Tangible Symbols Research Articles

Teaching Requesting Skills to Children with Visual Impairment and Intellectual Disability by Using Picture Exchange Communication System Combined with Tangible Symbols

ABSTRACT The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) has been widely used to teach functional requesting and commenting skills to children with autism spectrum disorder. Some researchers also modified the PECS to explore its effect on children with other disabilities. The main purpose of this study was to add tangible symbols to PECS (PECS-TS) in teaching requesting skills to three children with visual impairment (VI) and intellectual disability (ID) aged 6–12 years (two females, one male). A non-concurrent multiple probe design across participants was used in the present study to evaluate the effectiveness of the adapted training with PECS-TS. Data were collected across baseline, training, and maintenance conditions. Generalisation probes were also conducted. The results showed that all three participants who acquired the target requesting skills were able to generalise their use to similar untaught situations (different classrooms with different teachers), and they also reached the criterion during maintenance sessions. This study added to the evidence about using PECS-TS for students with VI and ID. Individualised symbols are very important for student success, however, more research is needed to establish PECS-TS as an evidence-based practice for children with VI and ID.

In Mutual Recognition of the Value of Seapower: Anglo-American Unity and the Destroyers Transferred Under the Destroyers-for-Bases Deal

When the town of Lewes in Sussex commissioned a plaque to commemorate an ex-American destroyer adopted as a part of their Warship Week in the Autumn of 1942, an Admiralty representative stated that the ship symbolised the ‘imperishable’ and ‘unbreakable’ links existent between Britain and America. 1 The local newspaper also reported, ‘The people living in the country did not fully appreciate all that was meant by the term ‘sea power’ and that ‘they existed today through the work of ships like HMS Lewes.’ 2 This article examines the symbolic role of the fifty destroyers transferred under the 1940 destroyers for bases deal, and argues that they became potent emblems of Anglo-American unity. It explores the rhetoric, propaganda, adoptions and naming practices which surrounded the transfer of the destroyers to argue that they were tangible symbols used to publicly navigate issues of British identity and naval power raised by the deal. By examining the ways in which the ships were renamed, repurposed and adopted by regional communities, this paper will demonstrate that the ships were predominantly valuable for their perceived promotion of the relationship between the two navies, governments and nations.

European Union’s Response to Rising Xeno-Racism in Europe

Ever since the start of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, Europe has experienced a huge influx of refugees, which has led to demographic and social changes and created fears about the erosion of the European civilisation and Christian values. The Continent has also experienced several Islamic terrorist attacks- like those in Paris, London, Brussels and Berlin. This, coupled with the rise of the right-wing in Europe, has led to increasing xeno-racism, particularly of an Islamophobic variety that has resulted in the creation of an environment of intolerance and exclusion. At times this has manifested itself as outright hostility towards the Muslim community through hate crimes which take the form of physical and verbal attacks on visibly identifiable and more tangible symbols of Islam like hijabs, headscarves, burkhas and mosques. Yet, most of these hate crimes remain unreported and unaddressed. The European Union (EU) is a one of a kind post-modern entity professing values of equality, democracy and human rights. Given this commitment, this paper attempts to take stock of the EU’s response to rising xeno-racism with particular attention to Islamophobia and the Member States’ attempts to grapple with the same.

Visual communication analysis of a painting titled, Boboro (Nypa Fruticans) in exhibition of Botani art at Bale Banjar Sangkring Yogyakarta

This study aimed to describe visual communication in the painting of Nypa fruticans, titled ‘Boboro’. The image was a form of a visual language that contained visual structures, such as lines, colors, and composition. Its existence was grouped in the category of non-verbal communication language that distinguished from the verbal language in the form of written or spoken form. As a language, visual communication design was an expression of ideas and messages from the designer to the intended public through tangible symbols of images, colors, writing, and others. The data were analyzed by using descriptive qualitative method. Regarding qualitative descriptive formats, it could also be called quasi-qualitative, and its nature was not overemphasizing meaning. The result of this study are methods of observing and identification of an object. In this case, it is a botanical painting.

