Trish Friedlander, a Lake Placid native and speech language pathologist, spearheaded the first communication board project in Lake Placid’s Peacock Park in 2022 alongside her sister, Diana. After seeing how useful that board was, the pair got to work on installing a second one.

“We walk around the lake often and see different parents using the (Peacock Park) board with their children, and we also see kids that are coming over from the high school that are using it or looking at it,” Trish said. “It’s been great in that way, in just promoting an awareness of people that might communicate in a different way.”

The Rotary Club of Lake Placid helped to pay for the $1,500 board from Smarty Symbols, a Texas-based company that specializes in making communication boards that feature symbols, letters of the alphabet and numbers. The Peacock Park board was funded by the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism. Extra funds for installing and weatherproofing the board came from the Lake Placid Village Board of Trustees. The village also provided installation labor.

“It was really a community effort with the village, the Rotary Club,” Trish said.

The new communication board in Teddy Bear Park is seen here on Monday morning. It features letters, numbers, pictures and words in both Spanish and English. (Enterprise photo — Sydney Emerson)

Like the Peacock Park board, the new Teddy Bear Park board has pictures of regionally-relevant things like “mountains” and “dog.” It also has words in both English and Spanish. Trish said that the board is useful for people of all ages and abilities — from people who are neurodivergent and non-verbal to children who are learning to spell and read.

“It’s a great tool for children with communication differences. It has letters and numbers on it, so kids that want to work on spelling or kids that are pre-readers, they can read with the pictures or communicate with the pictures,” Trish said.

She added that, even if some kids do not use the board, it can help them understand and accept from a young age that different people communicate in different ways.

“It’s just another way to communicate. It’s like sign language or French — it’s kind of a different language,” Trish said.

Some people need a communication board because they’re hearing-impaired or experience aphasia, a loss of the ability to speak. Others are non-verbal because they are neurodivergent or autistic and may choose not to speak, only speak on occasion or are unable to speak at all. A communication board helps meet non-verbal people where they are, while still allowing them to communicate, Trish said.

This modern approach is different from past approaches to helping non-verbal people communicate, which would often involve encouraging and sometimes forcing them to communicate verbally. A communication board can also help autistic children integrate into play with their neurotypical peers more easily.

“(April) is Autism Awareness Month, so it’s a perfect time to put the board up,” Trish said. “I think it’s so important to have tools that people can use so they can be included into play.”

Trish said that she hopes more boards start springing up in “as many places as possible” around the Tri-Lakes as other towns, villages and businesses see how useful they are.

“At the school playgrounds, it would be great. They’re great in doctor’s offices, in supermarkets, all those kinds of places where people and kids really need to communicate their wants and needs,” she said. “Depending on funding, it would be great if people could fund these kinds of boards more and more.”