This is totally novel and super amazing!!

Peaches has anxiety and we use a combination of a bunch of things to help her relax when she's anxious including sweatshirts (form-fitted) and a thundershirt, which we call "forever hugs" because she'll sometimes press into us asking for a hug, grounding.

Today is Peaches' birthday and one of her presents was a soccer jersey (almost form-fitting) which we put on her right away and she fell asleep in. Later, she woke from her nap and started whining at us. When we asked what she needed and if she had words for it, she eventually pressed "all done". We were playing a board game and thought she might want us to be done playing. Leo got up and started petting her and giving her hugs, which she really liked. She then pressed "love you". It took a few minutes to process (love you = hugs and kisses and cuddles = grounding hug = forever hug), but I realized that she might be asking for "all done, love you" as in, take off the shirt. I asked that and she perked up so we took it off and she immediately seemed more relaxed!!

This was followed shortly by her first time ever INITIATING a request to go for a walk, no prompting, no conversation beforehand. WHOO!

So, in our household, "all done, love you" means, "take off the forever hug! I'm done with it!"

Peaches is a dog of many emotions. We have been working with her from early puppy-hood to give words to her feelings, so it's no surprise that as soon as we've given her emotion words on her soundboard, she's started using them quickly. So far, all she has for emotions are "frustrate" (our preferred word, analogous to "mad") and "happy". In the last few weeks there have been at at least three novel uses of these words, though, to express an emotion that she doesn't have a direct word for. 

Peaches keeps telling us (in specific circumstances) "HAPPY, ALL DONE". 

It took a bit of context evaluation, guesswork, and two-fists questions, but we've figured out that Peaches means that she is sad. When Peaches is sad, her happy is all done. It breaks my heart, puppy, but it's so amazing that you can put your words together to tell us that. 

So Peaches has 14 words now and she uses about 10 words a day on average. She doesn't use all of her words consistently and some of them she's essentially never used (or only used once and likely accidentally). I think that this is in part because she sees no reason to use some of her words (like "outside"/"walk") because she knows that we know what she wants and we're going to give it to her anyway and she's willing to wait more than 12 hours (not intentionally!! we get hyperfocused on our work sometimes!) to go out, so she's perfectly happy waiting for us. She's not at a point of consistently wanting to narrate life, so she's not going to use words like "settle" because there's no point in asking for something she can just do on her own. To that end, my husband and I face a dilemma...

My personal theory is that the words aren't being used because she doesn't have a need/desire to use them yet, but if we give her more words that she does have more drive to use (like "sniff" (introduced yesterday; is a game and a favoured activity) and "bike ride"), then she'll find more use for her words and will eventually start including the less used words more.

My husband is of a mind that it is better to wait for her to be more consistent on using the words she currently has access to before giving her more words, so that she doesn't get overwhelmed by what is on her board. I don't wholly disagree, but I do think that there should be some level of balance here.

Which brings me to my question:
What have you found as the best point to introduce a new button?
How many do you introduce at a time?
How do you decide which button will be the next one you add?

I know that everyone is different, every learner learns differently, and no one has "the one true answer" (and no one wants to get in the middle of a marriage argument, lol!). That's why I'm asking broadly. I don't want a direct solution to our problem, just opinions on what people feel has worked best for them and their learners.

I finally got around to building a dashboard for Peaches and am super stoked to see how the metrics play out over the next few weeks! Looking forward to seeing how Peaches is using her words! Super big thank you to Lindsay + Dewey & Dusty for building the templates and putting up the awesome videos showing how to make it happen! 

I have a few more interests in the analytics and metrics than were in the original forms, so I modified my things and will share what I did and how I did it below! Definitely Check out Lindsay's work (linked above) before trying to play with what I've done to change things. If you need help clarifying how I did a thing, please let me know and I'll try my best to help!

First: what I added:

Next: how I modified the dashboard:

I started with the spreadsheets.

This is what the new categories look like in the "Responses" sheet (columns H and I)

This is on the "Button Data" sheet. The formula only needs to be in the first row of the column. Make sure that the column letters match appropriately with their associated columns in the "Responses" sheet.

