Tactile symbols help individuals who are blind or visually impaired and may also have complex communication disabilities to express themselves.

Note that his work was inspired by the 3D tactile symbols created by Project Core at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill. While their tactile symbols are certainly “tactile”, they are largely opaque, often with no clear relationship between the raised shape and its referent.

Why Blissymbols?

Blissymbolics, originally created by Charles Bliss in 1947, is a conceptual, constructed, international, ideographic, generative language. Though Blissymbols have traditionally been used in written form, they are uniquely positioned for use as a tactile language:

“Due to their simplicity, [features like] edges, outlines, and kinesthetic feedback are optimized in raised-line renderings of Blissymbols, which may facilitate recognition of tactile Blissymbols. In short, the conformational characteristics of Blissymbols results in stimuli that have minimal complexity (or low potential cognitive load) and when rendered as raised-lines have characteristics that may increase the efficiency of perceptual/cognitive processes involved in communication with tactile symbols.”

The potential for developing a tactile communication system based on Blissymbolics, Mick D. Isaacson & Lyle L. Lloyd, Developmental Neurorehabilitation, 2015; 18(1): 47–58

More on Blissymbols

For a quick overview (or more in-depth) of Blissymbols, see the links below.

* to be released in PDF format later this year

What’s wrong with “traditional” tactile symbols?

Go here to read more about this topic.

Why isn’t the Project Core set of tactile symbols enough?

There’s a lot to say on the topic, so go to this page to read more.

Why not leverage a “standard” AAC graphic symbol set?

Again, a lot to say, so go to this page to read more.

What would a useful, tactile symbol-set look like?

We have our opinion… go to this page to hear what we think and why we think Blissymbols are the place to start, and our Bliss Tactile Symbols are the way to get there.

Downloading our Core Concepts Symbols

We have created over 240 ready-to-3D-print Bliss Tactile Symbols. We call them the “Extended Core Words for Students with Intellectual Disabilities”. You can download them in bulk or individually on this page.

All downloadable designs include a recessed slot on the back for a 10 mm Velcro dot. If you’re having trouble getting the dot to stick, try the approach described on this page.

Classroom Supports

We recognize that learning a new symbol set is challenging. You can’t simply place a raised shape in front of someone and expect them to have the skills necessary to tactilely explore the shape, cognitively interpret the sensations, and recognize it as a specific concept. We’ve created several assets to build the scaffolding for that understanding and develop the skills needed for success.

Teaching Plans – we’ve put together simple plans you can use as-is with these assets, or modify to meet your needs.
Documentation – we provide three documents in support of our core words: the first document shows all concepts in our extended core word set, organized by and color-coded by word class. The second is a spreadsheet containing all the words in the extended set, along with their word class, Blissymbol, and a rationale for the symbol’s design. The third is an outline of basic shapes used to form a Blissymbol.
Remedial and Motivational Tools – if you anticipate, or discover, that your student will have difficulty tactilely processing a particular Blissymbol, you can break that symbol up into parts and teach the parts as well as how they assemble into a whole. On the other hand, you can add more fun to your instruction by offering students challenge tiles and puzzles to reinforce the concepts they’re learning (or have learned).

Creating New or Modifying our Core Bliss Tactile Symbols

Our Bliss Tactile Symbol designer makes it easy to create the specific set of symbols that you need for your day-to-day instruction. You have full control over their size, their layout, and their content. Over 240 core word/concept symbols have been pre-created for your use. All you have to do is 3D-print them. You can also easily tweak the designs of these symbols if you need something a little different. You can leverage the vast, pre-approved Blissymbol set provided by Blissymbolics Communication International to create new symbols. You can even create your own “slang” words for your students and clients to use in their interactions.

This page guides you through downloading and using the Bliss Symbol Designer to modify our out-of-the-box designs and/or extend them to meet your needs.

This page will help you create your own non-3D-printed Bliss tactile symbols using everyday crafting tools.

Creating New Remedial and Motivational Tools

You can construct these tools for yourself using our Bliss Tiles designer.

Third-party and DIY Support Materials

Need an easy way to display, manage, and transport Bliss Tactile Symbols? This bi-fold from Augmentative Resources was specifically designed for that purpose.

Need a convenient way to display a few Bliss Tactile Symbols in the classroom? This tri-fold from Augmentative Resources may be just the thing.

Would you prefer to pay someone else to 3D-print our Bliss Tactile Symbols for you? The folks at 3D Learning Shop will help you with that.

We’ve designed a simple, free device we call the “message builder” that you can 3D-print and attach Velcro to for displaying our Bliss Tactile Symbols. It can easily be carried around the classroom to support socialization. Best of all, it attaches securely to the rigid spine of the Augmentative Resources bi-fold for storage.

Note that Volksswitch has no financial relationship with any of these products/services.

Blissymbols on an AAC Device

If your AAC device allows you to add your own images, this page explains how to access the Core Words symbols as graphic images.

Voice It

The Voice It is a DIY device that speaks a word or phrase when an object containing an RFID tag is brought nearby. RFID tags are small and very cheap. Bliss Tactile Symbols can be printed with a small pocket for inserting one of these tags. Students can use the Voice It to remind themselves what the symbol’s graphic represents by touching the Voice It with the symbol. The Voice It comes with recorded vocabulary in English and Spanish for all concepts in the Bliss Tactile Symbol Extended Core Vocabulary. Like the Bliss Tactile Symbols, the Voice has built-in extensibility. You can use the Voice It with Challenge Tiles as well – but no reason to stop there. If you can attach an RFID tag to an item, you can describe it using the Voice It.