Analysis of Symbols Authority through the Perspective of Islamic Holistic Study

The fundamental dialectical theory of the Berger model claims that humans are a product of society and society is a human product, so both require interaction and dialectics to influence each other in social life. Until the scope of the rite, each human is a judge to have a specific social function, if he has the influence to regulate, maintain, and transmit sentiments from one generation to another. In other words, humans will always express their existence through artificial things and a sign for each human being to have connectivity with each other. Even if it reviewed historically, it is not necessarily born from the Islamic body ideologically. How much authorization of tangible symbols on religious practices in the Islamic paradigm? Are material symbols in spiritual practices limited to the manifestation of human creativity or sacred things that cannot contest? This scroll will continue until there is a discussion about it.

Adapted Picture Exchange Communication System using tangible symbols for young learners with significant multiple disabilities

Practitioners need validated strategies for teaching children with significant multiple disabilities (e.g., cognitive, motor, and sensory disability) to use tangible symbols for expressive communication. This single-case experimental design study replicated the positive effect of an adapted protocol for teaching Phase 1 of the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) using tangible symbols and extended it to a younger group (4–7 years old) of learners with multiple disabilities. It also tested the effect of an adapted protocol for Phase 2 of PECS to incorporate use of a single switch speech-generating device to gain the attention of an adult communication partner. Two of three students who reached mastery in Phase 1 also reached mastery in Phase 2 and may have generalized requesting behavior from the interventionist (i.e., researchers) to their classroom teacher. Results add to the growing evidence base that shows that the adapted PECS Phase 1 procedures are a promising practice for learners with multiple disabilities, including sensory impairment, and provide preliminary evidence for a more efficient and effective approach to adapting PECS Phase 2 than previously studied for this group of learners. Directions for future research and recommendations for practice are provided.

GLOBALIZATION AS A NEW ACCULTURATION

Throughout history, communication has taken place through various communication channels and processes, such as trade, traffic, people’s migration, folklore, and often through military conflicts. They led to numerous fundamental acculturation changes. Every kind of communication and exchange involved the transmission of information and the diffusion of cultural elements, such as ideas and ideology, inventions and innovations. Primary, and at the same time, the best mediator for communication is the language. The language, with all the found ways of fixing in tangible symbols, falls into the prehistory of what is now called the communication system. By creating an alphabet, and thus the possibility of written communication, conditions have been created for connecting and socializing people on a civilized scale. Starting with Johan Gutenberg, the inventor of the printing technique, that is, the civilization of the letter, the application of the printing machine, begins with a new culture that was developed by finding new communication channels (telegraph, telephone, radio, gramophone records, film, television, satellites, computers, the Internet). So that new inventions, especially in the field of digital electronics, are not waiting for centuries but are available in a very short time. It all enables transcontinental transmission, making the world truly become a "global village" (McLuhan), while culture receives a planetary character.

TOURinSTONES: a Free Mobile Application for Promoting Geological Heritage in the City of Torino (NW Italy)

The Piemonte mountains surrounding the city of Torino comprise a wide variety of rocks, characterized by a multitude of minerals, structures and colors. The Alps, because of their long and complex history, have produced a wide variety of ornamental stone used in the town, over the centuries, for both esthetic and structural reasons. TOURinSTONES is an application for mobile phones that allows geotourists to walk in the center of Torino, where the visitor can find Alpine rocks used in palaces and historical monuments as witnesses and tangible symbols of the city. The application consists of 26 historical sites of interest in each of which ornamental stones of historical and scientific interest can be observed in detail. The sites are grouped in four thematic itineraries through which the user can discover the city from the cultural and architectural point of view. By a numbered list of the stones used in all the described monuments, the user can access specific data on each rock including quarry location, petrographic description and utilization in Torino. The mobile application can be downloaded free from the App Store or Google Play respectively for Apple and Android devices.

