During the early 1950s therapists and doctors started using communication systems for people who had lost the ability to communicate orally due to various health reasons. It wasn’t until the early 1980s that assistive speaking devices began to emerge as possible communication tools for children with autism. In the early days, the most common devices were simple picture boards or even flash cards that the child could use to show their caregiver or parent what they needed as they learned to associate the pictures with the ideas behind them. Unlike older people who already know how to communicate with pen and paper, children who can’t convey even a simple message needed a means of doing so. Assistive speaking devices gradually grew in complexity to include devices that are in use today that have actual audible speech output and input selection devices to accommodate a range of physical impairment such as poor motor skills. Assistive speaking devices have changed the autistic child’s view of the world and allowed them to become a bigger part of it.