Version 1

If you are installing onto a Mac with OS 8 or OS 9, the installation CD will automatically launch the installation program. If this does not happen, check the ‘Mac OS X user install’ instructions following.

The first screen you will see is the Picture Express logo, telling you you’re ready to go…

Click on CONTINUE, then click CONTINUE again in the next window (the ‘Install ReadMe’ window). The next window is the LICENSING AGREEMENT. Please read this carefully and accept if you wish to use Picture Express Software.

This tells your computer where to store the program. It will create a folder called PICTURE EXPRESS in the Application folder on your Hard Drive. All you have to do is click on CHOOSE (or INSTALL on OS 8). When you see the INSTALLATION WAS SUCCESSFUL window, you are done. Click on RESTART.

It is recommended that you ‘restart’ your computer at this time. Once your computer has restarted, you can click on the new Picture Express alias that is on your desktop. It should look like the one below.

This will take you to the Main Menu, where you are minutes away from producing professional resources.

If you are installing under Mac OS X, rather than the CD ‘autostarting’, look for the CD icon on your desktop and click on it to look at the install folder on the CD.

Inside the install folder is an icon called INSTALL. Click on this icon to launch the Install program.

For OS 9.x users, the windows look a bit different because of the new ‘aqua’ look, but that’s it. In OS X, you will not be prompted to restart your computer.

After you see the INSTALLATION WAS SUCCESSFUL window, you are ready to click on the desktop alias for Picture Express and start using the program.

Back to Table of Contents

Overview

Picture Express is a tool for creating materials for use in speech and language intervention. A set of over 600 words and pictures are contained in a database, which is organized to retrieve and present words and pictures that represent phonemes and phoneme combinations. The words included in the database have been chosen to provide a variety of illustrations in each phoneme category. The vocabulary and style of illustration is appropriate for preschool and school aged children. The program also includes a process for adding entries to the database and changing words to reflect regional variations in spelling, vocabulary or pronunciation.

Picture Express is designed for the Speech-Language Pathologist working with preschool and school aged children. Some features are adaptable to speech and language programs for adults. Teachers, early childhood educators, and teachers of the deaf and hard of hearing will also find this program useful.

Picture Express is used during preparation for clinical sessions. It is not meant to be used by the client during a session, however children can participate in the picture selection process and help create their own homework materials. For children who enjoy working with the computer, the pictures can be exported to graphics programs where they can be manipulated with any of the editing features of those programs, such as sizing, coloring, duplicating, etc. Please keep in mind that the pictures are copyright protected, so they can only be used for purposes that relate directly to the use of the Picture Express program, and not used in any other publications.

Picture Express offers advantages over the traditional file boxes of picture cards or sets of game cards, in that the materials are created as needed and can be customized to each child. The materials can be given to the child to keep, and do not need to be re-filed. Picture Express offers features not available from other computer programs that simply present the picture on the screen or have limited printing options.

The program opens with a menu that lists the different criteria by which pictures can be selected:

Consonant Clusters Choose words that contain consonant combinations in initial, medial or final position.

Alphabetical List Select words from the complete word list in alphabetical order.

Selecting CONSONANTS from the main menu will take you to the screen shown below.

If you select VOWELS, the only difference will be that the list of speech sounds will be vowels rather than consonants. The following directions apply to both.

Point and click with the mouse, or if you are using your keyboard, press the down arrow key to move down the list and use the spacebar to select. Choose as many phonemes as you need. Use the same process to cancel selections. Use CLEAR to cancel all selections.

Using the same method as in Step 1, indicate whether the selected phonemes will be in initial, medial or final word position. Each position selected will apply to all phonemes. A selection of initial ‘s’ and final ‘z’ for example, will also give you final ‘s’ and initial ‘z’.

This step is optional. Indicate if you want to limit the length of words to 1, 2 or 3 syllables. Each selection includes all words with fewer syllables. If you bypass this step, words of all lengths will be included in your selection.

This step is optional. Indicate if you want to limit the vocabulary level to: Level 1(under 3 years) or Level 2 (3 to 5 years). If you bypass this step, level 3 (over 5 years) will be selected. Each level includes all words at lower levels.

Click on the button with the arrow to go to the list of words that meet the criteria you have selected.

Select CONSONANT CLUSTERS from the main menu to build lists of words that contain consonant blends or clusters.

Point and click with the mouse, or using the keyboard, press the down arrow key to move down the list. Use the spacebar to select. Choose as many phonemes as you need. Use the same process to cancel selections. Use CLEAR to cancel all selections. If you are creating a list of blends with a particular phoneme in second position, eg. ‘l’ or ‘r’ blends, click on SELECT ALL for the first consonant, and then choose ‘l’, ‘r’, or both for the second consonant.

