‘Writing with Symbols’: An Introduction

Who uses symbols?

You don’t have to have a learning difficulty to benefit enormously from symbols.

Symbols are used around us all the time in everyday life, from instructions in how to use a new appliance, to signs in foreign airports.

Here is a list of just some of the other different groups of people who use symbols:

People learning English as a second language
People with memory difficulties, dementia or other brain damage
People with dyslexia, dyspraxia or spatial/time/organisational difficulties
People who are deaf or hearing impaired
Young children who have not yet started to read.
People with Autistic Spectrum Disorders

What are symbols?

Is it important to understand that symbols are different from pictures. We use the word picture to describe an illustration in a book, or a drawing on the wall. Pictures convey a lot of information at once and their focus is often unclear.

Symbol based language and communication has been developed over many years and has a visual structure that supports different parts of speech.

How symbols can help

Symbols can help support:

commmunication – making a symbol communication book can help people make choices.
independence and participation – symbols aid understanding which can increase involvement, choice and confidence.
literacy and learning – symbol software encourage users to “write” by selecting symbols from a predetermined set in a grid.
creativity and self expression – writing letters and stories and expressing your own opinions.
access to information – all of us need accessible information and this should be presented in such a way that the reader can understand and use.

This course will include the following activities:

Word Processing – Symbol mode and Text mode
Grids
Environments
The use of symbols in the classroom situation – early literacy, communication, PECs, communication books, communication aids.
Important short cuts
Using photographs