Effects of initial element teaching in a story-telling context on Blissymbol acquisition and generalization

Blissymbolics is a graphic symbol system used by individuals with little or no functional speech. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of initial teaching of semantic elements on compound Blissymbol acquisition, retention, and generalization in a story-telling context. The subjects included 40 preschool children with normal cognitive abilities (mean chronological age = 45 months) who were assigned to one of two groups. Group I was taught elements before being taught compounds that contained these elements. Group II was taught elements before being taught compounds consisting of elements that were not taught previously. In addition, both groups received instruction in a second set of compounds that were taught directly, that is, without first being taught the elements. The teaching procedures and materials were socially validated by experts in Blissymbol instruction. Results indicate that the initial teaching of elements did not contribute to compound acquisition and retention, but did facilitate generalization to untrained compound Blissymbols. The results are discussed in terms of considerations for selecting an initial lexicon and Blissymbol teaching and research.