Repeat the procedure used in Step 1 to select the second consonant(s) in the cluster. To create a list of blends with a specific phoneme in initial position, eg., ‘s’ blends, select ‘s’ for the first consonant in Step 1, then click SELECT ALL for the second consonant in Step 2.

Using the same method as in Steps 1 and 2, indicate whether the selected cluster(s) will be in initial, medial and/or final word position.

Click on the button with the arrow to go to the list of words that meet the criteria you have selected.

If you want the words to be listed according to semantic categories, click on CATEGORIES on the main menu to reach these options:

Use the down arrow keys and space bar or point and click with the mouse to indicate which category(ies) you want.

This step is optional. Indicate if you want to limit the vocabulary level to: Level 1 (under 3 years) or Level 2 (3 to 5 years). If you bypass this step, Level 3 (over 5 years) will be selected. Each level includes all words at lower levels.

Click on the button with the arrow to go to the list of words that meet the criteria you have selected.

You can see a complete list of all pictures available if you click on ALPHABETICAL LIST on the main menu. If you are looking for a specific word, click with the mouse on any word in the PICTURES AVAILABLE list and type in the first letter of the word. You will then jump down the list to words that begin with that letter.

Selections from this menu are made with the same methods described for the main menu.

Select words according to the occurrence of phonological features. If you choose SELECT PHONOLOGICAL

Indicate whether the phoneme(s) will be in initial, medial or final word position.

If voicing is a significant feature, choose VOICED or VOICELESS here. If not, click SELECT BOTH.

If place of articulation is significant, make one or more choices. If not, click SELECT ALL.

If manner is the feature you want to specify, make a selection here. If not, click SELECT ALL.

Click on the button with the arrow to go to the list of words that meet the criteria you have selected.

You may want to generate lists of words in which a particular feature is not present. EXCLUDE PHONOLOGICAL FEATURES will give you these choices:

Indicate which class of phoneme you want to exclude. This will generate a list of words that do not contain the type of phoneme indicated. If you choose all but one type, you will generate a list of words that contain only that class of phoneme.

Click on the button with the arrow to go to the list of words that meet the criteria you have selected.

►NOTE - Remember that the feature selected is actually the feature that will NOT be present in any of the words on your list. For example, if you select ‘nasal’, you will create a list of words that do not contain any nasal consonants. If you select every category except ‘nasal’, you will have a list in which all consonants are nasal. (The list will contain words with semi-vowels).

If you want to combine phonemes in consonant-vowel-consonant sequences, choose PHONEME COMBINATIONS. When you click on this button you will see the following:

Point and click with the mouse, or with your keyboard, press the down arrow key to move down the list and use the spacebar to select. Choose as many phonemes as you need. Use the same process to cancel selections. Use CLEAR to cancel all selections.

Repeat the procedure in Step 1 to select the second consonant(s) in the word. This will be the final consonant in words of one syllable, or the medial consonant in words of two or more syllables. If you include more than one phoneme in either list, all possible phoneme combinations will be included. For example, if you choose /b/ and /p/ for the first phonemes, and /t/ and /d/ for the second phonemes, your list will include words that contain /b/ and /t/, /b/ and /d/, /p/ and /t/, and /p/ and /d/. If you want only specific combinations, it is best to build the lists separately.

Select each syllable length that you want to include. Unlike the word length choice in consonant or vowel selection, this does not select maximum length; a selection of 4 will limit your selection to only 4-syllable words. If you want words of all lengths, click SELECT ALL.

Click on the arrow to go to the list of words that meet the criteria you have selected.

Click here to go to ‘Clinical Applications / Oral Motor Skills’ for an illustration of the SYLLABLE COMBINATIONS feature.

Syllable Structure

If you want to generate a list of words that have a particular consonant-vowel (cv) sequence pattern, choose SYLLABLE STRUCTURE. When you click on this button, you will see:

For example, if you want a selection of words that contain only one consonant and one vowel, type CV in the space under ENTER PATTERN.

This step is optional. Indicate if you want to limit the vocabulary level to: Level 1 (under 3 years), or Level 2 (3 – 5 years). If you bypass this step, Level 3 (over 5 years) will be selected. Each level includes all words at lower levels.

Click on the button with the arrow to go to the list of words that meet the criteria you have selected. Refer to Selecting Pictures for further instructions.

