Widgit Symbols Development Project

Acknowledgements

The new Widgit Symbols (previously know as Widgit Rebus), was built upon the development of the original Rebus Symbol Collection, first developed by Judy van Oosterom and Kathleen Devereux. Full acknowledgment to contributors to this set are given below.

Acknowledgements to contributors to the new Widgit Symbol Collection

The project was co-ordinated by Helen Whittle, Speech and Language Therapist. Drawings were done by Cate Rae

The consultative group
This group worked consistently throughout the 10 months of the development phase of the project. We are very grateful for the quality, consistency and speed of their responses throughout the project. Without them the work would not have reached such a high quality.

Frances Bodger and Julia Torode, Harrow Access & Development Team, Wealdstone
Sarah Clements, Freemantle School, Chertsey
Sharon Cowan, The Avenue School, Reading
Penny Dembo, South West PCT, Sheffield
Helen Dixon, George Hastwell School
Linda Edwards, NCYPE, Lingfield
Rowena Fellingham, Harrogate District Hospital, Harrogate
Anne Hancox, Specialist Speech & Language Therapy Team - ALD, Malvern Link
David Harley, Independent Consultant, Coventry
Gillian Hazell, ACE Centre, Oxford
Imogen Howarth and Elaine Orpe, SkillBase, Chelmsford
Jane Kinson, People in Partnership, Birmingham
Janet Larcher, Independent Consultant, Weybridge
Sue Lord, St Charles Hospital, London
Maureen Lymer, Ravensbourne NHS Trust, Farnborough
Sue Lyons and Jill Eddlestone, Leicester Frith Hospital, Leicester
Judy Melland, Independent Consultant, Bedford
Kay Mienertzhagen, Independent Consultant, Gillingham
Sally Millar, CALL Centre, Edinburgh
Judy Robertson, Independent Expressions, Knebworth
Nic Rowland-Crosby, Health Action Zone, Plymouth
Jackie Stubbs, Sarah Sherratt, Sarah Chandler, Claire Barge, New Possibilities NHS Trust, Colchester
Dominic Trounce, Learning Disability Service, Plymouth
Kate Ullman, Independent Consultant, Birmingham

The review group
In addition to the development group, a small number of additional people were invited to review the entire set of revisions. We are very grateful for their detailed and careful work.

Ann Aspinall, Home Farm Trust, Abingdon
Darren Banks, Community Resource Team, Hythe
Emma Jones, Addington Clinic, Bournemouth
Lindsey Lambert, Beverley Thorne & Naomi Mason, Communication Team, Kidderminster
Gill Lloyd, Independent Consultant, Leatherhead
Karen Newman, The Runnymede Centre, Addlestone
Sharon McKelvey, Strathmore School, Richmond
Dave Mitchell, Worcestershire County Council, Worcs
Sue Norton, Independent Consultant, Brighton
Kay Rickwood, Portesbery School, Camberley
Dave Wood, Independent Consultant, Rothwell

Our thanks also to Shân Oswald, Penny Brewer, Jo grant and Rös Cornwell, from Cambridgshire LEA, for contributions to the science vocabulary

Acknowledgements to contributors to the original Rebus Symbol Collection.

The original Rebus Symbol Collection was developed by Judy van Oosterom and Kathleen Devereux, from the US Rebuses developed in Nashville, Tennessee.

The initial Rebus Glossary was developed in the UK by Judy van Oosterom and Kathleen Devereux. This set, comprising around 800 symbols was published in 1985 by LDA. During the period 1994 to 1998, Widgit worked closely with Judy van Oosterom to develop the symbols to reach a list of some 4000 items.

We are grateful to the following contributors to this collection:

Chailey Heritage School, in particular to Valerie Moffatt and Liz Meek.
The Chailey Heritage Symbol Collection, which used Rebus symbols, was developed in collaboration between Widgit and Chailey Heritage School to meet the needs of children and young adults with complex communication needs.

The Ken Jones Memorial Project
Ken Jones worked for many years in teacher education at the University of the West of England (formerly Bristol University). Throughout his career he maintained a strong interest in the use of symbols to enhance reading. As a memorial to Ken, a project was set up to develop additional symbols for the Rebus Symbol Collection in the area of personal development.

Erica Brown
Erica has long been involved in religious spiritual and moral education of children with special educational needs. Erica worked with members of six different faith groups to provide a core of symbols to promote inter-faith understanding.

Signalong
Signalong have developed comprehensive signing vocabularies for people with learning difficulties. To compliment these signs Signalong and Widgit collaborated to develop additional symbols so that there are symbol equivalents for all of the signs in their basic vocabularies. In particular we are grateful to Kay Meinertzhagen and Jill Kennard for contribution to the designs.

Sue Norton
Sue Norton is a teacher of science in a special school release. She developed the initial science symbols, which were included in the Rebus Symbol Collection. We are very grateful to Sue for her continued interest in the symbol development and in new approaches to symbol use to support children with learning difficulties.

And also to David Banes, Wendy Newton, Clare Martin, Andy Carmichael and Judy Sebba for their advice and critical reviews of the earlier symbols.

---

Return to About Symbols