An Introduction to Symbols

Where do I start?

Whether you are a parent, a teacher, a speech and language therapist or anyone wanting to know more about symbols, this page will help you to understand why symbols often make a massive difference to communication and understanding. This will explain what symbols are and how they can be used in different environments in different ways, all of which will help you.

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.

Common symbols

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, senile dementia or other brain damage
People with dyslexia, dyspraxia or spatial/time/orgainisational 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. A picture conveys a lot of information at once and its focus may be unclear, while a symbol focuses on a single concept. This means that symbols can be put together to build more precise information.

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

There are different types of symbols...

Symbols are grouped in different sets. The most commonly used across the UK are Widgit Literacy Symbols (previously know as Rebus),
REbus sybols
Rebus symbols in colour

and Pictorial Communication System (PCS) symbols. PCS symbols
In total these sets provide a vocabulary of over 12,000 concepts and they are used right across the spectrum of age and ability.

The Makaton Vocabulary Development Project have both signs and symbols.

Makaton symbols

What you use with each person entirely depends on his or her own needs and preferences. What is really important to remember is that everyone is different with different abilities in spoken and written language, expression, vocabulary, sight, hearing and other individual factors.

The Widgit Literacy symbols have a much greater vocabulary spanning standard curriculum topics, adult vocabulary and higher literacy levels. They have a schematic structure and include grammatical markers for literacy expression.

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.

Why SymbolWorld will help

To our knowledge SymbolWorld.org is the first free website of its kind to span all levels of the reading scale, from someone unable to make sense of any text, to someone almost fluent, needing just a few symbols to guide them. All of the information contained within SymbolWorld is designed to be understood and enjoyed by non-readers.
SymbolWorld.org