If you want to change the version of the words list Picture Express uses, choose SET VERSION. When you click on this button, you will see this:

Selecting Pictures

When you have selected one of the options from the main menu and have completed the set of criteria required, click on the arrow under ‘Select and print your pictures’ to see the list or words that meet the criteria you have selected. The screen will now look like this:

►Each picture on the ‘Pictures Available’ list will appear as you click on the word. This shows the picture, but does not select the picture for printing. If you want to print the picture, you need to add it to the ‘Pictures Selected’ list. To place the word in the ‘Pictures Selected’ list, click on the arrow to the right of the word.

►To remove a word that has been selected, click on the arrow to the left of the word in the ‘Pictures Selected’ list.

►When you have created a list of pictures to print, you have a number of options to choose from:

1. You can print the pictures on perforated cardstock, in sizes of 6, 8 or 10 per sheet. Pictures can be printed in either black and white or color, with or without the word shown under each picture. The next section on ‘Printing’ provides details on printing your pictures.

2. You can select one of the worksheets and games available. Please refer to the section on ‘Worksheets and Games’ to continue with one of these options.

In the upper right section of the screen you will see a set of options under ‘Print Pictures’. Check the appropriate box to choose 6, 8 or 10 pictures per page. Check color or black and white, and check yes or no to indicate if you want the word to be shown under each picture.

When you are ready to print, place the appropriate sheets of labels or perforated cardstock in your printer. You can then click on ‘Preview/Print’.

►Mac OS X Users – Your printer dialog box will appear, similar to the image below:

Click on ‘Preview’ if you want to see your set of pictures before printing. If your list of pictures fills more than one page, the first page will be displayed. Click on the arrow in the lower left corner of your screen to see the next page.

After you click OK on the message box, you will see a ‘Continue’ button on the left sidebar as shown below:

If your list of pictures fills more than one page, the first page will be displayed. Click on the ‘flip chart’ in the top left corner to see the next page(s).

When you have previewed your set of picture, click on the ‘Continue button to bring up your printer dialog box. Now you can choose to print your pictures or click cancel to return to the ‘Select Pictures’ screen.

►Note – If you’re printing in color with an inkjet printer, you’ll probably want to adjust your printer for speed and economy. The particular setting will depend on your printer. Click on “General’, then look for a setting such as color, quality or economy, or refer to the online help or printer user’s guide for the appropriate settings for your printer.

Picture Express offers several options for creating worksheets or games to use in individual or group sessions, or to send home with your clients. To view these options, click on WORKSHEETS & GAMES after completing your list of selected pictures. You screen will look like this:

Here you can choose from a variety or printing formats in 3 categories; Games & Cards, Worksheets and Stickers. Each choice is described and illustrated in the following section. When you have chosen a format, go to ‘Creating a Game, Card Set or Worksheet’.

This will print two copies of each of your selected pictures. If you are making cards, place perforated card paper (8 cards per page) in your printer. You will need one sheet for every 4 pictures on your selected list. The pictures can be printed on the cards in horizontal or vertical orientation.

This option will print five pictures on each page with the matching word beside it. If you want cards for word-picture matching activities, place a sheet of ten cards per page in your printer. You will need one sheet for each five pictures on your selected list. Each page will look like this:

If you want a set of word cards or labels, choose this option. Words are printed in large letters, 10 to a page. These can be used for matching activities with the corresponding pictures, or for making labels, objects or pictures. Place a sheet of 10 cards or labels per page in your printer. You word set will look like this:

Print a game board with a set of matching cards for games such as ‘lotto’ or ‘bingo’. Place a sheet of card stock in your printer for a game board of nine pictures. You may want to choose black and white pictures to be matched with colored cards.

To make the matching cards, place a sheet of perforated cardstock – 9 per sheet in your printer. Your set of cards will look like this:

Worksheets for daily practice of single words can be produced as a list of pictures with squares for keeping track of each successful production. One sheet will be produced for every 8 pictures on your selected list.

The worksheets work well with children, who like to post it on the fridge and see the squares fill up with stickers or stamps throughout the week. Parents, also, are happy to have their weekly practice so clearly structured.

This is a worksheet for practicing phonemes at the phrase or sentence level. Pictures are printed 8 per page with lines beside each for writing a phrase or sentence. If the pictures are printed in black and white, the child can color the picture, and use the color and the pictures word in a sentence, such as ‘a red star’, or ‘the skirt is blue’.

For adults or older children, you may want to print a list of words to keep track of practice and progress. These are also useful for your own records, if you want to keep a list of which words your client is currently practicing. The lines can be used for keeping track of number of efforts or successful productions, or for writing a phrase or sentence.

