Wings Learning Center: PECS

ABOUT PECS^®

The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS^®) is a unique augmentative/ alternative communication training package developed for use with young children with autism and other social-communication deficits. It has been used with hundreds of young children with autism and other disabilities around the United States and in several other countries. It is a system that does not require complex materials or highly technical training.

Training in the PECS^® system is done in six phases.

Phase I-The Physical Exchange

Upon seeing a "highly preferred" item, the student will pick up a picture of the item, reach toward the trainer, and release the picture into the trainer's hand.

Phase II-Expanding Spontaneity

The student goes to his or her communication board, pulls the picture object, goes to the adult, and releases the picture into the adult's hand.

Phase III-Picture Discrimination

The student will request desired items by going to a communication board, selecting the appropriate picture from an array, going to a communication partner and giving them the picture.

Phase IV-Sentence Structure

The student requests present and non-present items using a multi-word phrase by going to the book, picking up a picture symbol of "I want," putting it on a sentence strip, picking out the picture of what is wanted, putting it on the sentence strip, removing the strip from the communication board, approaching the communicative partner, and giving the sentence strip to him or her. By the end of this phase the student typically has 20-50 pictures on the communication board and is communicating with a wide variety of partners.

Phase V-Responding to "What do you want?"

Objective: The student can spontaneously request a variety of items and can answer the question "What do you want?"

Phase VI-Responding and Spontaneous Commenting

The student appropriately answers "What do you want?" "What do you see?" "What do you have?" And similar questions.

