Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS)

Communication
– Involves behavior (defined inform by the community) directed to another person
who in return provides related direct rewards or social rewards.

Which is COMMUNICATIVE?

Scenario 1: A small boy tries to reach a plate of cookies, but accidentally knocks it off
the kitchen counter. The little boy, look at his mother. As she turns to him, he looks back
at the spilled cookies and then back to her. He will continue to look back and forth
between his mother an d cookies until she, too, sees the cookies and react.
Scenario 2: A young boy walks into the family and goes straight to the television. He
does not sees his father sitting nearby. The boy pulls a video off the shelf, inserts it into
the video player, turns the television on and begins watching a video.
Scenario 3: A young girl walks into the family room and sees her mother sitting there .
The girl approaches her mother and says, “I want my video!”. Mother gets up walks to
the television, insert a video into the video player and turns it on to play. The daughter
sits down and begins watching the video.

Why do we communicate?
1. To Request
2. To Comment
Identify the purpose of communication

Scenario 1 : A little girl wanted a video and ask her mother to get it.
Scenario 2: A young boy sitting in his high chair in the living room. As he looks out by
the window, he suddenly says to his mother “Truck! Truck! Truck!” . His mother replies
“Yes, dear, that’s a truck!”

When do we communicate?

We must look at the conditions that exist prior to the behavior.

Various circumstances influence the way we look at certain communication skills
Scenario:
Beth is standing in her classroom waiting for her students to return from recess. She is
eating from a bowl of popcorn. Sarah walks into the room, sees Beth and the popcorn
and immediately says, “Popcorn!” Beth gives her some popcorn. Soon, Shawn walks

Sheela G. Marasigan, LPT

into the room. He walks over the bowl of popcorn and starts to reach for some- Beth
doesn’t allow him to grab the popcorn and patiently waits for him to communicate. He
remains silent until she asks, “what do you want?”, he immediately says “Popcorn!” She
gives him some popcorn. Nathan walks into the room and walk over the bowl of
popcorn. He tries to reach for some. When Beth asks him what he wants he remain
silent. She finally says “popcorn”. He immediately says, “Popcorn”, and she gives him
some to eat.
Distinct communication Skills
1. Spontaneous communication
2. Responsive communication
3. Imitation

Communication is Bi-directional
They must learn to understand and use communication directed to them.
Communicative Modality
1. Speech
2. Gestures
3. Sign Language
4. Pictures
5. Writing
9 Critical Communication Skills
1. Asking for desired item
2. Asking for assistance
3. Asking for a break
4. Rejecting
5. Affirming
6. Responding to want
7. Responding to functional directions
8. Responding to transitional cues
9. Following Schedule
Teaching Communication Skills
1. Speech Imitation- students can be taught by teaching them to imitate.
Prerequisites before communication training:
Eye contact
Gross motor imitation
Oral/ Motor imitation
Speech imitation
word imitation
2. Sign Language
3. Picture/ Symbol System- some could not isolate their index finger.

Sheela G. Marasigan, LPT

 -ignored the social approach
4. PECS- Picture Exchange Communication System
Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS)
– Was developed in 1985 by Dr. Lori Frost and Dr.
Andy Bondy in response to the difficulty in
successfully using variety of communication
training programs with young students with
Autism.
– Originally developed for use with preschool-aged
students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
and other social communicative disorders who
display no functional or socially acceptable
speech.
– Based on research and practice in the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis.
Closely parallels typical language development as it first teaches the student
“how” to communicate or what the basic rules of communication are.
– It was first used at the Delaware Autistic Program. The goal of (PECS) is to teach
children with autism a fast, self-initiating, functional communication system.
PECS begins with the exchange of simple icons but rapidly builds "sentence"
structure.
Getting ready for PECS
1. Setting the stage for communication:
A. Create many communicative opportunities
*identify what our students is likely to want given the
current activity.
*arrange for that item to “disappear” long enough for
the student to begin to need or want them.
B. Know your student’s current skills and plan to teach the
next.
*completing the Critical Communication Skills
Checklist will provide us
with information
C. Expect communication
How to get started
– The trainer can use colorful graphic images, pictures cut out from magazines,
actual photos or even drawings. As long as the picture is accurate and simple it
can be used.

Sheela G. Marasigan, LPT

 PHASE I
How to communicate

PHASE 6 PHASE 2
Commenting Distance and
Persistence

PHASE 5 PHASE 3
Answering Question Picture Discrimination

PHASE 4
Sentence Structure

Phase 1
– Upon seeing a “highly preferred” item, the student will pick-up a picture of the
time, reach toward the communicative partner and release the picture into the
communicative partner’s hand.
– Student is taught the nature of communication- he will learn to another person
(reach toward), direct an action (give a picture), and receive a desired outcome
(the item requested).
Phase 2
– The student goes to his/her communication book, pulls the picture off, goes to
the trainer, gets the trainer’s attention and release the picture to the trainer’s
hand
– The trainer moves further away from the child so that he or she must essentially
come over to the trainer and hand over the card. This enhances the child’s
functional skill of obtaining one’s attention.
Phase 3
– The student requests desired items by going to a communication book, selecting
the appropriate picture from an array, going to communicative partner, and giving
the picture
Phase 4
– The student request 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 book, approaching the

Sheela G. Marasigan, LPT

 communicative partner, and giving the sentence strip to him. By the end of this
phase the student typically has twenty or more pictures in the communication
book and is communicating with variety of partners.
Phase 5
– The student spontaneously requests a variety of items and answers question,
“what do you want?”
– the trainer’s task is to help the child formulate and start using questions through
the picture cards and sentence strips.  
Phase 6
– The student answers “what do you want?” “what do you see” “what do you
have ? “what do you hear?” and “what is it?” and spontaneously requests and
comments.

Advantages
– The listener does not need special training because pictures are easy to
understand and are often labeled.
– Simple matching makes initial communication easier.
– This is a research based intervention that is based on Skinner’s analysis of
verbal behavior.
– Starting with PECS can help avoid creating a negative emotional history related
to speech.
– Many individuals start with the ability to point to what they want so there is a high
possibility for success.
– PECS is a fairly inexpensive, low tech language intervention.

Disadvantages
– Costly
– Some parents may be worried that using a nonverbal form of communication will
further delay speech, or even repress speech completely. If parents or educators
are not fully committed to using PECS, the child will not receive the constant
reinforcement needed for PECS to be successful.
– You must constantly modify the binder or picture board that holds the pictures
used to help the person communicate. Pictures are added as the individual
becomes more sophisticated in his communication skills. 

Sheela G. Marasigan, LPT