SymbolStix

Also called SymbolStix PRIME, n2y symbols, stick figure symbols

The stick-figure symbol set inside Proloquo2Go, TouchChat and several other AAC apps, and what its licence means for the person using it.

What it is

SymbolStix is a symbol set drawn as stick figures with expressive faces and a splash of colour. It was created by n2y, an American company that publishes a symbol-supported weekly newspaper for special education, and it was picked up by AAC app developers because the figures are consistent, quick to read and cover an enormous range of actions and situations, including current events.

It is the set behind Proloquo2Go, TouchChat and several other AAC apps on iPad, and it is also available in Grid and other software. A person using one of those apps is looking at SymbolStix whether or not anyone has told them the name.

It is licensed. The app developer pays n2y and the person pays the app developer, so the cost is invisible to the user, but the symbols are not free to reuse. Printing a backup board from the app is normally allowed for the person's own use; putting the symbols on a website is not.

Who it can help

The same people every picture symbol set helps. What decides whether SymbolStix is the right one is usually which app the person has, and which app is decided by the AAC assessment and by what the family can fund.

Its style suits people who read a posture and a facial expression quickly, which is a lot of people, and its verbs and actions are unusually clear because a stick figure can be drawn doing anything. It is less suited to someone who needs a realistic image of the actual object to understand it, for whom photographs come first, and its plainer figures can be harder for someone with a visual impairment than the bolder outlines of PCS.

How it works

SymbolStix is delivered inside the app or software as its symbol library. When a vocabulary such as Crescendo in Proloquo2Go or WordPower in TouchChat is loaded, every cell already has a SymbolStix image, and when the user adds a new word the app offers SymbolStix matches for it. The person never handles the set directly.

The figures are drawn to a fixed style: a stick body, a round head with a face, and colour used to mark the focus of the symbol. Because the style is so uniform, a new symbol is readable at first sight to someone who has learned the style, which is the property every good set is built for.

n2y updates the set frequently, and the apps pick up the additions, which is how a symbol for a new technology or a news event arrives on a device without anyone drawing it.

Getting started

If the person has an app that uses SymbolStix, print the core pages from the app this week as a low-tech backup, so that a flat battery is not a silent day. The app developers publish how to do this.

Learn the vocabulary yourself and model on it. The symbol set matters far less than the adult pointing to words on it while they talk; see aided language stimulation.

If you are choosing between apps, ask the assessing therapist to show you the same words in SymbolStix, PCS and a free set, with the person present, and watch what they look at. That five-minute test tells you more than any brochure.

Where to get help

Communication Matters for independent advice on symbol sets and apps. The ACE Centre and CALL Scotland both publish comparisons of AAC apps and the symbols they use. Assessment for a funded app or device comes through an AAC assessment via your speech and language therapist.