Blissymbolics Archival Collection at OISE

Blissymbolics Archival Collection at OISE (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto) is ready for visitors!

It all began in 2019 with a generous donation from Peg and Rob Rooks for the preservation and digitization of publications and communication materials from over 50 years of Blissymbolics serving as an Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) system. There is now a collection housed in the OISE Library and access to an online digital collection in the Internet Archive. There have been six OISE staff and students working (part-time) on the collection over the past four years, and Rebecca Chan and Shirley McNaughton have worked throughout that time, sorting materials to send to OISE. The Toronto materials were expanded by materials from the Nordic countries, hand delivered by Margareta Jennische in November, 2019.

Thanks to all those who donated materials and to the OISE team who have made this archival collection possible:

Monique Flaccavento, Jenaya Webb, Bethany Lepp, Emma Thomas, Natalie Johnson-Tyghter, Andrew Sandock.

Here are the three key links for accessing the collection:

  1. The OISE Library’s introductory page for the Blissymbolics Communication Institute – Canada collection (provides an overview of the collection)
  2. The Blissymbolics Communication Institute – Canada collection in the University of Toronto’s Discover Archives (archival records and descriptions)
  3. The OISE Library collection of Blissymbolics on the Internet Archive (these are all the materials that have been digitized)

It's been a long 4 years, but the collection is now complete!

Take a look in Internet Archive (#3) when you have a few minutes!

BCI Annual General Meeting March 26, 2024

March 26th 2024, BCI Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held on Zoom

19:00 CET corresponding to 14:00 EST, 18:00 UTC/GMT, 20:00 EET

The Zoom link and the Agenda and appropriate documents will be distributed to all Members of 2024 one week before the meeting.

Motions from Members must be received by the Board no later than three weeks before the AGM thus on March 5th.

Members have the right to vote, To pay the Membership fee for 2024, see information under Membership in the left column. Whether you become a member for the first time or renew your membership you need to fill in the Membership form.

The formal membership notice can be found at: BCI AGM Notice 2024

If you would like to assign your vote to another member please fill out the proxy form and follow the enclosed instructions.

Blissymbolics Success in South Africa

Blissymbolics Success in South Africa

The wonderful story of Louisa Alberts using Blissymbolics with Special Needs Learners

A Blissymbolics classroom was opened at Platorand School in Belfast, South Africa in 2014. Many graduates have gone on to great success with the inspired teaching of Louisa Alberts who in turn was helped by Margareta Jennishce of BCI, and others.

Read it here: Blissymbolics in South Africa

BCI Annual General Meeting March 28, 2023

March 28th 2023, BCI Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held on Zoom

13:00 EDT, 17:00 GMT, 18:00 CET and 19:00 EET

The Zoom link and the Agenda and appropriate documents will be distributed to all Members of 2023 one week before the meeting.

Motions from Members must be received by the Board no later than three weeks before the AGM thus on March 7th.

Members have the right to vote, To pay the Membership fee for 2023, see information under Membership in the left column. Whether you become a member for the first time or renew your membership you need to fill in the Membership form.

3D-Printed Blissymbolics at Closing The Gap


Closing the Gap

40TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE
OCTOBER 19-21, 2022

Minneapolis, Minnesota

New Location! Hilton Minneapolis Hotel


Presentation Length: 1 hour

Date and Time (Central Daylight Time):

  • October 20, 2022
  • 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm


Presentation Title

Next-Gen Tactile Symbols 3D-Printed Blissymbolics


Presenters

Andrea Newall
Institution:University Lecturer in AAC, Speech, Language, and Hearing Program
Position: Speech Language Pathologist, AAC Specialist, Southern California School District

Anitha Muthukumaran
Institution: Douglas County School Districts; University of Northern Colorado, Greeley
Position: Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments; Special Education Doctoral Student

Ken Hackbarth
Institution:Volksswitch
Position: Distinguished Member of Technical Staff; Founder and President

Description of Presentation
In this session we'll introduce you to a new generation of tactile symbols that are perfect for use with non-speaking individuals who are blind, deaf/blind, or visually impaired – including students with cognitive disabilities. The symbols benefit from two different technologies: 3D-printing and Blissymbolics. 3D-printing makes it inexpensive to create these tactile symbols. Blissymbolics provides a rich, conceptual language to develop communication skills with low cognitive requirements. The presentation will highlight the experiences shared by several teachers of students with visual impairments (TVIs) and speech language pathologists (SLPs) how they collaborate and use these tactile symbols with their students. The session will include how educators can get free access to these tactile symbols and supporting materials.

Additional information