AAC Aided Symbols

Aided Symbols in AAC

• Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) describes special strategies, methods, and techniques used to augment or serve as an alternative to natural speech or writing, according to the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (ISAAC).
• AAC use implies that individuals may, in some instances, use alternatives to natural speech or writing while augmenting their speech or writing in other situations, covering a continuum of communication use.
• AAC is augmentative when used to supplement existing speech, alternative when used in place of speech that is absent or not functional, or temporary, as when used by patients postoperatively in intensive care.
• AAC refers to methods, tools, and theories of nonstandard linguistic and non-linguistic forms of communication by individuals without or with limited functional speech.
• AAC symbols and techniques are categorized into aided and unaided.

Aided Communication

• Aided communication involves external devices or equipment, ranging from simple handmade materials like picture boards to complex electronic devices producing synthesized speech.
• Unaided communication requires no additional equipment, using only the individual's body as a mode of communication; manual signing, gesturing, miming, pointing, and eye-gazing are common examples.

Aided AAC Symbols

• AAC involves a process composed of three aspects: means to represent, means to select (including pointers, switches), and means to transmit.
• Meanings are generally represented by spoken or printed words in typical communication, while AAC meanings are represented by symbols designed specifically for the purpose.
• Aided symbols require an external device or aid for message transmission.

Symbol

• A symbol is something that stands for or represents something else or verbal/visual representations of concepts and ideas.
• A referent is the "something else" represented by a symbol.

Symbol Types

• Static symbols are permanent and do not need movement or change; dynamic symbols are not permanent and need movement or change to convey meaning.
• Iconic symbols visually resemble referents; opaque symbols have no specific relationship to referents.
• A symbol set is a collection where each symbol has one or more specified meanings; a symbol system has formal rules and internal logic for creating new symbols.

Iconicity

• Iconicity needs consideration when choosing a symbol system, defined as how much a visual symbol relates to its referent.
• Transparent symbols visually resemble referents and are easily guessable; translucent symbols need additional information to be guessable; opaque symbols do not visually resemble referents and are often abstract.

Aided Symbol Hierarchy

• The aided symbol hierarchy(Mirinda, Locke, 1989) ranges in degree of iconicity from most iconic and includes:
  • objects
  • color photographs
  • black and white photographs
  • miniature objects
  • black and white line drawings
  • Blissymbols
  • traditional orthography, which is least iconic.

Classification of Aided Symbols

Object-Based Symbols

• These include real objects, miniature objects, tangible, and textured symbols (aided static-iconic sets)
• Real objects can be used to represent their exact counterparts; similar/miniature objects can represent the real object.
• Objects can represent associated concepts; a part of an object may represent the whole or an associated concept.

Partially Picture-Based Symbols (with Linguistic Characteristics)

• Includes PICSYMS, Blissymbols, CyberGlyphs, and Sigsymbols.

Primarily Picture-Based Symbols (without Linguistic Characteristics)

• Includes photographs, simple line drawings, core picture vocabulary, Oakland Picture dictionary, Pictogram Ideogram Communication (PIC), Mosman Sounds/Symbols, Brady-Dabson Alternative Communication (B-DAC), and other commercially available symbols.

Primarily Picture-Based Symbols (of Dedicated VOCAs)

• Includes DynaSyms, Lingraphica Concept-images, and Minspeak icons.

Aided Representation of Manual Signs and Gestures

• Includes HANDS, pictures/illustrations of signs/gestures, Worldsign, Makaton symbols, Signwriting, and synthetic/animated manual signs/gestures.

Alphabet-Based Symbols

• Includes traditional orthography, modified orthography/symbols, Braille, and aided finger spelling.

Phonemic or Phonic-Based Symbols

• Includes expanded (complex) rebus, visual phonics, and phonetic alphabets (e.g., IPA, ITA).

Arbitrary Logographs and Shapes

• Includes Yerkishlexigrams and Premack Symbols.

Electronically Produced Vibratory/Acoustic Symbols

• Includes Vibrotactile coded, electronic-cued speech, and electronically produced speech.

Object-Based Symbols

• Real objects, miniature objects, tangible, and textured symbols fall under this category
• Real objects can represent counterparts, similar/miniature objects, associated concepts, or the object's part representing the whole or its concepts.
• Real objects offer powerful communication due to similarity to concrete referents; effective for individuals starting to communicate or with cognitive, physical, or sensory impairments.
• Advantages include similarity to referents for cognitive impairments and easy manipulation for visual impairments.

Considerations of Using Real Objects

• Size is relevant, and limited display number is a drawback, leading to miniature objects as a more viable representation.
• Miniature objects are miniature representations of real objects and can be viable for individuals with cognitive, physical, and sensory impairment(s); individuals with visual impairments may have difficulty due to lacking tactile discrimination.
• Tangible symbols are permanent and highly iconic; can be tactually discriminated and physically manipulated. Symbols that use textures to represent referents are known as textured symbols
• Tangible symbols include raised line drawings that can be felt by persons with visual impairments, is suited for sensory impairments; they may place less demands on cognition, memory and vision.

