March has made us think about spring and new beginnings after a difficult winter with COVID-19. We have been exploring automated text simplification with symbol support for those with cognitive impairments. It is not a new idea to want to make complex web text easier to understand, but still a challenge when you want to allow for personalisation of symbol representations!
Lets get creative this February! We have moved from creating templates to creating symbols for the templates with the launch of a much updated Board Builder and Symbol Creator thanks to the support of a Winston Churchill Action Fund. Now could be a good time to have fun making personalised symbols and images for charts and information sheets!
2020 was a year that will be remembered for a global pandemic, but in amongst all the challenges there have been amazing examples of people's kindness with support for others. This has included online resources from the AAC community, where both individuals and companies have shared knowledge and resources for free, including templates for building communication charts.
As the International AAC Awareness Month 2020 comes to an end we have been able to complete part of our Winston Churchill Trust Action Fund project and offer a new version of Board Builder with a Symbol Creator.
Spatial memory, involving the ability to remember the location of something or somewhere is an important factor in all our lives and is often supported by 'additional visual and textual signals'.