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PECS is a communication system for non-verbal autistic individuals that uses symbols to represent thoughts and ideas. It encourages full sentences and can be used to set schedules. It resembles early written languages and can lead to verbal communication.
A Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) is one of the primary means of communicating with non-verbal autistic individuals. While some with Autism Spectrum Disorder can verbalize thoughts, feelings, and wishes, many who function at lower levels cannot.
However, nonverbal autistic individuals often respond well to visual cues. This is where an image exchange communication system can be so invaluable. It opens up a communication portal to the outside world that largely doesn’t exist for many autistic and non-verbal people.
The Picture Exchange Communication System uses symbols to represent thoughts and ideas. A picture of a food, for example, will allow an autistic individual to show what she wants to eat or what is on the menu for that particular day. A picture of an activity could mean that’s what they are supposed to do next.
An image exchange communication commonly makes use of simple drawings. However, it is also possible to use real photographs. If they are brought into an environment that autistic children are familiar with, such as around their own school or home, they quickly understand what is trying to be communicated.
The goal of the Picture Exchange Communication System is to encourage people with autism to use full sentences and rely on verbal forms of communication. Many times, autistic individuals have the ability to communicate using words, but for reasons that aren’t clear to researchers, they simply don’t.
The Picture Exchange System has symbols that represent all parts of speech: subjects, verbs, direct objects, and even interjections. Complete sentences are made when the image symbols are placed in logical sentence form. For example, the symbols of I want, hot dog and please can be placed in succession to each other.
Often, the picture exchange communication system will then be used to encourage an autistic child to say the complete sentence, which often appears to be easier for the child at that point. The child will point to each symbol and say, “I want a hot dog, please.”
The system can also be used to set a schedule for the student, especially in a classroom setting. A “schedule strip” is set up which indicates the tasks the student has to complete that day. Once the student has finished the activity, she enters the activity and the image that represents it in a “completed” file. Then, they look for the next item of the program and start working on it. This gives the student a good idea of what to expect each day and reinforces a routine, which is crucial for autistic students.
While language skills may seem archaic at best, any improvement in verbalization with an autistic child is considered a great achievement. The Picture Exchange Communication System has proven to be a very effective means of achieving this advance. In many ways, a picture-exchange communication system resembles early written languages, which used pictograms to express messages.
In many cases, once an autistic individual becomes accustomed to sentence structure, they can achieve verbal communication independent of a picture exchange communication system. While emotions and complex concepts may still not be communicated verbally, PECS gives an autistic individual a good chance to verbalize basic information.