TourInStones: application for mobile on ornamental stones of the city of Torino

The Piemonte mountains surrounding the city of Torino comprise a wide variety of rocks, characterized by a multitude of minerals, structures and colors. The Alps, for their long and complex history, offer awide variety of ornamental stone used in the town, over the centuries, for both aesthetic and structural reasons. TourInStones is a geo-touristic application for mobile of the center of Torino, where the visitor can find out which of these rocks have been used in palaces and historical monuments, witnesses and tangible symbols of the city. For the geologist, the naturalist, the curious, the student, the tourist, walk around Torino downtown represents a formidable opportunity to step on and observe granites, porphyries, gneisses, marbles and limestones, a richcollection exhibited in a open-air museum. In the proposed itineraries, you can stop in 25 sites, in each of which you can observe in detail a lot of ornamental stones of historical and scientific interest.

Whose City? Kyiv and its River After Socialism

This article looks at changing land use along the banks of the Dnipro River (formerly Dnieper River) in Kyiv, Ukraine (formerly Kiev) as an example of rising social inequality since the collapse of Soviet socialism. A working assumption is that tangible symbols of power and privilege such as lavish private housing and land development for profit are more evident in post-socialist society than they were during Communism, and that the amenity-rich river zone in the center of Kyiv is ripe for gentrification of beaches, parks, and high hills with river views. The research is based on detailed field work along the Dnipro and study of maps and air photographs. Our data indicate that prime space along the river is being appropriated by private interests for profit or personal use, often without respect to environmental considerations, treasured historic landscapes, and the rule of land use law. In this way, the historic character of Kyiv is being eroded, and public access to the river and its resources is reduced.

A Review of Intervention Studies Conducted with Individuals with Autism and Sensory Impairments

Introduction Recently, there has been heightened interest in individuals with autism and sensory impairments, and interventions that affect this population. To date, no reviews have analyzed intervention studies, and the present study adds to intervention research literature. Methods Based on an electronic search, eight studies were included in the review. Results The results indicated that four of the studies focused on communication skills, while the other four targeted problem behaviors. All participants made progress in communication and showed improvements in their behaviors. Discussion Although positive results were seen in all participants, the studies suffer from methodological limitations. Thus, future research is needed to replicate studies as well as provide maintenance and generalization data. Implications for practitioners Some suggestions are to include preference assessments prior to the development of intervention studies to create a modified picture exchange communication system with tangible objects or symbols.

Using the Picture Exchange Communication System With Students With Visual Impairment

Students with visual impairment (VI) were taught to request using the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) and tangible symbols. Participants were four males with additional disabilities, 5 to 11 years old, who had little to no functional vision. A functional relation between PECS Phase 1 and requesting was established using a multiple baseline single subject design. All students learned to request independently within 7 to 14 sessions in Phase 1. Students maintained requesting above criterion for 1 to 5 months. All students generalized requesting to a new communication partner (CP); however, only two students reached criterion during generalization sessions. Two students learned to seek out a CP 5 feet away to request; however, no functional relation was established for Phase 2. More research is needed to establish PECS as an evidence-based practice for children with VI.

Tangible Symbols as an AAC Option for Individuals with Developmental Disabilities: A Systematic Review of Intervention Studies

We reviewed nine studies evaluating the use of tangible symbols in AAC interventions for 129 individuals with developmental disabilities. Studies were summarized in terms of participants, tangible symbols used, communication functions/skills targeted for intervention, intervention procedures, evaluation designs, and main findings. Tangible symbols mainly consisted of three-dimensional whole objects or partial objects. Symbols were taught as requests for preferred objects/activities in five studies with additional communication functions (e.g., naming, choice making, protesting) also taught in three studies. One study focused on naming activities. With intervention, 54% (n = 70) of the participants, who ranged from 3 to 20 years of age, learned to use tangible symbols to communicate. However, these findings must be interpreted with caution due to pre-experimental or quasi-experimental designs in five of the nine studies. Overall, tangible symbols appear promising, but additional studies are needed to establish their relative merits as a communication mode for people with developmental disabilities.