After I fixed the spreadsheets, I started playing with the data and metrics in the dashboard.

Added a new page called "Context and Categorization"

Added a button on the main "Metrics" page called "Contexts (Copied the one next to it and changed the text, linked the text to the Context and Categorization page)

Copied the "Word Use" box from the Metrics page and pasted it 4 times to the Context and Categorization page. (Also added a title, subtitle, and a "return to home" button)

This is the sidebar for the "Emotional State" box. I changed the "Dimension" and the "Metric" to "Emotional State" (matching the column title from the Button Tracking form/sheets).

When you change the "Metric", you need to change the "Aggregation" from "Count Distinct" to "Count". To do this, click the little blue button beside the metric name (it will say CTD). When it's correct, it will say "CNT")

To change the date range (the original Word Uses box is just "today"), scroll down the right sidebar to "Default Date Range", select "Custom", then click the little calendar below "Custom".

On the top right of the calendar is a dropdown, select "Last 14 days". After that is selected, click the checkbox at the top of the calendar to "Include today".

At the top of the sidebar, click the word "pie chart" and select "Treemap" instead (it's highlighted here) A pie chart will also work, but I like the look a treemap for these metrics better.

To change the colours of the treemap, select "Style". At the top are three colour-dropdowns. I just selected the "max color value" and chose a dark colour that contrasts from the others and the theme. 

(Okay, so this is long, but I don't want to make it more concise!) 

It's been a few days since I added words, so I figured I'd add a couple today. Knowing that it's easier to add them in the moment than to create moments, I prepped 7 buttons with pictograms and recordings. Peaches was very interested in what I was doing, but didn't directly interact with me while I was getting the buttons ready. The two I put down right away were "happy" and "ice". I modelled them, just the once and left it be.

While Leo was prepping dinner, Peaches was whining like crazy by her words. I went over to find out what was going on.
Me: What do you need to say? Use your words.
Peaches: Frustrate
Me: Frustrate! What are you frustrated about? Can you use words? Tell me why frustrate?
Peaches: Frustrate. Happy-All done. Frustrate. (happy and all done are right above each other and directly below "outside")
Me: Peaches frustrate she not happy? what would make Peaches happy?
Peaches: Frustrate
Me: (using two-fists) does Peaches (fist 1) have word for what she needs or (fist 2) no word?
Peaches: (sniffs both hands then taps...) "have word"
There was a lot of thinking that happened, redirection needed, side talking. Eventually she sniffed at the spot where I'd stashed the other buttons I'd prepped. Using two fists, I asked her...
Me: Is the word Peaches needs (fist 1) up or (fist 2) on floor?
Peaches: (thinks a bit then taps...) "up"
I pulled the words down and she experimented with them and eventually indicated that she wanted a "walk". So, I added "walk" to her board!

tl;dr, Peaches told me to add "walk" to her board so she could request to go for a walk!

Fast forward to after dinner. When she finishes, we give her dessert. Since the buttons have been introduced, we've been encouraging her to tell us when she's all done, which is hit and miss. Today, this happened:
Me: What Peaches need say about dinner?
Peaches: Frustrate
Me: Why Peaches frustrate?
Peaches: Ice
Me: Peaches want ice dessert?
Peaches: All Done
Me: Okay, Peaches get ice dessert! (get an ice cube) Peaches all done dinner (model "all done"), Peaches get ice (model "ice")!
Peaches refused the ice and Leo and I considered maybe she wanted a frozen carrot instead, so I asked her with two-fists. She said frozen carrot.
I gave her the carrot, she ate it, checked out the ice cube I'd dropped in the water bowl, then bounded to her soundboard wagging her tail.
Peaches: Happy!
That was followed by a physical (no buttons used) request to play with her ball.

tl;dr: Peaches requested a frozen treat for dessert (instead of the typical milk bone or cookie)! When she was finished, she said she was happy!

