Caleb's PECS Communication kit came in yesterday
super excited for his speech therapist to set it up for me to use at home ...... The Picture Exchange Communication System, or PECS, allows people with little or no communication abilities to communicate using pictures. People using PECS are taught to approach another person and give them a picture of a desired item in exchange for that item. At one time many people opposed the use of PECS and sign language to teach children with autism to communicate. They argued that these methods would hurt the development of spoken language. However, there have now been several studies that have shown PECS actually helps people develop verbal language, can decrease tantrums and odd behaviors and allows for increased socialization.
The Six Phases of the Picture Exchange Communication System Are:
PECS PHASE I: How to Communicate The child with autism learns to exchange single pictures for items or activities they really want.
PECS PHASE II: Distance and Persistence Still using single pictures, the child with autism learn 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.
PECS PHASE III: Picture Discrimination The child with autism 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.
PECS PHASE IV: Sentence Structure The child with autism learns to construct simple sentences on a detachable sentence strip using an "I want" picture followed by a picture of the item being requested.
PECS PHASE V: Answering Questions The child with autism learns to use PECS to answer the question, "What do you want?"
PECS PHASE VI: Commenting Now the child with autism 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.