Picture Communication Symbols
Picture Communication Symbols (PCS) are a set of colour and black & white drawings originally developed by Mayer-Johnson, LLC for use in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems. These AAC systems may be high-tech (Dynamyte) or low-tech such as a communication board.
Several studies have found PCS to be more transparent than other graphic symbols such as Blissymbols (Mizuko, 1987). A graphic symbol is transparent if “the shape, motion, or function of the referent is depicted to such an extent that meaning of the symbol can be readily guessed in the absence of the referent” (Fuller & Lloyd, 1991, p.217). Because of high transparency, PCS symbols are easy to learn by children with little or no speech. Several studies have reported that children with cognitive disabilities learn PCS easily. The communication interventions for individuals who have little or no speech have used PCS successfully for individuals.
The PCS set comprises a core library of roughly 5,000 symbols, supplemented by general-purpose addendum libraries and country-specific libraries for a total of 12,000 symbols. PCS symbols have been translated to 40 different languages.
People can develop their own PCS for certain needs or if the needed symbol is not available. Some choose to start from scratch, and others start from alternative libraries.
Common uses for the PCS symbol set include Speech Therapy, Picture Schedules for people with Autism, and helping people facing limitations while hospitalized.
Read more about Picture Communication Symbols: Boardmaker
Famous quotes containing the words picture and/or symbols:
“Burst into my narrow stall;
Swing the picture on the wall;
Run the rattling pages o’er;
Scatter poems on the floor;
Turn the poet out of door.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“Many older wealthy families have learned to instill a sense of public service in their offspring. But newly affluent middle-class parents have not acquired this skill. We are using our children as symbols of leisure-class standing without building in safeguards against an overweening sense of entitlement—a sense of entitlement that may incline some young people more toward the good life than toward the hard work that, for most of us, makes the good life possible.”
—David Elkind (20th century)