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‘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
Contact us for details: mail@cenmac.com
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