Using Technology as a Communication Aid in the Classroom

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Using Technology as a Communication Aid in
the Classroom

• Helping Those With Language and Learning
  Disabilities

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Creation of the Bliss Board

• Charles Bliss was a chemist in
• Vienna who was captured by the Nazis and sent to
  a concentration camp during WWII.
• After being released and escaping to England, he
  began to contemplate why there was war in the
  world.

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• He believed that communication barriers and lack
  of understanding were the causes of hatred in the
  world.
• This led him to create an international language
  that was easy to learn so that everyone in the
  world would be able to communicate and live in
  peace.

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• Bliss language was composed of basic symbols
  made up of simple shapes so that they could be
  recognized in any country.
• He called his universal language World Writing.
  

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Blissymbolics
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Blissymbolics in the classroom

• Although Charles Bliss language never took off,
  it was reintroduced in 1971 by a Toronto based
  teacher.
• Shirley McNaughton began using the Bliss Board
  with physically disabled children in Toronto.

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• The Bliss Board became an important communication
  aid for people with language and learning
  difficulties
• Those who have limited or no ability to use
  ordinary spoken and/or written language (such as
  those with Cerebral Palsy, severe speech
  impairments and non verbal autistic children) can
  learn Blissymbolics and communicate with others.

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• We now live in a highly technological society,
  where we are constantly surrounded by a wide
  variety of communication devices.
• Bliss Board was the key stone to what students
  can now use with the aid of their computer.
• BOARD MAKER is what students are now using to
  help them communicate.

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• What is a Board Maker many of you may be
  asking..
• WELL
• Boardmaker is a software program that uses clip
  art and picture communication symbols which are
  used in creating printed communication boards,
  device overslays, worksheets, and even
  schedules.

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• Here is how Board Maker may look like on a board

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Students have the wonderful technologies of a
computer for this use
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• Here is a wonderful link illustrating the use of
  the BoardMaker

Boardmaker graphics Link
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Lessons with the Bliss Board

• The bliss board provides children with the tools
  necessary to learn and develop their literacy
  skills. It also allows the children to
  communicate with ease.
• An example of a lesson you could use in the
  classroom, with the Bliss Board would be for the
  children to write a story using the symbols from
  the Bliss Board.

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Lessons with the Bliss Board

• The Bliss Board can also be used for reading.
• The teacher could recreate a story using the
  Bliss Board symbols. The child could use it as a
  support when reading.
• The Bliss Board permits children with special
  needs to learn and communicate with confidence.
  The possibilities this tool provides are endless.

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The Three Pigs
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Hope you enjoyed our presentation!

• By Sheena Hill, Olga Vourdoussis and
  Kathryne Woods