autism who uses AAC in the classroom. That child absolutely deserves a voice on the playground. But if that’s the only child decision-makers are picturing, they are dramatically underestimating the impact a single piece of signage can have and they are leaving a powerful funding argument on the table.

As a licensed Speech-Language Pathologist with more than 30 years of experience, this is the single most common mistake I see when communities begin exploring inclusive playground boards. They know it’s important. They just don’t know how important, or for how many. Our guide to encouraging communication board use touches on this, but it deserves a much closer look here.

Children with Communication Differences Are Just the Beginning

Yes, children who are non-verbal or who use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) are the most obvious beneficiaries. Well-designed inclusive playground boards gives them a consistent, familiar visual system outside the classroom — one that doesn’t require a charged device, a Wi-Fi connection, or a teacher nearby. They can point to an icon and tell a friend they want to swing, that something hurts, or that they need a break. We explored why this matters so much in outdoor settings specifically in our post on why communication boards are ideal for playgrounds and pools.

But the population that benefits from inclusive playground boards extends far beyond this group.

English Language Learners Need a Bridge Too

In many of the communities we serve, recreation departments and schools support children who speak little or no English at home. On the playground, these children face a communication barrier that has nothing to do with a diagnosis. Multilingual inclusive playground boards — our coummunication boards can include up to three additional languages beyond English, with a one-time setup fee per language — gives these children a shared vocabulary with their peers and their counselors from day one.

This is exactly what emerged when we began working with the City of North Olmsted Recreation Department. As conversations developed around their new playground and retrofitting their existing ones, it became clear that their summer camp population included a significant number of multilingual children alongside children with communication differences. The solution was a dual-sided camp board: one side designed for campers to express themselves, the other side designed for counselors to give directions and communicate with the group. Inclusive playground boards served everyone.

The Emergency Communication Problem Nobody Talks About

Here is the piece that stops administrators in their tracks when we discuss it, and it should.

When a child who has difficulty processing verbal information is in an emergency or distress situation, their response to spoken commands can appear to be refusal or defiance. A counselor shouts “Stop!” or “Come here!” and the child does not respond as expected. In a high-stress moment, that can be misread as willful non-compliance. In reality, the child’s brain cannot efficiently process rapid verbal directives under pressure.

Accessible playground inclusive signage in a high-traffic, easy-to-reach location gives that child and the adult working with them a visual anchor. It is not a replacement for emergency protocols. It is a critical supplement that can reduce confusion, prevent escalation, and in some situations, contribute directly to a child’s safety. This same visual-anchor principle is part of why we also build emotional balance boards for children who need a calmer, more structured way to communicate big feelings before they escalate.

Toddlers Who Are Just Beginning to Talk

Young children who are still developing functional language use pictures and symbols naturally. Inclusive playground boards mounted at the right height, we recommend the top of the board be no more than 36 inches from the ground so it is accessible to all users, becomes an intuitive tool for toddlers who are not yet reading but can point to what they want or need.

Children Who Shut Down Under Stress

Some children, including those with anxiety, sensory processing differences, or trauma histories, lose access to spoken language when they are overwhelmed. This is not a communication disorder in the traditional sense. It is a stress response. Having a visual option available on the playground means these children are not left without any way to express a need at the exact moment they need it most.

Grandparents, Caregivers, and Adults with Hearing Loss

Playgrounds are not only used by children. Grandparents and caregivers who experience hearing loss, cognitive changes, or who speak a different language than the child they are supervising can also benefit from clear, visual, inclusive playground boards.

Why This Matters When You Are Seeking Funding

When you walk into a meeting with a superintendent, a parks and recreation director, or a city council member and you present a communication board as a tool for non-verbal children only, you are presenting a narrow case. When you walk in and explain that one piece of signage serves children with autism, English language learners, children with anxiety, toddlers, children in emergency situations, and community members with hearing loss , you are presenting a civil rights and public safety case, one supported by the ASHA Communication Bill of Rights, which affirms that every person has the right to communicate regardless of the form that communication takes.

That is a much harder argument to say no to.

At Resources at Lakeshore Speech, we help our customers build that full case before they ever walk into that meeting. The science behind our layouts, the breadth of the populations served, and the evidence base behind AAC and visual supports are part of every conversation we have with a new client.

What to Do Next

If you are a teacher, SLP, PTA member, or camp director who has been thinking about bringing inclusive play signage to your playground, the first step is understanding and being able to articulate who it serves. Then you are ready to advocate. Our community engagement guide walks you through how to build that case for your specific community.

And if you want to talk through what a board could look like for your space, request a free quote and we will walk you through every detail.

Every child deserves a voice on the playground. More children than you realize are waiting for one.