PECS® stands for Picture Exchange Communication System. This form of communication, which uses picture cards, was developed in 1985 by Andy Bondy and Lori Frost.
It was first used on pre-school children. It was soon realised that it also worked with older people. Today, PECS® is used all over the world.
Support and reinforcement strategies are used for learning. The protocol also includes systematic error correction procedures.
All clients* have an individual communication book that they carry with them. The most effective thing is for the reference people (parents, therapists, educators, teachers) who work with the child concerned to know about and use this system.
The method is evidence-based, and its effectiveness as a communication aid for people with autism has been demonstrated on the basis of scientific research findings.
Application
Communication support is established in six phases. PECS® consists of six successive phases. Firstly, clients learn to give individual images of the objects they want in order to obtain the desired object. Then they learn to discriminate images and construct sentences. In the advanced phases, customers learn to use attributes, answer questions and make comments. The aim is for customers to initiate communication independently.
pecs-germany.com and einfach-miteinander-reden.de
- Phase 1: sharing images
- Phase 2: Distance and perseverance
- Phase 3: visual distinction
- Phase 4: sentence structure; attributes, extending sentence structure
- Phase 5: Answering the questions
- Phase 6: Comment
Questions to FAL / parents with experience of PECS
ℹ️ Our team of authors is working on this section. Thank you for your patience.
- How long did the apprenticeship last?
- How much does it cost?
- How can people learn PECS?
- How can interested parties obtain the images?
Find out more
- PECS – Picture Exchange Communication System – autismuszentrum-sonnenschein.at
- PECS – Picture Exchange Communication System – einfach-miteinander-reden.de
- PECS®: EIN EVIDENZBASIERTES SYSTEM – pecs-germany.com.
- FAL also works with PECS
- Das Picture Exchange Communication System – chadwilken.com