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Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) What Is PECS?

PECS is a picture-based communication system used to teach individuals with autism and limited language skills to make requests. It involves 6 phases: (1) exchanging single pictures for wanted items, (2) generalizing this across environments, (3) selecting between multiple pictures, (4) constructing simple sentences, (5) answering questions beginning with "What do you want?", and (6) commenting on pictures. Students use a communication book containing Velcro-backed pictures to make requests or comments by handing the picture to someone or attaching it to a sentence strip. Prompting involves assisting students to acquire new skills through gestures, words, visual or physical cues that are gradually faded as independence increases. It supports learning

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156 views

Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) What Is PECS?

PECS is a picture-based communication system used to teach individuals with autism and limited language skills to make requests. It involves 6 phases: (1) exchanging single pictures for wanted items, (2) generalizing this across environments, (3) selecting between multiple pictures, (4) constructing simple sentences, (5) answering questions beginning with "What do you want?", and (6) commenting on pictures. Students use a communication book containing Velcro-backed pictures to make requests or comments by handing the picture to someone or attaching it to a sentence strip. Prompting involves assisting students to acquire new skills through gestures, words, visual or physical cues that are gradually faded as independence increases. It supports learning

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1.

Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS)

What is PECS?
As defined by the AFIRM website, “the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS)(R) is used to
teach learners with limited functional communication skills to initiate communicative exchanges and
interactions within a social context.”
(Source: AFIRM)

Basically, PECS allows children and people with ASD to communicate using pictures. It is more than just
using a visual schedule or PICs to point to what is coming next or what the person wants. Learners use
detachable pictures to “exchange” with another person for the object or activity that they want. PECS is
used as a building block in learning to communicate; a person learns that when they hand over a picture
of an apple, they will receive an apple. Gradually they can work up to using PECS to form sentences,
which helps with their development of verbal language.
(Source: Speech Buddies)

How does PECS work?


National Autism Resources has a great 6-phase explanation of the process:
• Phase 1: The child with autism learns to exchange single pictures for items or activities they
really want.

• Phase 2: Still using single pictures, the child learns to generalize this new skill by using it in
different places, with different people and across distances. They are also taught to be more
persistent communicators.

• Phase 3: The child learns to select from two or more pictures to ask for their favorite things.
These are placed in a communication book, a ring binder with Velcro strips where pictures are
stored and easily removed for communication.

• Phase 4: The child learns to construct simple sentences on a detachable sentence strip using an
"I want" picture followed by a picture of the item being requested.

• Phase 5: The child learns to use PECS to answer the question, "What do you want?"

• Phase 6: Now the child is taught to comment in response to questions such as, What do you
see?, What do you hear? and What is it? They learn to make up sentences starting with I see, I
hear, I feel, It is a, etc.
(Source: National Autism Resources)

In my experience with using PECS in schools, the student would have their own “communication book”
which is a binder full of PICs with Velcro to attach to schedule strips or sentence strips such as “I want
____” or “I feel ____.” The student can find the PIC they want and use it to give to their support worker or
attach it to the sentence strips or schedule strips.

See the following link for what a PECS communication book could look like and include:
Autism Adventures, PECS Communication Book Starter Set for Children with Autism
http://www.autismadventures.com/pecs-communication-book-starter-set-for/
Sample PECs pictures:

Image source: https://www.speechbuddy.com/blog/speech-therapy-techniques/how-to-use-the-picture-exchange-


communication-system-pecs/

Lunch Time Computer Reading Math

Literacy Art Music Story Time

Breakfast morning circle choice time Library

Yoga one-on-one work Smart board Backpack

snack recess Homework Listening Station

Image source: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com

Sources:
AFIRM, https://afirm.fpg.unc.edu/node/907

Speech Buddies, https://www.speechbuddy.com/blog/speech-therapy-techniques/how-to-use-the-picture-


exchange-communication-system-pecs/

National Autism Resources, https://nationalautismresources.com/the-picture-exchange-communication-


system-pecs/
2. Prompting

What is prompting?
“Prompting is where an adult or peer assists a learner to acquire a new skill. Prompts can be gestural,
verbal, visual, or physical.” For prompting to be used effectively, we must have a good understanding of
the individual’s strengths and needs to ensure the appropriate level of prompting is being used. Prompts
should be minimal and faded as quickly as possible; it is important to continually monitor and evaluate
which prompts are best suited to situations and/or tasks, and how these should be faded to support the
child’s independence. We do not want to create a situation where a child is overly dependent on prompts.
To this end, other strategies that promote independence should be used in tandem with prompting as part
of the child’s overall learning experience.
(Source: Dervla Hayes, SLP)

Examples of prompts:
• Gestural: making a gesture or movement that shows the child what to do (ie pointing, nodding,
making eye contact)
• Verbal: using verbal language to elicit the correct response (ie holding a flashcard of the letter F
and saying “F,” or a less direct prompt which gives a hint such as saying “what’s next?” when
cutting out a picture to glue onto a page)
• Visual: cues such as pictures (ie visual schedules), photos, text (ie a written checklist of steps),
videos
• Modelling: showing the student exactly what to do (ie if you tell him to clap his hands, clap your
hands)
• Full physical: the adult is physically moving the child’s body or part of their body (ie hand over
hand writing)
• Partial physical: the adult is touching the student but providing minimal guidance (ie if you want
the student to touch red, move a student’s elbow to move their hand in the direction of the red
card)
(Source: The Autism Helper)

Image source: https://theautismhelper.com/use-prompts-effectively-efficiently/


Why use prompting?
• It supports children to make correct choices and have successful learning experiences
• By reducing a child’s response to incorrect choices, it results in fewer undesirable effects such as
negative emotional responses
• When children with ASD do not begin a task, often this is because they don’t understand the
expectations. A well-timed prompt can keep the child engaged in learning
• It helps support the development of language, communication, and social interaction skills
• Fading prompts increases the margin for error, but this is an important part of the process.
Learning cannot always be error-free. As learning develops, prompts should be reduced
accordingly
• Prompting fits well into the classroom environment - teachers provide prompts to the whole class
frequently, so it is seen as a “normalized intervention”
(Source: Dervla Hayes, SLP)

Sources:
Dervla Hayes, SLP, https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1025644.pdf.

The Autism Helper, https://theautismhelper.com/use-prompts-effectively-efficiently/.

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