Pictures as communication symbols for students with severe intellectual disability

Abstract

The use of pictographic symbols for expressive or receptive communication can be a valuable skill for persons with severe intellectual disability. This article reviews knowledge about picture recognition and use derived from cross-cultural studies, studies with young children, and studies with persons with intellectual disability in an attempt to clarify how picture skills emerge and how pictures come to be used as symbols for the objects they depict.

• augmentative and alternative communication (AAC)
• graphic symbols
• iconicity
• representation
• severe mental retardation