I am thinking that the "like" symbol should match what is used now on facebook although I've been using the smiley face on boardmaker. I have seen kids respond to the receptive use of such symbols exactly as you describe. It's as if we are "mapping" symbols toward the the child, intentionally, (that matches what they might say) across a variety of circumstances and experiences - the essence of language. Thank you for this. Very exciting work!

Karen Natoci - 5/4/2016

I love the idea of making the connection to LIKE on Facebook. While Facebook recently added more specific options, there are millions of users who have happily been using the general LIKE to communicate so many different things about posts they encounter. It seems the parallel continues as we consider the fact that Facebook users demanded more specificity after they became expert users of LIKE not before. In early communication, the focus on concrete often starts with the specific and never moves to the general. The opposite is true with Facebook's LIKE and conceptually-referenced vocabulary... we are teaching the general response first and moving to more specific vocabulary over time.

erickson@unc.edu - 5/4/2016

I love the idea of making the connection to LIKE on Facebook. While Facebook recently added more specific options, there are millions of users who have happily been using the general LIKE to communicate so many different things about posts they encounter. It seems the parallel continues as we consider the fact that Facebook users demanded more specificity after they became expert users of LIKE not before. In early communication, the focus on concrete often starts with the specific and never moves to the general. The opposite is true with Facebook's LIKE and conceptually-referenced vocabulary... we are teaching the general response first and moving to more specific vocabulary over time.

erickson@unc.edu - 5/4/2016