Question About PECS

[Luv Bunnies]

I'm sure some of you are experts with PECS so I thought I'd ask a question about it here.

I'm in my 7th year as an aide in a special ed preschool class. Our kids are considered mild-moderate. We have one little boy who has been diagnosed with autism and possible mental retardation (the report said it's possible but they couldn't get enough information during test so it's not diagnosed yet). He really should be in the class next door that's set up for more severely autistic kids but that class is full so we have him (our public school system at it's finest!). This boy can talk when he wants to. He can use one and sometimes two word utterances. But he's very stubborn and often choose not to talk. The teacher models words for him that he will repeat if he's in the mood. Other times, he will just look away or cover his face. When he really wants something, he will point and say the word like car, block, cookie, etc. His mom reports that he talks frequently at home but she would like to see much more language development.

The psychologist decided this child needs a PECS binder to communicate. She wants us to start using it at snack time and have him point to the picture of the item he wants (like cookie, cracker or drink). What's getting me confused is that he has the actual items right in front of him. If he brings crackers and a drink, we would put both in front of him and say, "What do you want?" We would hold off on giving it to him until he said, "Crackers." Then, before getting the cup, he would have to say, "Drink." The psychologist wants us to do the same thing but have him point to the picture and say the word. Why would you have a child point to a picture when the actual item is sitting right in front of him? Isn't it more functional for him to point to a real object and say the name?

I understand using a PECS binder for a child who can't talk at all. It would help them to communicate by pointing to a picture of what they want, how they're feeling, etc. But for a child who can talk, why would you want him to learn to rely on pointing to pictures? And why would he point to a picture of a cookie when he can point to the real thing? Is the psychologist having us use the system in the wrong manner for this child? I don't have a lot of experience with PECS so I want to make sure we're using it correctly and for the right reasons. Thanks for any help on this!

 

[belle&beast]

PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System) is intended to be used to encourage a chld to initiate communication. With many children, food is a motivator, so it is often a good starting point. I have been trained and use it regularly with preschoolers, so I feel like I need to clarify what you have been told.

The adult is in control of the "wanted item", food in your case. (Now, if snack is not a big motivator, you need to start somewhere else.) You will need another adult to help model- there is very little talking and you NEVER ask "What do you want?" The whole purpose is to teach the child that initiating communication will get them what they want. The other adult will then pull the picture of the item off the binder and hand it to you. You say "candy" and give her a skittle and return the card to the binder. The whole time the chlid is watching and wanting the candy.

When the child starts to fuss or react to the adult getting the candy, the helping adult sits behind the child and HOH puts the child's hand on the card and may assist in picking it up and giving it to you. The whole time, that adult is silent. Again when you receive the card, you say "candy", give a skittle this time to the child and replace the card.

Most of the time it only takes a few trials with the adult getting the candy for the child to gain interest and often only a time or two with HOH if the item is motivating enough. This is just the very basic beginnings, but I wanted you to be clear about the procedure. Feel free to send me a PM with any specific questions.

 

[perla75]

Hi there!

PECS is a very effective technique to teach language. It is based on the principles of ABA (applied behavior analysis). The authors stress that research have proven that vocal communicators do NOT lose their ability to speak when given the PECS protocol. The pictures serve as visual cues to prompt language. I have taught PECS to vocal communicators & it has caused a great burst in their ability to use, organize, and expand on their language. None of these vocal communicators have decreased their vocal abilities, and spontaneity has increased significantly.

 

[Forevryoung]

Hi there!

PECS is a very effective technique to teach language. It is based on the principles of ABA (applied behavior analysis). The authors stress that research have proven that vocal communicators do NOT lose their ability to speak when given the PECS protocol. The pictures serve as visual cues to prompt language. I have taught PECS to vocal communicators & it has caused a great burst in their ability to use, organize, and expand on their language. None of these vocal communicators have decreased their vocal abilities, and spontaneity has increased significantly.

Perla (or anyone),
If you want, I have a copy of a meta-analysis done that shows AAC (augmentative communication) has been shown to increase speech/spoken communication.
PM me if you would find it helpful and I will email it out.
-Forevryoung

 

[Luv Bunnies]

Thanks for the replies! I guess what has me confused is having the child use pictures instead of the actual item he wants. Here's what the psych wants us to do. Maybe you guys can tell me if this is the correct prodecure:

1. Have the child open his lunchbox and take out his snack items (he does this anyway).

2. Ask him which item he wants ("Do you want crackers or drink?").

3. The picture of the items he brought that day should already be placed on a velcro strip on the front of the binder. The child needs to pull off the picture of what he wants and hand it to the adult and say the word.

4. After he's done this, he is allowed to have one cookie or a few sips of his drink. When he wants more, he has to repeat the process.

This is what doesn't make sense to me. Why don't we just put the actual food items in front of him and have him request one by saying the name? He can do it when prompted. I don't get why he should be pointing to a picture of something when he can use the real item instead. From your replies, it sounds like we're being instructed to use PECS in the wrong manner. Is that what it sounds like from this procedure they want us to use?

Thanks for all of the wonderful replies and help!

 

[KirstenB]

Thanks for the replies! I guess what has me confused is having the child use pictures instead of the actual item he wants. Here's what the psych wants us to do. Maybe you guys can tell me if this is the correct prodecure:

1. Have the child open his lunchbox and take out his snack items (he does this anyway).

2. Ask him which item he wants ("Do you want crackers or drink?").

3. The picture of the items he brought that day should already be placed on a velcro strip on the front of the binder. The child needs to pull off the picture of what he wants and hand it to the adult and say the word.

4. After he's done this, he is allowed to have one cookie or a few sips of his drink. When he wants more, he has to repeat the process.

