PCS

Also called Picture Communication Symbols, Boardmaker symbols, Mayer-Johnson symbols

Picture Communication Symbols, the licensed set behind Boardmaker and many dedicated AAC devices, and the most widely used symbols in the world.

What it is

Picture Communication Symbols, PCS, is a symbol set created in 1981 by Roxanna Mayer Johnson, an American speech and language pathologist, for the low-tech boards she was drawing by hand. It grew into Boardmaker, the software most therapists and teachers used to print symbol boards for two decades, and both are now owned by Tobii Dynavox, the AAC device maker. The set runs to tens of thousands of symbols across several visual styles and dozens of languages.

The style is a simple coloured drawing with a clear outline, more realistic than a stick figure and less busy than a photograph. Newer PCS styles are more detailed and there are versions with different skin tones and a high-contrast version for people with visual impairment.

It is a licensed product. Using PCS in a school, a printed board or an app means someone has paid for it, either directly through a Boardmaker subscription or indirectly because the device manufacturer licensed it. That is not a criticism; it is how the set is funded and maintained. But it matters when a person moves from a funded device to a home-printed board and the symbols suddenly cannot legally follow.

Who it can help

The same people all picture symbols help. PCS is worth knowing by name because it is what a person is likely to meet on a Tobii Dynavox device, in a Boardmaker-made timetable, and on many of the printed boards in hospitals and special schools, particularly ones with an American-influenced history. A person who has learned PCS has a large investment in that style and is best kept on it.

It suits people who benefit from colour and a fairly realistic image. It is less suited to someone who needs the very plain, schematic style of Widgit to avoid distraction, and for symbol-supported documents in the UK, Widgit is the more usual choice.

How it works

PCS is used through Boardmaker, which lets a therapist or teacher build boards, books, timetables and activities from the symbol library and print or share them, and through the vocabularies on Tobii Dynavox devices, where the same symbols sit behind each cell. Snap Core First, the company's main symbol vocabulary, uses PCS throughout.

Symbol boards made in Boardmaker can be printed and laminated as low-tech backup for a device, so the person sees the same picture whether the device is charged or not. That continuity is one of PCS's real strengths.

Licensing is by subscription for Boardmaker and is included in the price of a device. Photocopying a board made by someone else's subscription is technically outside the licence, though it is the everyday reality on many wards.

Getting started

Ask the person's therapist or school which set they use. If it is PCS, ask for boards to be exported for you, because the school's licence usually allows sharing with the family for that child's use, and print them at home.

If the person has a Tobii Dynavox device, learn where the core words are and model on the device yourself; the symbols are the same on the printed backup board, which you should have in the bag from day one.

If you have no licence and need symbols this week, the free ARASAAC set and the free Talk board cover the same ground for home use without cost, and a person who has learned PCS will usually recognise the equivalents.

Where to get help

Tobii Dynavox owns the set and Boardmaker and publishes training. Communication Matters for independent advice on choosing a symbol set. The ACE Centre and the Barnsley Assistive Technology Team are NHS-linked specialist services that assess for devices using PCS. The route to any of them is an AAC assessment.