This course is designed for people who have had initial training in using ‘Writing with Symbols’ and/or have had significant experience with it in the classroom.
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:
- Creating environments
- Ideas for materials (please come prepared to share!)
- Designing and creating your own materials – please bring ideas of things you would like to do.
Contact us for further details: mail@cenmac.com