This is the most complex conversation we've had to date with her, both of them! And it's in one day. Three, THREE!!! new buttons in one day and all of them used contextually appropriately with only one modelling event beforehand! 

canine pictogram cards.zip

4.72 MB

canine pictogram icons.zip

5.2 MB

I've attached two zipped folders! I'm excited to do this to share this and let others access this! I've been working with Peaches and pictograms since she was little and have been using the same pictograms on her buttons as we introduce those. When I mentioned using them, people were curious, when I posted about maybe printing cards and stickers, a few expressed interest in buying them with me. So, I went all in. 

This is a full set of 186 unique pictograms. All the pictograms are black-and-white, high contrast. Each design is completely unique (tested with mini icons on my screen and blurred vision from a distance, they are still distinct from each other). There are unique designs intended for use with names (dog, cat, human) and intended to be written on to make the pictogram unique for that name. The concepts that are fairly concrete in dog-language have been made to be as dog-oriented as possible. The concepts that have fairly universal symbols, I have used those universal symbols (like the WHIMIS warning triangles). The concepts that have no universals, I have put together pictograms that abstract that meaning in some way (often through techy/math humour). 

The file names are suggested uses for each pictogram (no obligation, obviously). The cards have the same suggestions in small text in the bottom right corner and white space where the user can write their word. The file names for the "icons" (square versions of the pictogram only) are the same as those for the cards. The cards are sized at 300dpi printing at "poker size" playing cards.

If you want to buy cards, I'm going to do a batch order (if there's interest). With the company I'm looking to order from, card decks start at "up to 55 cards" for about $14 each (for orders of 1-5, $12 for 6-29 ordered). Up to 72 cards is about $17/$15. And up to 90 is $20/$18 (next tier is 108 cards). Estimated shipping for four 55-card decks is about $20.  (Shipping is to Canada west coast, and I would ship to you from here.) For cards, I would charge folks base cost of the deck plus their fraction of shipping to me and cost of shipping from me to you. 

For stickers, I'm going to print from home. I will fit about 40 stickers per sheet (perhaps more, math still needs to happen there), and will charge 5$ per sheet plus shipping. The stickers will be laser printed on vinyl. I'll print the pictograms as large as possible to still fit on the FP buttons. I can do the same for LR buttons, but less stickers will fit on the sheets. 

Don't want to go through me? Totally fine! Feel free to print your own stickers and cards. Vinyl sticker printer paper is available on amazon and can be found elsewhere as well. I'm partial to the DIY version of printing things using clear packing tape. If you home-print cards, I suggest giving them a coat of packing tape, just to keep them from being beat up too quickly. (Packing tape also makes a great DIY white board.)

That was a lot of info, but I'm too excited to not share! Please let me know if you're interested or what you think of any of it! (I make no guarantees that your creature will respond to/understand the pictograms, but at least you can use them for yourself and some of them are pretty funny.)

We had Peaches well established on a 2x4 with 4 LR buttons. A couple weeks ago we received our order of FP buttons and tiles and began transitioning. I thought others might benefit from seeing how we navigated the transition based on our own perceptions of Peaches' learning and from community suggestions. This is what worked for Peaches who is a quick and eager learner in all aspects of her world and who is able to easily navigate changes. While this worked for us, it may not work for you and your learner. I included approximate timing, which I feel like is the fastest the transitions should be made (at some points possibly too fast), but your learner may need more time to adjust to the changes.

Below are the photos in order of transition, some were done about 12 hours apart, some were done closer to 24 hours.

This is the original soundboard, a 2x4 with sticky-corkboard on top. The 4 buttons, left to right, are "outside", "play", "help", and "all done".

When we received our FluentPet order, on the advice of the community, I placed the hextiles in the same location as the 2x4 and put the 2x4 on top.

After about 12 hours, I shifted the board sideways and added the FP "all done" button. At this point, I modelled only with the FP button for "all done" and repeated on the FP button if Peaches used the LR button.

After about 12 hours of having both buttons, I removed the LR "all done" button.

About the same time as I removed the LR "all done" button, I added the FP "help" button. Shortly after that (within a couple hours and after a few modelling moments), I removed the 2x4, but left the buttons in their original order.

