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A Celebration of Thirty Years of Bliss in Canada.
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BCI A Celebration of Thirty Years of Bliss in Canada.
The Early Years
Margrit Beesley has told you about how our program began. I would like to add to her description with some examples of class happenings in the first year, as recounted in the letters I wrote home to parents each week. It was important to keep the children's family's informed as to our activities, so they could reinforce their learning at home.
Following some excerpts form thel97l-1972 Parent Letters, I will share excerpts from the information provided to volunteers who were joining our program to assist us in the second year. We had over seventy volunteers helping us in the 1972-1973 school year. Without their involvement the children would never have had the individual attention they needed. It's worth nothing that volunteers have made many accomplishments possible through the years and continue to do so in 2001!
From the first Parent Letter, Oct. 22, 1971.
During this third week of communication Classes, the children have begun to discover the possibilities offered by their "picture vocabulary". (We didn't make the distinction between
symbols" and "pictures" in those days!) With the addition of yes and no, to the symbols already on their trays, the children have been able to communicate their ideas to us. Through careful questioning by the adults, the children's small number of symbols began to function for them The highlight of our week was Thursday when each of the two older classes had visitors. Each child was able to decide for himself, and then inform us, whether or not he wished to shake hands with the guest, whether he preferred men or women guests, and whether or not he would like the guest invited back! One especially revealing "conversation" took place with Ann Running. She was able to, very emphatically, "tell" us that part of her wheelchair was at home, that the bus driver would not bring it to school, that someone should speak to him, that "the someone" should not be Mrs. McNaughton, Mrs. Beesley, or Miss Norman, but that it should be her physio! The chance to be precise about telling us things with no guessing on our part quite a thrill for Ann! And for Mrs. Beesley and me, too!
Parent Letter, Nov. 19,1971
On Tuesday, we introduced the older children to asking questions. Each child received the question symbol and by touching this symbol before pointing to another symbol, he tells the "listener" that he is about to ask a question. To introduce the concept, we have played a game similar to a simplified "Twenty Questions". One child had to locate a hidden elastic by asking questions as to its location. The other children answered the questions. The questions mark also enabled us to ask Kari, David, and Greg about their trip to the Royal Winder Fair!
Parent Letter, Nov. 26, 1971
This has been an exciting week indeed! On Tuesday, one of the classes was videotaped, and the children had the fun of sharing our activities with cameramen and observers. The videotape did not turn out well, but we all had the experience of"carrying on" in front of an audience! It was good preparation for our special day "Open House" for Centre Staff on Wednesday. By then, the children were qite accumstomed to visitors and were able to enjoy "conversing" with new acquaintances. Ann was careful to let us all know however, that visitors were to wait, and only come into our class after our work was finished!
Parent Letter, Dec.17, 1971
The more we observe the children using the symbols, and the more our team members work on the development of the visual symbol system, the more delighted we all are, with the role which this communication system could play in the lives of children with limited or no speech. The possibility of it strengthening a weak area in their total reading readiness programme is becomin more evident. We are seeing now that language growth and development can be encouraged as we as provision being made for the communication of needs and feelings.
Parent Letter, January 14, 1972
We had an interesting event occur in class this week, which I think, can give us a little insil into how the children can use the visual symbols to serve as a substitute for speech. Karl surprised i on Thursday by refusing to answer any of my questions or requests. I asked if something was i matter "No". Then Kari said "I + wheel + home" (I want to go home in my wheelchair). I tried discover why and then Karl continued, "daddy + sad" (because he was sick). I asked Karl ifs wished she were at home with daddy "Yes"!
Parent Letter, Jan.21, 1972
The first group of children began working with the various forms of question symbolsth week. They used the question, answer, what, why, and when symbols. It would help if, at home, yc could emphasize the form of question which you are using, e.g., Do you want to know "What a thir is?" or "Why it is being used?". The children will need lots of practice in deciding what they want t ask It would aid their learning if you discuss with them the kinds of questions they could h asked, and help them prepare answers. I will supplement the questioning with questions which ca be answered by yes and no.
Parent Letter, May 4, 1972
Mr. Bliss arrived at OCCC on Thursday! What an exuberant energetic person he is! It wil keep our team busy keeping up with him! The children will have their first visit with him on Frida) morning. I know it will be an exciting time for everyone.
Parent Letter, May 12, 1972
This has truly been a week of Bliss! We have had a full and rewarding time, and have thoroughly enjoyed coming to know this generous, sensitive, far-thinking, humorous, resourceful person of unending energy! We will treasure for a long time our memories of the seven days spent in learning about the symbols and person of Charles K. Bliss! He left us each with a boomerang to remind us that "we could throw him about as much as we wished, but he'd like to come back!" I hope he will and that he'll see our children using the symbols at a much more advanced level!
To 1972-1973 Volunteers with the Bliss Project
Welcome to the adventure of talking to children with symbols. This year you will be working with children who will be using symbols at many levels utilizing either of the two displays of 100 symbols or 340 symbols. To help you understand the background of this year's programme, the following resume of last year's communication programme has been prepared The children in the 1972-73 year will all be at different stases with symbols and reading. Individualized programmes will be developed to best meet each child's communication needs and to help us learn as much as we can As the year neared completion, an increase in inter-peer communication became evident amongst the children of the more advanced class. They began to tease each other, argue, ask questions, and even threaten to "tell mommy on each other" By June, the team was satisfied that visual symbols could become an effective substitute vehicle for children's language expression and that the Bliss symbols offered many valuable qualities. They could be displayed well, learned easily, and appeared to communicate that which the child wished to say. It was recognized, however, that one area required concentrated attention in the second year. The children's method of presenting a long series of symbols had made possible a wide range of interpretations. Development of a structure that would enable the child to communicate in an organized, meaningful way became essential The 1972-73 symbol programme, to be known as the Bliss project, will be extended to include twelve children in two all-day classes. Three teachers will be involved in introducing symbols to children new to the programme and in developing methods of teaching strategies related to symbol use to the experienced children. Attention will be given to ways of combining symbols to gain extended meaning, and to the importance of order in the presentation of symbols to ensure clarity ofmeaning.
There are so many memories that fly back when I think back over thirty years. the children's and adults' accomplishments with Bliss, the justified pride of their parents, the high motivation and dedication of their teachers, the ~'olunteers who became friends and fellow staff, the comradeship of workshop presenters across North America and around the world, BCI's role within the founding of ISAAC (International Society' for Augmentative and Alternative Communication), the many like-minded colleagues around the world, the exciting technological breakthroughs, the continuous learning about language and literacy and corn in unication. How fortunate we all were to be part of the Bliss adventure of the last three decades. And how fortunate we are to have a team of volunteers ready to embark upon new projects in the twenty-first century. We are so lucky that the magic of Bliss is still with us!
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