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Picture
Exchange
Communication
System
PECs
was developed as part of the work undertaken on the Delaware Autistic Program. The
Delaware
program was founded in 1980. At that time approximately 80% of the pre school children on the project were non-verbal. The
Delaware
team was aware that much work needed to be undertaken at the very early stages of communicative intent. That the children needed certain conditions in order for communication to occur. First a reason to communicate, secondly a means of communication and thirdly somebody to communicate with (Jordan and Powell 1997). Traditional language programmes had assumed that children already had the pre requisite skills of attention, eye contact, motor and verbal imitation skills turn taking, waiting and conversational timing.
Andrew Bondy and Lori Frost initially developed
PECs
in 1994. They see
PECs
as being a "unique communication training program" which assists children in their acquisition of speech. They recognise that the fundamental goal of teaching children with autism is to improve their communication skills.
PECs
was introduced into the
United Kingdom
in 1997. Bondy and Frost describe speech as being the most socially acceptable form of communication however the purpose of the program was to develop a child's spontaneous communicative interaction.
PECs
aims to teach children to initiate functional communication within a social context.
PECs
is divided into six phases.
· PHASE ONE
PEC's training begins with an assessment of the type of reinforcer, which the child with autism likes. These can be food, drink or toys. Pictures are then made which will vary initially depending upon the child. They may be Black and White line drawings (preferred by Bondy and Frost) or they may be real laminated photographs of the objects. At this stage the aim is that "upon seeing a 'highly preferred' item, the student will pick up the picture of the item, reach towards the trainer, and release the picture into the trainers hand". The initial phase of PEC's training is therefore based on discovering what the child wants. This is not done by the trainers saying 'what do you want' but instead relies on two trainers, one of whom stands behind the child and physically prompts them to pick up and give the picture of the item, which the other trainer is holding. The item being offered is one that has already been identified as being of interest to the child. The child is therefore immediately rewarded for their first attempts to communicate.
· PHASE TWO
During phase two the child has there own communication board. They are able to pull a picture off this and then go to a 'communicative partner' and place the picture in their hand. Eventually the child will go and find a communicative partner even when the partner is not looking directly at the child. This is an important stage as many children with autism fail to realise that they can get what they want from a person.
· PHASE THREE
Phase three involves the child selecting an item from a board containing many items. Some of these items are now 'non - preferred' items. The child has to choose the item they require and put that item in the hand of the communicative partner. When the child chooses an appropriate item they are given a great deal of social praise. At this point the size of the pictures can be reduced and the position of the pictures will be moved on the board to insure that the child is discriminating.
· PHASE FOUR
Phase four introduces the concept of 'I want'. The child now needs to put the picture of their choice onto the Velcro strip. The communication board will by now contain between 20 and 50 pictures. The child is by now working towards being able to give the strip / picture to a wide variety of communicative partners. They are also expected to move around the room to approach the communicative partner.
· PHASE FIVE
At phase five the student is able to spontaneously request a number of items and is ready to answer the question 'what do you want'. At this stage it is important to maintain spontaneous requesting but it is also accepted that this is the easiest of the phases to teach as the pupil is already exposed to many 'what do you want' requests within their environment.
· PHASE SIX
Phase six involves teaching responsive and spontaneous commenting. The student at this point is now ready to answer a variety of questions including 'what do you wan?', 'what do you see?' 'what do you have?' and similar questions. The idea now being that the child will eventually be able to answer these questions when they are randomly asked. For this purpose various sentence strips are available for the child and time is put aside, during the day, to ask specific questions.
PECs
is taught through a 'pyramid approach' to learning. It is based primarily on an understanding of the affects autism can have on a child's ability to communicate.
The Pyramid base has four sides.
1. The functional objectives. I.e. the functional activities offered.
2. The use of a powerful reinforcement system.
3. The functional communication system. I.e. the
PECs
, the speech development and communication goals.
4. The behavioural intervention system.
The behavioural intervention system is based upon differential reinforcers of other behaviours and giving the child alternative responses. Many children with autism will at some stage within their lives experience difficulties and stresses that are recognised as being 'behaviour problems'. Bondy and Frost assert that displays of frustration are commonly associated with children, who are unable to calmly request an item, which is of great importance to them.
Details can be obtained from : -
Pyramid Educational Consultants UK LTD
17 Prince Albert Street
Brighton
BN 1 1 HF
01273 728888
E - mail. pyramiduk@pecs-uk.com
Also:
Mandimart
For free PECs
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