The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS)
Description:
The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) is a strictly-structured communication system that is often used with children who are not yet able to initiate interactions on their own. In order to do the full PECS program with any child you must be trained and you usually need a back prompter. Training is provided by the PECS company. If you haven’t been to one of their programs or if you’re not following their program exactly, you can’t say you’re doing PECS. However, You can still use the concept of picture exchange without using PECS. They haven’t copyrighted the use of pictures. You’ll just need to describe what you’re doing instead of saying you’re using PECS.
The PECS program has a lot of research backing it up and I have personally seen great success with this program, especially for children with autism. However, I cannot stress enough that you would need to go to the official PECS training workshops in order to implement it. And you’ll need another person to go with you because it requires back-prompters. For some of you, this just won’t be feasible. That’s why this guide is designed not to show you how to do PECS, but to help you understand PECS a little better and give you some ideas of how you can use pictures with minimally-verbal children in other ways as well.
The PECS program has a lot of research backing it up and I have personally seen great success with this program, especially for children with autism. However, I cannot stress enough that you would need to go to the official PECS training workshops in order to implement it. And you’ll need another person to go with you because it requires back-prompters. For some of you, this just won’t be feasible. That’s why this guide is designed not to show you how to do PECS, but to help you understand PECS a little better and give you some ideas of how you can use pictures with minimally-verbal children in other ways as well.
How to Use a Picture Exchange System (without going through the PECS training):
Training
In order to do the full PECS program with any child you must be trained and you usually need a back prompter. Training is provided by the PECS company. If you haven’t been to one of their programs or if you’re not following their program exactly, you can’t say you’re doing PECS.
PECS-Like Programs
You can still use the concept of picture exchange without using PECS. They haven’t copyrighted the use of pictures.
An example of how it may look:
- Child has a small book with photos velcroed inside. Photos represent things that the child may want to communicate
- At first, only one choice is attached to the front of the book (to make it simple). If the child reaches for that thing or tries to communicate that concept, someone helps the child pick up the picture and give it to an adult. In exchange, the child gets what he wants.
- Prompting is faded back so that the child is independently handing the picture to the adult.
- Additional choices are added to the book. Eventually, the child is able to flip through the pages of the book to look for what he wants.
- Sentence starters can be used to help the child form full sentences with his pictures (like “I want…” or “I see…”)
Possible Modifications:
- Child points to picture instead of handing it to anyone. Or, child looks at the picture if he has motor problems.
- Pictures are placed on a board or baking sheet instead of on a book.
Therapy Ideas for PECS and PECS-Like Programs with Toddlers:
Identify Top Priority Words First:
- What are the child’s favorite foods/objects/activities?
- What does the parent wish the child could communicate
- What does he need to be able to use in his daycare/preschool?
- Make pictures for these things and put the book together
Follow Him Around with the Notebook at the Ready:
- Wait for the child to express an interest in something
- Find that picture and put it on the outside of his book
- Place the book in front of him while he’s playing
- Ask for a turn with the object and take it to play with it (or wait till he runs out if it’s consumable)
- Have your back-prompter ready to prompt him to use PECS to ask for it back (or for more)
If the Child is at a Higher Level:
- Have all of the pictures inside his book and either put a few choices on the front depending on the activity or allow the child to “go shopping” and pick the picture he wants from the inside pages of the book
- Have the book with him at all times so he can use it whenever he wants to
If you’re Not Actually Doing PECS:
If you’re just having the child point to pictures to communicate or even hand them to you but you’re not doing the structured PECS program, you can do things like…
- Have pictures velcroed in different locations around the house or classroom. For example, you can have a few pictures of your child’s favorite drinks velcroed to the fridge door and a few of his favorite snacks velcroed to the pantry door.
- Have a shelf with toys up high (out of the child’s reach) and veclro a picture that represents that toy down lower where he can reach it
- Velcro a picture to an actual toy, like a picture of bubbles on the bubble jar or a picture of a train car on the box of train tracks
- Use placemats and boards to offer common picture choices during certain activities (snack mat with common foods and things like “more”, “eat”, “drink”, “all done”, and “yummy”)