Frequently Asked Questions

1.	Will using pictures prevent or interfere with the development of speech?
	We have implemented PECS^® with over 100 preschool children with autism. There have been no documented cases of a child losing established speech. Of course, there is no guarantee that all children who use PECS^® will develop speech. For children older than 6 or 7, there are only a few known cases whereby a child developed speech. It is important to understand that PECS^® is used because it provides a child with a rapidly acquired functional communication system. The development of speech is not the primary purpose of using PECS^®. However, the long-term data with over 70 preschoolers who have used PECS^® for over one year indicates that more than two-thirds of these children have developed independent speech.
2.	How many pictures do you introduce during Phase I? Do you present the same pictures repeatedly?
	The number of pictures is dependent on the reinforcer assessment and the number of trials/sessions, etc. needed for the student to master Phase I. There have been many cases wherein a student learned the first phase in fewer than 10 trials, so only one picture was introduced. For students who need more time, the number of pictures is determined by the number of strong preferences and how they relate to the activities occurring when Phase I training is being conducted.
3.	Should I just use the pictures in one setting such as snack when I first start teaching a child the program?
	The very first trials within Phase I tarring typically take place in a very structured format. The student might be removed from ongoing activities initially to teach Phase I. If Phase I mastery is not reached the first day of training, it is important to conduct tarring in a variety of settings. REMEMBER: try to have two trainers available to do this training!
4.	How do you decide when to introduce new vocabulary?
	New vocabulary is added when the frequently conducted reinforcer assessment shows the need. The number of pictures used in Phases I and II is unlimited as long as only one picture at a time is presented. Again, in Phase III, all of the same pictures are used, but at the discrimination level at which the child is working. We find it helpful to conduct the reinforcer assessment and to use a vocabulary worksheet such as in Appendix 3 to get ideas for pictures for requesting. Once commenting and question answering is introduced, new vocabulary can be added as quickly as the student can learn it.
5.	How do you determine when it is appropriate to begin the discrimination level (Phase III)?
	There can be some overlap between reaching mastery of Phase II and beginning Phase III. For example, if a student has learned to go to the communicative partner to give the picture, but is still learning to go get his pictures, it is okay to begin the discrimination training. What is important to remember is not to ever end Phase II training. The crucial component of PECS^® is that the student be a persistent communicator-one who nags rather than one who waits to be prompted to communicate. Handing the student his communication book or going to the student to receive the picture are cues on which the student comes to depend.
6.	Do you color the symbols?
	Some practitioners prefer to use colored pictures at the preschool level. Unless coloring the pictures is a branching step used in discrimination training or you just love to color (or know someone who does), coloring the pictures is not necessary.
7.	Do you use individual systems or classroom-based systems?
	Each student should have his/her own communication system that goes with him/her where ever he/she goes. The system is treated as if it were a part of the child (like a wheelchair or orthopedic shoe) and the child must learn to be responsible for it. It should not be up to the teacher or parent to carry the book from setting to setting. Classroom or room-based systems at home are extremely useful, too. These can be "menu" boards that contain vocabulary specific to the location. For example, in the bathroom there might be a board containing pictures of soap, a towel, and bath toys, etc., while at school in the motor area there might be a board containing pictures of the equipment. What is important to remember is that the student have a system to take with him when he leaves the home or classroom where the center-based boards are located.
8.	How do you determine the number of symbols to be used during an activity?
	If the student is in Phase I or Phase II of training, no more than one symbol is to be presented at a time. It is up to the trainer to determine, from the reinforcer assessment and from the natural routines which picture should be made available at each point in an activity. If the child is in Phase III of training, the number of symbols is determined by the student's current discrimination abilities. Beyond Phase III, all pictures should be available to the student.
9.	Do we teach PECS^® in order to teach these kids to speak?
	We teach children (and adults) to use PECS^® in order to rapidly teach them important functional communication skills. These skills start with learning to spontaneously ask for things that are rewarding to the individual learning PECS^®. We believe it is important to teach everyone to initiate functional communication skills within a social context. For an individual who does not have these skills the selection of which modality will be used is less important than the acquisition of the fundamental skill. Therefore, we do not teach PECS^® as a way to speak, we teach it as a way to communicate. We have been very pleased with the high proportion of young children who acquire speech after using PECS^® for a period of time but, in some sense, the acquisition of speech can be viewed as a fortunate by-product of the approach and not its direct focus. Even for children and adults who do not acquire speech, the acquisition of skills within PECS^® leads to a much more communicatively successful person.
10.	When is it OK to switch to pointing systems (including synthetic voice devices)?
	The first, and perhaps most important aspect of PECS^® training involves teaching someone to approach another person prior to communicating. Our concern with various pointing-based picture (or symbol) systems has been that in the early aspects of training, the child may not approach someone before using the system. After a period of successful PECS^® use, people may be able to use a pointing system if they reliably approach someone, get their attention and then deliver the message. We have observed several children who used PECS^® and subsequently used pointing systems involving a combination of letters, and printed words and phrases (both voice-output and print devices).
11.	If a child is speaking with poor articulation (or similar problems) while using the sentence strip, how should the teacher respond?
	If a girl approaches someone without her communication board and voices something that is unintelligible, then we suggest simply responding that you don't understand and that the girl should get her board. Once the message (via the board) is clear, then encouraging improved imitation of the word or phrase may take place. However, if improved imitation is not immediate, we suggest responding to the successful message delivered via the sentence strip in an appropriate manner. In this manner, the child is likely to be encouraged to continue to approach us to communicate since he/she can trust our reactions.
12.	What is the role of imitation training, especially vocal imitation?
	Imitation is an extremely important skill. Many children with autism and related disabilities demonstrate very poor imitation. Imitation may involve body actions (i.e., clapping hands), manipulating objects (i.e., bouncing a ball), or vocal acts (i.e., sounds, words, or phrases). If a child does not imitate one of these types of behaviors, it is very important to teach the skill. One of our primary concerns is that it is not necessary to be able to imitate a word in order to be able to effectively communicate. Many of the children we have worked with have acquired important functional communication skills via PECS^® while they improved their imitation skills, including vocal imitation. For many of these children, when their vocal imitation skills significantly improved, they have been able to imitate the words corresponding to the phrases that they construct via the sentence strip. However, in our view, during the period of time that they acquired vocal imitation they still were able to communicate in a functional manner. Therefore, we strongly suggest that while children are being taught PECS^®, parents and staff continue to put an emphasis upon acquiring imitation skills. However, it is best to teach one skill per lesson. Thus, during PECS^® lessons imitation is not the focus and, during imitation lessons PECS^® is not the focus. Many staff and parents work on vocal imitation within activities where PECS^® use is unlikely, as during playtime during which the child already has desired items. Many staff use a morning-circle routine to promote imitation of words, sometimes within a song or other established routine. In short, there is no conflict between PECS^® and imitation training, nor is it an either/or situation. The best practice seems to involve choosing goals and strategies to match student needs and situational factors.