Pictures can be printed on sheets of 9 or 20 reusable stickers. The layout of the larger stickers is the same as that of the game cards shown on page 16. The smaller stickers will look like this:

To create a card set, game, worksheet, or sticker set, follow the steps from 1 to 3 on the WORKSHEETS & GAMES screen.

Click on the square beside one of the games, sets of cards, worksheets or stickers sets.

Choose from the options indicated. These will vary, depending on your selection in STEP 1. If the options are available, click on the appropriate square to indicate whether you want the words printed on your pictures, and choose color or black and white pictures. If you bypass this step, pictures will be colored and labeled. The ‘show words’ option is not available on game cards or stickers.

After you’ve made your selection, you can click PRINT if you’re ready to print. If you want to check your layout first or adjust printer settings, click PREVIEW.

If you have selected one of the worksheets, you will also have a CUSTOMIZE option. This allows you to print your own title, date and clinic name on the worksheet. If you have chosen the DAILY WORD PRACTICE or PHRASES AND SENTENCES worksheet, you can also choose to create a set of instructions for parents. If you have chosen a worksheet and want to customize it for your client, click on CUSTOMIZE. Your screen will look like this:

The information that you type in here will provide the title for the worksheet, the date at the top of the page, the weekdays at the top of the columns of squares, and your name or the name of your clinic, school or agency. Complete the form as follows:

You will find the current date already entered. If you want the worksheet to show the date that it was created, leave the date as is.

If you are preparing a worksheet for a session at a future date, type in the date of that session, following one of

the specified formats. No matter which format you use to enter the date, it will appear on the worksheet in long

If you don’t want your worksheet dated, remove the date by pressing the space bar when the date is highlighted.

If you omit the date, you will also omit the weekdays at the top of the columns of squares.

When you have accepted, changed or moved the date, use the TAB key, ENTER key or mouse to move to the next space, where you can enter your name, or the name of your clinic, school or agency. Leave this space blank if you don’t want a name printed on the bottom of the sheet.

Use the TAB key, the ENTER key or the mouse to move to the space beside WORKSHEET TITLE. Type in a title, as you want it to appear on the worksheet. If you don’t want a title, leave this space blank.

If you are customizing the PRACTICE OR RECORD SHEET, instead of a title space, you will have a larger space for typing in a brief set of instructions for the client or parents.

►NOTE - If you have chosen a DAILY WORD PRACTICE or PHRASES AND SENTENCES worksheet, you will also have the option to include instructions. Check this box if you would like to create a customized instruction sheet for parents. See the next section for details.

Instruction Sheets

If you have checked the box beside INCLUDE WORKSHEET INSTRUCTIONS for the DAILY WORD PRACTICE or PHRASES AND SENTENCES worksheet, a client information form will appear on your screen while the worksheet is printing. If you have a preview showing of your worksheet, click on CLOSE on the menu bar at the top of the screen to see the information form.

Fill in the information required in each space. When you are ready, click PRINT or click PREVIEW to see your instruction sheet before printing. Previewing is recommended until you become familiar with the best way to enter the information to make a clear set of instructions.

If the information description is outlined in yellow; e.g., (Your Name), that information is optional. If the outline is pink, the information is required to make the instructions read clearly. Some of the information is already entered. If you would like to change it, select the entry with the TAB key or mouse and type in your own information.

Clinical Applications

In addition to producing sets of words and pictures that contain specific target phonemes, Picture Express is designed to generate lists of words appropriate for particular speech difficulties. As you become familiar with Picture Express, you will discover ways to create materials that precisely fit the needs of individual clients. Clinical applications in the following areas will be immediately evident.

Create materials organized in terms of phonological features and syllable structure.

Oral-Motor Skills Select specific phoneme combinations and word lengths; generate word lists for practicing specific motor sequences by selecting syllable combinations of, for example, initial bilabial consonants /p/, /b/, /m/ and medial alveolar consonants /t/, /d/ or /n/ as illustrated below.

These selections would create the following list of words, which require movement from a bilabial to an alveolar consonant.

Resonance Create materials from sets of words that feature or exclude nasal consonants. Use CONSONANT CLUSTERS to select words that contain oral – nasal contrasts; e.g., ‘mb’ or ‘nd’ clusters. Use SYLLABLE COMBINATIONS to create a list of words in which the first consonant is oral and the second is the corresponding nasal consonant. If you want to create a list that contains no nasal consonants, use EXCLUDE PHONOLOGICAL FEATURES.

