A manual for training the severely multiply handicapped to use communication boards is presented, based on the Functional Speech and Language Training Program. The target group are persons who need a mode of communication but who have poor speech, and poor hand and finger control. A description of the communication boards and symbols includes an explanation of the pointing mode and the way the symbols are grouped grammatically on the board to allow construction of a sentence. Procedures are outlined to use with students who rarely make any sounds; students who may make many sounds but who rarely make different sounds, or who rarely sound as if they are saying words; and students who have poor articulation of their speech and who require only a few signing cues to make themselves understood. For the focal area of "persons and things," nine training steps are presented that are designed to introduce the student to the concept of language and its uses. Each step includes a description of the training goal for the step, a list of training items needed, a description of procedures to be used, training instructions, and a set of instructions used in programing for generalization. The training steps also include two types of scoring forms for recording the student's responses in each session and summary forms to record progress across sessions within the step. Criterion performance is addressed, aong with the training procedures of shaping, prompting, and putting-through (e.g., moving hand to point to the correct object). Videotapes are also part of the training packet. (SEW)