Comparing Tangible Symbols, Picture Exchange, and a Direct Selection Response for Enabling Two Boys with Developmental Disabilities to Access Preferred Stimuli

We compared how quickly two boys with developmental disabilities learned to use tangible symbols, picture exchange, and a direct selection response to access cartoon videos. Intervention, aimed at teaching the boys to use each option, was evaluated in a multiple-baseline across participants and alternating treatments design. Following intervention, the boys were allowed to choose among the three options. Both participants learned to access six cartoon videos using the three options at comparable rates. Following acquisition, both boys most often chose to use tangible symbols. These findings are consistent with previous studies reporting comparable acquisition rates and a preference among communication options. The present study extends the literature by including a comparison of tangible symbols and a direct selection response. Our results provide additional support for the use of tangible symbols as a communication option for children with developmental disabilities.

A Field Study of a Standardized Tangible Symbol System for Learners who are Visually Impaired and have Multiple Disabilities

Introduction The study reported in this article tracked the learning rate of 43 children with multiple disabilities and visual impairments who had limited to no verbal language across seven months of classroom-based intervention using a standardized set of tangible symbols. Methods The participants were introduced to tangible symbols on a daily basis during a seven-month field study. The tangible symbols were embedded into the curriculum during daily classroom routines and were used in addition to any other forms of expressive or receptive communication that were already in place in the classroom. The data were collected daily from teachers and therapists. Throughout the seven-month period, data were recorded for 30,220 opportunities to use tangible symbols. The participants had 2 to 9 recorded opportunities to use tangible symbols per day throughout the study. Results Over a four-month period, the participants identified 46% of the tangible symbols to which they were exposed, and cognitive, language, play, and symbolism skills were not factors related to the successful acquisition of tangible symbols. The strongest predictor of outcome was independent ambulation, and seven symbols were the most often identified. In addition, decontextualized pre- and posttesting proved less effective as a measurement tool than did daily classroom probes immediately following activities. Discussion The results suggest that even children with the most severe impairments were able to identify the use of many of the tangible symbols. Implications for practitioners One implication of this research is that data collection allows teachers or therapists to measure progress in the acquisition of tangible symbols objectively and that it fosters the development of goals for the students’ Individualized Education Programs.

People with Profound and Multiple Intellectual Disabilities Using Symbols to Control a Computer: Exploration of User Engagement and Supporter Facilitation

ABSTRACT Computer usage features in everyday life for the majority of people in developed countries. Access is a problem for many users with intellectual disability. Action-research was conducted to develop and explore the potential of specially adapted, computer readable symbols for choosing and accessing media on a computer. Five people with profound and multiple intellectual disabilities, aged 15–28 years, took part. The symbols were introduced during computer-based activities across four trials at monthly intervals. Each trial was video-recorded. The vocal, non-vocal, and computer-related aspects of the footage were transcribed into standard orthography. A framework of activity moves based on applied linguistics analysis was used to assess user and supporter engagement. User data were summarised with descriptive statistics. Differences in user-supporter roles during symbol activities were determined by the non-parametric, U Mann-Whitney test. All the users showed some level of basic engagement with the adapted symbols, with certain individuals demonstrating functional usage. Attention levels appeared to increase as the trials progressed. Supporter contributions comprised significant levels of guidance and modelling with the symbols. Tangible symbols to access media on a computer provide some real possibilities for addressing access challenges experienced by this population. Candidacy and the mediating role of supporters require consideration.

Using Blissymbolics to Develop Improved Tactile Symbols for Individuals with Communication Impairments

This study focused on determining the feasibility of Blissymbols as the foundation for tactile communication for individuals with augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) needs. A commonly used method of AAC for these individuals involves tangible symbols, like real objects, which limit communication. For example, it is difficult to have tangible symbols readily available for the multitude of possible messages the user might want to convey. Blissymbols were chosen for the present study because they: 1) are minimalistic, which maximizes tactile processing; 2) are semantically combinatory in that they can be combined to represent new words and meanings; 3) are portable and provide a readily available large inventory of symbols; and 4) extend the range of communication environments.