This is what doesn't make sense to me. Why don't we just put the actual food items in front of him and have him request one by saying the name? He can do it when prompted. I don't get why he should be pointing to a picture of something when he can use the real item instead. From your replies, it sounds like we're being instructed to use PECS in the wrong manner. Is that what it sounds like from this procedure they want us to use?

Thanks for all of the wonderful replies and help!

Our dd is 3, and in special ed preschool. She's speech delayed, but can often use words in the manner you're describing. As a parent, I'd much rather she use her words than PECS. For instance, we taught her sign language to start with. Then she transitioned to using the words, instead of the sign. She'll occasionally use the sign, when she's stressed or distracted. Each day the aides and teacher in her class use unpacking the lunch box in exactly the manner you're describing. They ask her to use her words to choose what food she wants to eat.

I too am confused as to how PECs would help in the situation you described. I tend to equate sign language with PECs===using an alternative means of communication when the child doesn't have the words.

 

[KirstenB]

I should add that her preschool uses PECs for centers. For instance, they have housekeeping (kitchen, baby dolls, etc), they have sand table, they have dress up clothes, they have an art table. They ask each child where they want to start. They hand them the PECs for that center. The child velcros it to the side of the center. If they want to change centers, they have to request a new PEC's. It seems like a decent system, as the words for the centers can be unfamiliar, also it helps with keeping each center with only 3 or so kids at a time.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

I too am confused as to how PECs would help in the situation you described. I tend to equate sign language with PECs===using an alternative means of communication when the child doesn't have the words.

That's exactly what I'm confused about. Why would the child point to a picture instead of the tangible item he wants? We still require him to say the name of the item, which he can do. I could see how PECS would help if a child can't speak and the item is not in front of him. For example, requesting water when he's thirsty, etc. But that's not how we're being told to use the system.

The other day, another aide was leading an art project at her center. The kids were gluing eyes and other things onto paper ghosts. She had the glue and all of the items spread out on the table. She was having all of the kids request the next piece they wanted by pointing to it and saying the name ("I want eyes, I want ribbon, etc.). Then they would have to ask for the glue. The teacher from the morning session (we're the afternoon session) dropped in and saw that the child in question wasn't using PECS during the art project. She told our teacher and the other aide that we should put pictures for art items in the book so he could use it during art time. Again, we were wondering why he would point to a picture when the glue and other items were right in front of him?

Again, I could see him using the icons to ask for something that wasn't already there so we would know what he wanted. But I'm just not seeing the point of him pointing to a picture of glue when he could point to the actual glue bottle.

I'm going to raise these questions with the psychologist next week at school. I wanted to be armed with more information so I could have my questions in order. Thanks again for the replies!

 

[BeckyScott]

We did PECs for a little while during Early Intervention and the first year of preschool, until Justin's language was good enough he didn't need it any more.

A few suggestions- Justin is very literal, so the regular PECs didn't work. Our OT took photos of items and we made our own PECs. Instead of generic line drawing of shoes, it was a photo of his actual shoes. Instead of a drawing of a cup, it was a photo of his real sippy cup. He didn't *get* the line drawings, they are too abstract and too generic.

The preschool used the PECs more as a visual schedule than a communication device. The OP's situation confuses me too, because I think pointing to the real object and using a word is better than PECs. It also generalizes better, unless you're planning on taking the notebook with you 24-7. And because isn't the distal pointing also a goal?

But we allowed him to use words when he wanted. We also used a lot of the "show me" because even the words he had, were difficult to understand. And if we couldn't understand him, we'd do the "show me" and he would take us to what he needed and point. Which sounds like what the OP is thinking, sort of, and that worked fine for us until he got more words and was easier to understand.

Since kids w/ autism are so visual and are often early readers, have the word printed out under the picture. They will be learning to read at the same time. It's the visual learning thing, the kids will associate that printed word with the picture, even if they don't yet understand what it means, it gets into their brains somehow and stays there.

 

[TheZue]

My son is in grade one and quite high functioning and has a lot of language but they still use pecs. They are great because if he is stressed his ability to use or understand language goes out the window...it doesn't happen too often once he's settled in for the year but they got him used to it when he WASN'T stressed and keep up with it so he'll be able to refer back to it if he's on the verge of a meltdown. The vast majority of the time he doesn't need it, but it's good they keep it up so he's comfortable with it when he does. It hasn't inhibited his language development at all, in fact our speech therapist even refers back to it when she's working with him.

What I'm thinking in this case is introducing them while he's got his food is a great way from transitioning to the drawn item from the real so that you'll be able to expand the PECs out from that point. Bringing them in at a point when he doesn't really want to interact with you isn't the best time to introduce them, so snack time is great because he's there and wants his food so he's willing to interact with you. So it seems really redundant, but it might be moving to a greater goal here.

 

[WheeledTraveler]

This is kinda similar to what TheZue said, but could it be more about teaching the kids about representing an item, than about the the actual item?

I'm just going to make it clear now that I don't have any experience with PECs, so this is my putting together the situation described with what I know about them and what I know about language.

If you think about it, language is representational. So are the pictures on a PECs. So what teaching a kid to use a PECs you're not teaching them, for example, that a banana is a banana, you're teaching them that a picture of a banana is a banana. Same as when you're teaching a kid to read or even learning to speak, you're learning that the word "banana" means a fruit that is long and thing and yellow when ripe. We use the word banana because that's what we've been taught, but really banana without that knowledge means nothing. Certainly it sounds like the idea of using snack time is motivation more than anything else and with the situation described it does sound like part of what the goal is to be able to separate the actual item (snack picked up) with the representation and know that there's the link and then link it in with the words.

Sorry if that didn't make sense, but I tried to explain the best I could! And, of course, feel free to disregard since I don't have PECs experience.