Today I’m so excited to be reviewing one the best products out there for our field-Smarty Symbols. It’s pretty much the best thing that has happened to me since sliced bread Boardmaker.
We are the visual-go-to people in our buildings. Visual schedules, cues and prompts are right up our alley. This means I can never have enough access to images. Smarty Symbols provide clear, easy to use symbols for all our visual needs.
First, I will just say that the people working at Smarty Symbols are some of the best in terms of customer service. If you have a question, they respond immediately and do their very best to help out in any way. If there is a symbol that they do not have, they make a note that you searched for it and look into adding it to their database.
I also like that they had a few purchasing options out there so make sure you find a plan that will benefit you.
Since I create products to sell, I went with the commercial plan for a year. However, if you’re just wanting to make visuals for your students and personal use, you can receive all of their images for less than $50 per year. That’s a bargain!
When you search for images, everything is arranged in an easy-to-find format. This saves me A TON of time.
You can search by categories…
or by sound… 
and even by sound position!
I’ve been busy using it to make my students some good visuals including this 5 point scale:
and this eye-contact prompt.
Smarty Symbols is so sweet they are giving away one free year (non-commercial) subscription to my readers! Just enter the rafflecopter below!
Come as you are. Leave encouraged.
I'd love for you to join my newsletter family so that I can start sending weekly encouragement as well as access to an entire library of free resources like this Student Self-Progress Report Sheet!
MaryKay says
May 1, 2015 at 5:42 amI would love to use Smarty Symbols for the many visual supports needed, such as communication boards and visual schedules. I’d also use it for general therapy materials.
Judy Hale says
May 1, 2015 at 5:44 amWell, I am old, and been doing this job a long time, but always try to learn new things and keep things fresh for my students and for myself. I would use this to create visuals for students for social thinking and for behavior. I also like to do theme units and would use these to create materials to enhance the units.
Nicole Allison says
May 1, 2015 at 12:37 pmFirst, you are not old, Judy! Second, I love your ideas on how to use these!
Claudia Doan says
May 1, 2015 at 8:00 amThanks for this great review! As a therapist and a seller, these symbols would be so helpful to me!
Kim Hovey says
May 1, 2015 at 11:30 amI use pictures (symbols) for almost everything I do. Our language kids are usually not strong readers. Pictures help with so many things, from comprehension to discrimination, for social stories…This is a great resource!
Kimberly H says
May 1, 2015 at 11:36 amI have a lot of students who use visuals throughout their school day. While I have access to Boardmaker, many of these students also use AAC apps that feature Smarty Symbols, so it would be WONDERFUL to be able to make visual supports (schedules, prompts, social stories, task lists, etc.) using the same symbols. I am also working on developing some materials to support acquisition of Core vocabulary, and having Smarty Symbols will give me another mode for presenting these words for my students.
Susan Stelly says
May 1, 2015 at 12:05 pmPictures are so important for all my students. I would use this in many ways – making social stories, language activities, and even following directions.
Becky S. says
May 1, 2015 at 12:36 pmI don’t have access to Boardmaker, so I could definitely use this for any visuals I need. From visual schedules to individual stimulus items for my students…the possibilities seem endless!
Angela Moorad says
May 1, 2015 at 12:38 pmI would use the Smarty Symbols to make visual supports & aided language input activities. I have several patients using the Speak For Yourself AAC app so this would be fabulous to have. Thanks for the opportunity 🙂
Gail MIterman says
May 1, 2015 at 12:45 pmI work with preschoolers, so I need pictures for ALL of my students. I use them during therapy sessions and when making up individual homework. It takes so much time searching for just the right picture now. It would be wonderful to have a resource where I could find anything I need.
Manda says
May 1, 2015 at 1:10 pmI love Smarty Symbols. The library is amazing. My monthly subscription ran out a couple months ago. Oh, how I would love to WIN this giveaway!!!!! Thank you so much for the thorough review. Smarty Ears is a terrific company! 🙂 Manda R.
Lisa M says
May 1, 2015 at 2:00 pmI use visual supports across all my students …… low tech communication boards, schedules, work task sequences, social stories, behavioral supports, etc. I like the clean design of Smarty Symbols.
Annie Doyle says
May 1, 2015 at 2:34 pmI LOVE Smarty Symbols and agree that they are the best thing to happen since Boardmaker. I had Boardmaker and purchased a new computer. Boardmaker was not compatible with my new MAC. Now what? I certainly couldn’t afford the 600.00 for a MAC compatible version of Boardmaker. Solution? Smarty Symbols! Everyday new symbols are added and they really are customer oriented. I use the non-commercial plan for just about everything! Fingers definitely crossed!!
Jessica says
May 1, 2015 at 3:13 pmI didn’t realize that access to these symbols was so affordable. I would like something other than boardmaker all the time. Thanks for the post!
Carly says
May 1, 2015 at 4:25 pmMy caseload and job are going to change radically next year. I know I will need the symbols to make visual schedules for my students. Also most likely I would use them for communication boards.
Malissa Unger says
May 1, 2015 at 4:43 pmThis product has so many uses for my IEP students and students in the regular classroom. I’m envisioning artic practice/games, visual schedules, language supports…and on! This seems like a very useful product for a reasonable price. Thanks for the information!