Fluency Introduce fluency skills with lists of words that, for example, begin with vowels, or use EXCLUDE PHONOLOGICAL FEATURES to find words which are free of plosives or unvoiced consonants.

Fun and Game Ideas

Using Picture Express Cards and Games

There are no particular games or rules for using the matching cards or game boards. Your imagination and experience will lead you to endless possibilities for making the activities appropriate and enjoyable for clients at different age levels. Here are a few suggestions:

Game Board with Matching Cards

Lotto

The game board and matching cards can be used for simple ‘lotto’ games. Make more than one board in black and white with matching sets of colored cards. Mix up the cards and have players take turns selecting a card from the pile while matching the colored card with the corresponding black and white picture on the board.

Bingo

Make a different game board on plain paper for each player. Make a set of cards in any size that match each of the words used on the game board. Put the cards face down in a pile or spread them out on the table, and let the players take turns turning over and calling a card. The players mark their sheet with a stamp or marker, calling ‘Bingo’ when a line of pictures in any direction is marked.

Guess the Word

Use a single board in black and white and sets of cards in color to create a guessing game. Place the cards in a pile, pick up a card and give the child a hint about which picture you have. As the child names the correct picture, place the colored card on top of the corresponding black and white picture.

Place the cards face up on the table. After telling the child to try to remember each card’s location, turn them all over. Players take turns selecting a picture on the board. The next player tries to find the matching card. This game is good for using target words in phrases. Players can be required to say, “find the ________” for each picture on the board.

Use the matching cards to play familiar games, such as ‘memory’ (concentration), ‘go fish’, ‘snap’ etc.

If you use the black and white option when making the cards, you can have the child color them in two different colors to use a phrase structure in any matching game; e.g., red fish – blue fish; red face – blue face, etc.

Place one of each pair face up on the table. Hide the matching cards around the room and have the child find each one. If you are working on words in phrases, have the child say, “I found the _____”, or “Here’s the _______” as he or she finds each one.

Place one card from each pair in a pile, and put the others face up on the table. Take turns turning over the top card after predicting which picture it will be. If the guess is correct, take both cards. If the guess is incorrect, place the card on the bottom of the pile.

Stick the stickers around the room for the child to find. This can also be a matching activity if you print out the same pictures or the corresponding words to be matched as each sticker is found.

Stick the large reusable stickers on a table or let the child do it. Take turns trying to land on a sticker with a leap frog, bean bag, tiddly wink, marble, etc.

Since the stickers are easily removed, you can make any surface into a game board for, e.g., simple dice games. Make a road pattern on the table with the small stickers.

Combine printed with blank stickers. Throw the dice and move along the road, saying each of the pictured words as you come to it. Missing the word requires the player to stop there. Landing on a picture gives the player a free turn.

Stick the stickers on standard board games to modify games such as ‘Snakes & Ladders’. Place words with the target phoneme at the bottom of the ladders and other words at the top of the snakes.

Print a sheet of stickers and a sheet of the same pictures on plain paper, in black and white. Hold each sticker where the child can’t see it and give clues as to which picture you have. Place each sticker over the corresponding black and white picture as the child guesses it. For group activities, the children can take turns choosing and describing a sticker.

For practicing question forms, print a sheet of stickers of a category, such as animals or furniture & household. As each player takes a turn, place a sticker on the child where he or she can’t see it but the other players can (e.g., on the child’s forehead). This player then asks the others questions in order to determine what sticker he or she has, for example, ‘Where does it live?’, ‘what does it eat?’ or ‘how does it move?’ etc.

Picture Express allows you to make changes or additions to the word list (database). You can expand the number of words and pictures available by adding pictures from clip art or other programs. Hand drawings can be added if you have access to a scanner, or you can have your drawings put on floppy disks or CD’s. You may want to change the pronunciation of some of the words to reflect regional differences, or change vocabulary to match local standards. New or altered words, if the entries are made accurately, will appear with the existing entries in all the appropriate selections.

If you have a word that you want to add, or would like to make changes to any of the words, select ADD/CHANGE WORDS/PICTURES from the ADVANCED SELECTIONS menu. A message of caution will first appear. This is to prevent accidental changes to the data.

New entries and changes must be made with care, because errors will permanently affect the function of the program. If you have not read this section completely, click NO to return to the ADVANCED SELECTIONS menu.

If you have familiarized yourself with all of the instructions for entering data, click on YES on the caution screen to proceed to the data entry form, which will look like this:

Click on NEW RECORD on the menu bar at the top of the screen. This will bring up a blank form. Follow the steps from 1 to 5.