Tangible Symbols in AAC Interventions

• Tangible symbols have been helpful to children to grasp symbols and have been systematically reviewed as an AAC option for developmental abilities; tangible symbols mainly consist of three-dimensional whole or partial objects
• They are taught as requests for preferred objects/activities in studies with added communication functions including naming, choice making, protesting or other study focused on naming activities
• Adapted PECS has a positive effect for teaching this population, using tangible symbols and extending it to a younger group

Primarily Picture-Based Symbols without Linguistic Characteristics

• Symbols are classified as aided static iconic sets and include:
  • Photographs
  • Simple line drawings(e.g., basic rebus symbols)
  • Core picture vocabulary
  • PCS
  • Oakland picture dictionary
  • Brady-Dobson Alternative communication
  • PIC
  • Mosman Sounds and symbols
  • other commercially available symbols(e.g., self talk)

Photographs

• Good quality photographs can be from many sources and can be either color or black and white
• Photographs are typically used to represent people, object, places, easily depicted verbs.
• Contextual information in very important for understanding photograph
• Color photographs better enable cognitively delay individuals to match referents than Black and White Photos,

Simple Line Drawings

• Includes any easily produced symbols or schematic representation of concepts
• Rebus symbols visually or nominally represent a word or syllable
• Two types of Rebus Symbols used with AAC systems includes basic (simple) and expanded (complex)
  • Complex Rebus combines alphabet letters, syllables, etc, for simple symbols to produce words
  • Basic rebus involves 800 pictographic symbols from the Peabody Rebus Reading Program.
• Three types of complex rebus symbol: concrete iconic, relational, and abstract opaque symbols.
• Rebus symbols are used successfully; verbs depicted by rebus are more transparent than verbs referred to by Blissymbols, they serve as the basis for concentration (American television game show based on children's memory)

Core Picture Vocabulary

• This subset is comprises a small (~160) set of commercially available, black and white line drawigns, with concrete referents, including basic nouns, verbs and adjectives.
• Limited vocabulary limits their use to augmenting symbols from other aided sets.
• These pics have been used in ETRAN majorly.

Picture Communication Symbols (PCS)

• Designed by Roxanna Johnson
• One of the most widely used symbol sets
• Consist of more than 3,000 symbols grouped in 3 books

Symbol groupings in PCS

• Book 1: ~700 symbols depicting several categories such as people, food, animals, school, health, time concepts
• Book 2:: additional 1000 new symbols that expands topics in Book 1 with religion, sexuality, computers and holidays
• Book 3: additional 1400 symbols for fast food logos, themes, nursery rhymes, and character stories
• Consist primarily clear, simple drawings made with boldstrokes that are photocopied, not hand drawn
• Set is non-generative as no rules exist for developing new symbols; used with ID, Apraxia, CP Aphasia, Autism

Studies and Considerations of PCS

• PCS were more transparent than PICYSMS and Blissymbols.
• PCS and PICSYMS equally transparent and easy to recall for Adults with Cognitive Impairments
• Hierarchy of translucency: PCS / rebus > PIC >PICSYMS > Blissymbols

Oakland Picture Dictionary and B-DAC

• Oakland dictionary is representation with black and white line drawings that contains - adult vocabulary for vocational purposes.
• Oakland transparency and translucency, Pcs and rebus similarly depict emotions.
• BDAC consists of black and white line drawings
• 1250 Symbols are are arranged in 10 categories - upside down with word names appear in their symbols: used for aphasia, cerebral palsy, and other cognitive impairments

Pictogram Ideogram Communication (PIC)

• It includes 400 ideographic /pictogrpahic Symbols by Manharaj
• These figures use a white space that can be differiantited by most aider symbols
• it is used as severe or profoud for autism or impaired physical issues; PIC is more trasnluecent that blisssymbols, but is less than the symbols of rebus

Mosman Sounds and Symbols

• Employs ideographic/pictographic icons to organize and retrieve vocabulary items in notebooks
• It indexes tabs and helps divide vocabulary: used as category organizer for clothing or other.

Other Commercially Available Symbols

• Includes COMPICS (colorful lines), Action with Kids (colorful pictographs), Picking(color stickers) and stick packs /Cue
• Picture Dictionaries, Prompts, and Talking Pictures, also other talks with numbers. They are in black and white as stickers

Partically Picture Based Symbols With Linguistic Characters

• Taxonomic identification of these symbols consist of bliss symbol system as it can create symbol from all that can be expressed with representations.
• These symbol can also be technical like pictures they are not used as

PICYSMS

• By Faith Carlson for young that cant use to express daily needs but their most aac symbol system and lacks. created so easily and highly recognizable
• The target item in a symbol is in boldface, with other defining elements drawn with dotted lines;blank grids allow for modifying and combining symbols. Principle- Aesthetic appeal for the user and public.

Blissymbols

• Developed by Charles bliss and is meant to help with crossing language barriers
• it uses grammer with question placement with different meanings and rules, and has to do wiht english

Factors and Applications of Blissymbols

• Good visual discrimination,Cognitive skills at the late pre-operations or early concrete operations stage
• The system can take negative symbols, indicators, strategy, and combined.
• Types- Pictographs- similar to their referents - Ideographs- use to represent more abstract Concept
  • Arbitrary- relate little or no relation to referents - International- is virtually universal:
  • Simple- key appears allone the represent - Compoud- superimposed

CyberGlyphs

• The CyberGlyphs is similar to the that blissymbols, which is based on some persons that needs communication
• The syntax is from English and is made of 5 riles

SIg SYMBOLS

• the symbols developed were cregan, as is related the pictogram of simple rebuses are to abstract.

PECS

• PECS helps with commination by exchanging single images for items that help express want and discrimination. There is expansion and use of verbs that answers questions like "What do yuo want?" and comments