Samantha S says
May 1, 2015 at 5:02 pmLove love love Smarty Symbols!! Thanks for a great post! 🙂
Sherry says
May 1, 2015 at 5:11 pmI would use Smarty Ears to make schedules and materials to go with the preschool disabled classes themes.
Suzanne says
May 1, 2015 at 7:40 pmI would use this EVERY DAY! I had Boardmaker, but I find that my kiddos gravitate towards Smarty Symbols. We got new computers in my district this year, which is great, but they no longer have a disc drive so I can’t even use Boardmaker anymore. It has made it very difficult to create visuals for my kids who are in mod-severe special day classes. I would be so very grateful for a chance to use Smarty Symbols for a year for free, and I’m sure I’d continue to use it afterwards!
Hope says
May 1, 2015 at 7:41 pmI love that you can search by sound and sound position! I can imagine creating a lot of quick artic activities. I would also use them for visuals for social skills.
Lora says
May 1, 2015 at 9:04 pmI would love to use this to make my visuals!
Erin says
May 1, 2015 at 9:09 pmSmarty Symbols would be great to use for materials for my two autism classrooms!
Natalie says
May 1, 2015 at 9:53 pmThis is wonderful!!! What a great resource! Thanks so much for sharing this!!!
-Natalie
Sue Blankenship says
May 2, 2015 at 12:25 amI’m always looking for new visuals to help my students understand and learn new concepts.
Old School Speech says
May 2, 2015 at 1:17 amI use Smarty Symbols all the time in therapy as visual cues for students working on making complete sentences. LOVE THEM!
Nancy says
May 2, 2015 at 3:04 amI would love to use these to coordinate with some of the materials I already use. For example, these would be great to use for making sentence strips to help boost language and social skills when playing board games!
Jennifer M. says
May 2, 2015 at 10:40 amThanks for reviewing Smarty Ears – I have heard about it but wasn’t sure what it was. I like that you included screen shots to show exactly what it can do.
Amberlie Benson says
May 3, 2015 at 12:10 amHelpful review. Thank you!
Meagan Lawson says
May 3, 2015 at 2:00 amMy school district’s copy of Boardmaker has been on the fritz all year, making it impossible for me to make visual supports for the kids in my ID/multiple disabilities classrooms. I would love to have this so that I could make visuals for my students!
Dani Kaplan says
May 3, 2015 at 2:49 amI use visual support for a lot of my kiddos so this subscription would be very helpful to use in therapy sessions! Thank you!
Jordan says
May 3, 2015 at 1:34 pmThis is great for making any and all visual supports, such as communication boards, visual schedules, help the kids understand and learn new concepts, visual reminders of what they need to be working on! Thank you for sharing this great resource and the giveaway opportunity!
Kelly Lawson says
May 4, 2015 at 3:26 amI would use this to make visuals for games/therapy materials and sentence strips to work on expanding length of utterance.
Ashley says
May 5, 2015 at 1:27 amI’m starting up a new private practice. I would use the symbols to create expectations for speech therapy anchor charts and reward systems for in home treatment.
Jen K says
May 5, 2015 at 10:21 pmI’d use Smarty Symbols for visuals as well as making materials within my classroom.
Barb says
May 7, 2015 at 1:53 amThere are so many different way to use symbols… I love Smarty Symbols… they are very realistic looking.. great language building tool for my visual learner.. 🙂
Josie says
May 7, 2015 at 5:46 amI’m always looking for creative ways to vary my materials in order to maximize the opportunities I have to practice a specific skill without my students feeling like we are doing the same thing each session. These symbols would be novel pictures for my students and allow me to target a variety of language skills with a new, engaging look. I’ll also use them for socials stories, for sure! Thanks for reviewing this product, I hadn’t come across it and I think it’ll be a “staple” in my tool box.
HayleyDoucette says
May 7, 2015 at 10:44 amThese would be great for my pre-k caseload so they can generalize different pictures and symbols!
Shara Kuehl says
May 7, 2015 at 12:53 pmI would use it to make visuals and communication boards for my students.
Katie says
May 7, 2015 at 10:16 pmI would use the symbols to make visual schedules, communication boards, and so many other things!
Andrea Albergottie says
May 7, 2015 at 11:54 pmSince I have a range of kiddos from3 years old to 13, partnering up would be best. I would have them help each other while using this app as well as have them play games with each other: I Spy, I have… Who has…? There re endless possibilities!
Karla says
April 9, 2020 at 11:31 amHorrible customer service. I could not use this on two devices without constantly getting locked out of my account. Being an itinerant therapist I needed to be able to access the symbols from my home computer and my iPad while at work. Within a couple days I asked for my account to be canceled and for a refund and they would not respond. On top of that, they renewed my account and would not refund my money when I contacted them a day later. At this point, I was no longer treating anymore and the account was useless to me. So this company got me for two years for a program I did not use.
Nicole Allison says
April 11, 2020 at 12:25 amSuch a bummer to hear this, Karla! I’m so sorry you had this experience with them!