What should PECS be used for?
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What should PECS be used for?
| Tue, 05-02-2006 - 5:18pm |
As a Mom to a newly diagnosed 2 year old, I have found (during my countless hours of late-night research) that PECS keeps coming up again and again.
So, this is a type of picture exchange for what a child wants? What situations work best with this? All I can think of is food and washing/teeth brushing.
What works for your child when it comes to helping express needs and wants?
Thanks,
Rachael

Forget "PECS" as a trademark or specific methodology and instead think of it as using visual comunication as a foundation for verbal communication.
Peter didn't gain functional language until he was almost 4.5, so picture based communication saved our lives in two ways:
It gave us a means to communicate with Peter, although he didn't use it too much to communicate with us.
It provided the foundation on which to bulid verbal language. -We always backed up the picture with the word or phrase, and encouraged him to do the same, and eventually he was using the word consistently, and over time, he would not need the picture -just the word. In a manner of speaking, it gave us the transition to spoken language, which really wasn't happening using conventional means.
I went mad with the digital camera and magazines/scissors and created our own "PECS" using real pictures of real stuff. I just printed the photos on regular paper -could resize them to fit.
I had pictures all over the fridge: juice, milk, mom, dad, lunch, bed etc. I also made picture schedules of his day or specific routines; (getting up, going to bed, etc). It really helped him to have these. I scripted them so everyone used consistent language: an example might be:
I eat breakfast (picture of breakfast)
Then I go to Ines' house (piture of her house).
I play with Ines (picture) and my friends) picture.
I eat lunch at Ines' (picture of lunch)
Then the school bus comes (picture of bus)
The bus takes me to school (picture of school)
After school I go back to Ines' (same picture of her house)...etc etc
I really don't know how I would have gotten through those years, or indeed if Peter would ever have really learned to communicate without visual communication aids.
-Paula
visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com