The following evening (again about 12 hours between changes), we added "frustrate", removed the LR "help" button and moved the LR "outside" button to the tile where the FP "outside" button will be. This was a lot of change at once, but Peaches had been keeping up with it and still using her board. (Aside: the printer ran out of ink so I wasn't able to add pictograms for a while. This interestingly seemed to increase her frustration a bit.)

We waited closer to 24 hours before switching out the LR for FP "outside buttons. This time there was no parallel, since the buttons were going to the same location and Peaches was already familiar with the FP buttons. The pictogram changed between the two buttons, but I had already been familiarizing her with the new pictogram.

After about 12 hours, we switched the LR for FP "play" buttons. There is no pictogram on "play" yet here, but it made more sense to transition buttons and be able to move forward with her words than it did to wait for the printer ink to arrive. That said, frustration initially increased without the pictogram seemingly because there was no identifier for her to follow.

This is her board now, a week later. You can see the printer ink arrived and we have pictograms on all the buttons again! From left to right they are "love you", "friend", "play", "help", (top row) "cards", "outside", (bottom right tile) "frustrate", and "all done".

We've been transitioning Peaches to the FP board from her 2x4 with LR buttons over the last few days and things have been going better than expected. Yesterday, we introduced the word "frustrate" to her board, even though we hadn't moved all the buttons to their proper homes yet. The situation was relevant and it made sense to do it, so we added the word. Both Leo and I modelled "frustrate" less than twice a day between yesterday and today. Then... surprise!

Peaches' best friend (Willow) was here again today and when she was done playing, she went to lay down on the couch. Peaches was not done playing and was trying to get Willow to play or me or Leo (but we were working). Eventually, she went to her board and spammed "frustrate" finishing with a quick deliberate "all done" clearly stating "I am frustrated that play is all done!" (or "I am frustrated and want you to be all done work and break time") 

Less than 24 hours with a new word, only 5 words at her disposal, and she's already using it in sequence! 

When Peaches' best friend (Willow) comes over, we turn our camera from the soundboard to view the whole living room area so that my husband and I can keep an eye on the dogs while we do our work in separate spaces. Peaches has been getting frustrated that Willow is napping, not playing. So she was watching outside then wandering around. I watched her on camera go up to Willow and try to physically engage in play. Willow ignored her, so Peaches deliberately walked to her soundboard and pressed "play" before returning to Willow with a hesitant tail wag. 

This is the first time that Peaches has tried to talk directly to another creature with her words (that we know of for sure, she may have said "all done" in the past for the same purpose). I'm so glad I got to watch it on the camera in real time!

I just received an email stating that our FP buttons are on the way and they can't get here soon enough! In the last few days, Peaches has renewed her interactions with her buttons in a big way! She's made her first 3-word phrase, she's indicated that she's narrating life sometimes, and she made her first deliberate ask for a specific game! (all with just 4 words to pull from...)

A few days ago, we were getting ready to do some daddy-puppy play time and she pressed "help" "play" "outside" after some prompting to tell us what she wanted to do. This was one of our first indicators that "help" is being used as a name-placeholder for her daddies. Since then, we've noticed that "help" is more often used to mean us than as a request for/to help with something.

Yesterday, she pressed "all done" when my husband said he was all done eating something. This morning, she pressed "play" right away after breakfast when prompted to tell me what was going on (like she usually does, we're hoping for her to tell us "all done"). Instead of telling her it's not time to play, I confirmed that Sadah (the cat) is playing after breakfast. This led to Peaches pressing "all done" to indicate she was ready for dessert and later "help outside" so I would take her out (all with very little hesitation).

And last night, she pressed "play" then went into the office where my husband was working and sniffed in specific locations. She refused to get a ball, instead repeating "play" and sniffing these spots. I paused my work and asked her what kind of play she wanted using our two-fists questions and she said that she wanted to play "sniff-and-find" (our tracking/hunting game of hide-and-seek for the nose). She's never asked for a specific game before!

We have 30 FP buttons in the mail, but I can tell that we're going to be wanting more before the first month is up!