PECS Picture Exchange (Communication System)
The creators of the system are Americans A. Bondy and p. Ch. D. Frost & Lori. The system is not complicated and does not require any specialized help. It was created in cooperation with families, educators, carers of people with disabilities, which is why it is so widely used,
in different environments. It focuses primarily on initiating contact.
PECS begins teaching each person by giving a picture of the desired item to a "communication partner" who immediately recognizes the initiation as a request. The system is moving towards learning to distinguish between pictures and ultimately building complete sentences. In more advanced phases, individuals are taught to answer questions and comment. (www.pecs-poland.com)
PECS users are in different ways, the youngest was just over a year old and the oldest was over 70 years old! Experience shows that the system has been adopted in people with various communication, cognitive and physical difficulties. Some students using PECS started talking and went through
from pictorial communication to verbal communication.
The system includes 6 phases:
Phase I – Students learn to turn individual pictures into objects or activities that they desire at any given moment.
PHASE II – Students still use single pictures, but in this phase they learn to generalize a new skill. Generalization is nothing more than exchanging an image for an object
or activity but in places other than those initially taught, in rooms, with other people
and at an increased distance. We also teach patience and perseverance in achieving the goal.
PHASE III – Distinguishing pictures. Students learn to choose from two or more pictures to get the thing they are actually asking for. The pictures are in the communication book (in the form of a binder), where they are attached with Velcro and are thus easily accessible at the time of communication.
PHASE IV – Students learn to construct simple sentences on a detachable sentence strip using a "I want" picture and then a picture of the object they are asking for. Here, students learn to expand sentences by adding adjectives, verbs, and prepositions.
PHASE V – Students learn how to use PECS to answer the question "What would you like?".
PHASE VI – Commenting – In this phase, students are taught to comment and answer questions such as: "What do you see?", "What do you hear?", "What is it?". They learn to form sentences from "I see…", "I hear…", "I feel…", "This is…" etc. (www.pecs-polska.com)
Using PECS is related to the Pyramid Approach to Education. This model creates a transparent learning environment for people with developmental and learning disabilities.
The "Pyramid Approach" contains two types of learning elements: structural and instructional. The building blocks that form the basis of the pyramid, shaping the learning environment are:
1. Functional activities
2. Reinforcement systems
3. Functional communication
4. Identification and replacement of contextually incorrect behaviors
The instructional elements shape the top of the pyramid and contain key information for creating effective lessons. The most important elements are:
1. 1. Generalization
2. 2. Lesson formats
3. 3. Teaching/Prompting strategies
4. 4. Error correction (uniquely developed and adapted to the specifics of the prompting strategy)
All elements contain data on which decisions are made. This approach combines all the elements of the pyramid into one whole and thus leads students to achieve success on many levels. Pyramid emphasizes how to teach, not just what to teach, and tailors each student's program to their individual needs." (www. pecs-polska.com)