Teachers’ and Speech-Language Pathologists’ Perceptions about a Tangible Symbols Intervention: Efficacy, Generalization, and Recommendations

Twenty-nine special education teachers (n = 21) and speech-language pathologists (n = 8) were interviewed about a tangible symbols intervention conducted with 51 children (3–21 years) with multiple disabilities and visual impairment. The intervention, which took place over a 7-month period, addressed the use of tangible symbols in the context of a structured protocol for implementing the daily schedule. These educators reported that students learned the meaning of symbols, exhibited improved behavior, and learned part or all of the daily routine, among other benefits. Supports and barriers to student learning (later coded as student characteristics or intervention characteristics) were discussed. Interviewees suggested improvements to the intervention and for generalization to the home setting, including labeling in the family’s first language.

Heritage, Nationalism and the Shifting Symbolism of the Wailing Wall*

The article analyzes the transformation of the Wailing Wall area after 1967. The Wall has been considered within an architectural and planning perspective presenting the urban transformations made to underline its ‘eternal’ centrality. The role of the Wall in shaping Israeli national identity has been discussed through the lenses of the recent heritage studies theories. It is argued that Israel needed physical, tangible symbols to sustain its claims on the city and that the reconstruction of the whole area defined as “Jewish Quarter”, and particularly the creation of the large Plaza in front of the Wailing Wall, were meant to give the State of Israel an “incontrovertible” proof of its historic rights on the city.

The Selection of Tangible Symbols by Educators of Students with Visual Impairments and Additional Disabilities

Tangible symbols are objects or partial objects that can be physically manipulated and that share a perceptual relationship with what they represent, known as the referent (Trief, 2007; Westling & Fox, 2009). They make fewer demands on memory and representational ability, making them an appropriate expressive form of communication for individuals with visual impairments and additional disabilities who communicate at the presymbolic level (Rowland & Schweigert, 2000). Although other communication forms, such as sign language, braille, and line drawings, have been standardized, little has been done to establish a standardized set of tangible symbols (Trief, Bruce, Cascella, & Ivy, 2009). Tangible symbols may be individualized or standardized. Individualized tangible symbols represent an experience of an object, person, or activity that is highly idiosyncratic to one child. Standardized tangible symbols often represent a dominant feature of an object, person, or activity that could be recognized by many children. It is possible to use the same tangible symbol for multiple children if they interact with the referent in the same way (Downing, 2005), making standardized symbol systems particularly relevant for experiences that are similar to a number of individuals. This article discusses the tangible symbols that special education teachers, paraprofessionals, and speech-language therapists (collectively referred to as educators) selected (from a standardized set of commercially produced symbols), the characteristics of the symbols that were selected, and implications for the development of a starter kit of standardized tangible symbols for use in schools. The selection of tangible symbols by educators is important to investigate because it highlights the topics that educators regard as important to the classroom context, giving insights into the kinds of communications that are expected from children at different ages. METHOD Participants The participants were 29 educators in four urban public schools in one large city on the East Coast that serve children who are visually impaired (that is, those who are blind or have low vision) aged 3-21. At the four schools, parental permission and approval from the institutional review board at Hunter College was obtained for 51 children to participate in a larger field-based study in which tangible object symbols were introduced over a seven-month period. The educators in this study were the persons who were directly responsible for communication-based programming for the 51 children, including the selection of which symbols to introduce throughout the school year. These children had both intellectual disabilities (severe and profound) and visual impairments with normal or aided hearing that allowed them to access auditory information for learning. They communicated at the preintentional to early symbolic level (that is, five or fewer words, signs, or pictures). Procedure The participants were given a commercially produced standardized set of 48 tangible symbols, manufactured by the Adaptive Design Association in New York City. These 48 whole-and partial-object symbols were developed on the basis of data from a survey of 29 special education teachers and speech-language therapists, coupled with input from a focus group of 14 advisory board members (school directors, speech-language therapists, the designer and manufacturer of the symbols, a representative of the Perkins School for the Blind, 3 college professors, and a graduate research assistant) (Trief et al., 2009). These commercially produced tangible symbols were designed to be representations for commonly occurring words in school vocabularies. In addition, this team of professionals assigned each tangible symbol to one or more of the following categories: transition (T), location (L), choice making (Ch), and conceptual skills (C). It is critical to note that these standardized symbols were not intended to replace existing individualized symbols but, rather, to augment individualized symbols that were already in use or would be needed in the future. …