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Although theories in the past claimed that in order to be literate someone has to acquire specific prerequisite skills, more recent theories suggest that for some aspects of language, symbols can help people to access literacy. In this paper, we speculate that symbols can help children in schools to cope with their difficulties with print. Widgit Literacy Symbols have been developed over the last 20 years as a means of enhancing access to written communication and curriculum. Through the Symbol Inclusion Project (SIP), Widgit Software has been working closely with teachers in Warwickshire, creating resources for students in schools. Anecdotal evidence from the SIP project suggests that symbols can help children to anticipate their difficulties with literacy as well as to increase their motivation and self‐esteem and improve their behaviour.

The Children's Society's Shared Care Project in Solihull worked with disabled children and young people to develop ‘Askability’, a unique website (Askability.org.uk). The website was designed to make news, sport, film reviews and fun activities available to disabled children who had difficulties accessing websites and television programmes and so had no provision or access to news in a simplified format or language they could understand (ie. pictures, symbols). The website was developed by Solutions Squared in partnership with disabled young people, who have helped both in the design and the update of the website. Since its launch in 2006 the website has achieved and maintained at least 35,000 hits a week worldwide and continuous feedback demonstrates that it is a much‐valued site by both the user group and people who support them. It has evidenced that information can be simplified and made accessible while enriching and empowering young people who are able to communicate using the web.

The ongoing development of new graphic symbol sets in conjunction with a lack of literature supporting professionals in choosing the optimum set(s) for their users was the driving force behind this research project. The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors that professionals take into consideration when they choose one graphic symbol set instead of another.

Based on the phenomenology of pedagogy, semi-structured interviews were used with three speech and language therapists (SLTs), three special education teachers, one teacher for pupils with hearing loss, one foundation year teacher and one SENCo/deputy head teacher. Thematic analysis was used to process the data.

The results have shown that when professionals choose a graphic symbol set for their user(s), they focus on the iconicity, the software availability and its features. They are also influenced by any existing graphic symbol policies in the area they work. Training and follow-up support also influence professionals’ experiences when choosing graphic symbol sets for their users.

Given the limited literature pertaining to the topic of this paper, it is proposed that further research is conducted in order to build the theoretical and practical frameworks upon which professionals (such as SLTs and teachers), symbols developers and academics can base their future work.

This research aims to contribute to the scant literature regarding the factors that SLTs take into consideration when choosing a graphic symbol set for their user(s).