PCS™ Collections

Picture Communication Symbols (PCS) are a range of drawings originally created by Mayer-Johnson, and now supported by Tobii Dynavox, that represent words and or phrases. They are commonly used in Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) and can be used with both high tech and low tech communication systems.

There are many examples of people using symbols of all types around the world for a variety of reasons in addition to AAC. Symbols can make an environment more inclusive. We can label items or areas with symbols so that people using different languages can understand. Hospitals often label their signage with symbols to enable people to more easily navigate the hospital environment. Multilingual communication boards have also been created to support refugees coming into a new country so that they can get the help they require quickly.

Our PCS copyright policy is as follows:

PCS purchased by a school:
If a copy of a PCS book or software is purchased for a school, teachers or therapists in the school may use the PCS in materials for the students in the school. Copying the materials for an entire school system is illegal.

PCS purchased by a teacher or therapist:
If a copy of a PCS book or software is purchased by a therapist or teacher, the therapist or teacher may use the PCS materials with persons on his/her caseload. This also means that an itinerant teacher or therapist may use the materials for students on multiple schools if the students using the materials are in his/her caseload. Copying the materials for an entire school system is illegal.

PCS purchased by a hospital:
If a copy of a PCS book or software is purchased for a hospital, therapists in the hospital may use the PCS materials with the patients of the hospital. Copying the materials for an entire hospital system is illegal.

For all other uses: 
For uses that do not conform to the copyright guidelines above, you will need to request permission to use the PCS.

Selling or giving away materials using the PCS in paper or electronic form is illegal without the permission of Tobii Dynavox. The following contact form will get you in touch with us, to determine whether your particular usage of PCS is permitted, requires a simple copyright notice, or requires a licensing agreement.

Please choose the category that best describes your use of PCS, then click on the "contact" button below and formulate it in your way in the message section:

• Presentation, informational, or decorative purpose
  I have created an informational brochure, PowerPoint presentation, training handout, text book chapter(s), journal article or community awareness material (e.g., t-shirt, flyer, advertisement, website for decoration only) and wish to include the PCS to supplement my content.

• Symbol-adapted educational or communication materials to be given away
  Our school or hospital has purchased a copy of a PCS book or software that uses PCS and I would like to know what the rules are for distributing materials with PCS on them. I will be distributing through print, a website, intranet or extranet.
  
  
• Symbol-adapted educational or communication materials to be sold
  I have created a book, software or other product that uses PCS and I would like to sell it at a price that covers my product costs only or sell it for a profit as a commercial product.
  
  
• None of the above
  If your usage of PCS doesn’t fall into any of the categories described, please submit the details of your project in the message section below. 

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