Autism; Methods of modifying behaviour 1; Picture Exchange Communication System

Question 1

What is Pictures Exchange Communication System (PECS)?

Answer 1

• The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) was developed by Andy Bondy and Lori Frost in 1985 as an alternative communication system.
• It is a means of communication intended to compliment or replace speech in children (and adults) who have various developmental disorders, including autistic spectrum disorder (ASD).

Question 2

How does Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) work?

Answer 2

• PECS replaces spoken words with pictures. Although most practitioners encourage the use of speech as well, this is secondary to picture use. The system is based specifically on applied behavioural analysis, which uses behaviourist principles such as reinforcement, shaping and modelling to improve social behaviour, including communication.
• One of the core communication deficits of ASD is a failure to initiate conversation.
• This means that children with ASD experience very few opportunities to have their communication behaviour reinforced in the usual rewarding manner.
• PECS was specifically designed to help learners make the first move in communication spontaneously rather than simply responding to others.

Question 3

What are the different steps of PECS?

Answer 3

Frost and Bondy (2002) consists of the following steps;

• pre programme preparation
• stage 1; physical exchange
• stage 2; increasing independence
• stage 3; learning to discriminate
• stage 4; sentence structure
• stage 5; answering direct questions
• stage 6; commenting

Question 4

What are the first two initial stages in Picture Exchange Communication system? including pre-programme preparation

Answer 4

• Pre-programme Preparation; before the programme begins the first step is to find out which objects the child is particularly interested in and finds motivating. these objects are used as reinforcers of the childs communication behaviour. picture cards are made of each one.
• Stage 1; Physical Exchange; Three people are involved at the beginning of the programme; the learner (child or adult with ASD), the teacher and the facilitator. training begins with the teacher showing the child one of his or her motivating objects (eg a ball).
  Typically, the child will reach for the object, at which point the facilitator then physically helps the child to hand over the picture to the other adult. This is the picture exchange.
• Getting the object is rewarding and positively reinforces the child’s picture exchange behaviour making it more likely to happen again. This process is repeated many times (up to 80 a day), with different objects, in different locations and with the two adults swapping roles.

Question 5

What are stages 2 and 3 in PECS?

Answer 5

• Stage 2; Increasing Independence;
• The physical distance between teacher and child is increased at this stage, requiring more effort from the child to exchange a picture. The child learns the value of persistence., for example in getting a reward eventually rather than immediately. PECS becomes more structured too. The pictures are arranged in a portable display book using velcro to stick them down. The teacher encourages persistence by moving the pictures around in the book.
• Stage 3; learning to discriminate; the range of pictures in the childs book is increased. he or she now has to learn to choose between similar pictures to get the object they really want, for example, there may be several pictures of similar sweets, so the child learns to select the one they prefer.

Question 6

What are stages 4, 5 and 6 in PECS?

Answer 6

• Stage 4; sentence structure; the child now starts to build sentences by creating ‘sentence strips’. for example a picture of a ball might be added to the starter phrase ‘i want’ producing the sentence ‘i want the ball’
• Stage 5; Answering direct questions; The child’s use of phrases should have become automatic by now, so the next step is to ask him or her the question ‘what do you want? she or he learns to construct and exchange a sentence strip in response.
• Stage 6; Commenting; the range of questions is expanded to give the child an opportunity to comment on their experiences, questions such as what do you have? and what do you hear? the childs responses now go well beyond simply making requests, to constructing more complex sentence strips such as ‘i have the small blue ball.’