Show Me Those PECS!

PECS stands for Picture Exchange Communication System. It is a system of pictures that represent or depict items, actions, activities and ideas. Basically, PECS helps the communicator express his/her wants and needs. It was developed in 1985 by Andrew S. Bondy, Ph.D. and Lori Frost, M.S. CCC/SLP to be used as a tool to help children and adults with Autism and other disorders that impair language initiate communication.

PECS does not require complex or expensive equipment or materials. As a matter of fact, the images are cheap and easy to create. Anyone can create a PEC. It can be a hand-drawn picture, a snapshot, sentence strip, or ready-made images available on PECS websites. PECS is easy to use. It was designed with educators, caretakers, and families in mind and can be used readily in a variety of settings.

To begin communication using PECS, a student is taught to exchange a picture of a desired item, action, or activity with a caregiver or teacher. The picture has the name of the item, action, or activity written at the bottom. When the student presents the picture of the item, action, or activity, the 'request' is immediately met. For example, when a students shows his teacher or caregiver a picture of an apple, the teacher or caregiver knows that the student wants an apple and immediately gives it to the student. Communication is strongly reinforced.

In the next stages, more pictures are added and the student is encouraged to also respond verbally. For those that are able to build language skills, the use of PECS is 'phased out' as much as possible, and in some cases even eliminated completely. For students that remain nonverbal, PECS remains an essential means of communication.

Using PECS, the student has an unlimited pool of potential communicative partners. Anyone willing to accept the picture or sentence strip immediately becomes that communicative partner. The person doesn't have to be familiar with the student or know sign language. They can just look at the sequence of pictures, actions or activities, or sentence strip and know what the student wants.

I am very familiar with PECS. I use it every day. My nine-year-old son, Jonah, was diagnosed with Autism at age three. We began using PECS with him very shortly after his diagnosis. Our entire family - grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins - were also trained to use PECS effectively. We were able to determine what Jonah wanted and needed because he was finally able to communicate with us.

I'll never forget our first attempt at verbal communication using PECS. It took us over forty-five minutes to get the word 'cookie' out of Jonah's mouth.... but he said it and we celebrated! Now Jonah is speaking in sentences and we've been able to 'phase out' much of his PECS use. He still uses PECS in new situations (such as field trips), during transitions, and in stressful situations when it is more difficult to use his words to communicate.

As a future educator of children with Autism, I will be using this tool very often.