Effects on communicative requesting and speech development of the Picture Exchange Communication System in children with characteristics of autism.
PECS Phases 1-4 can quickly boost spoken vocabulary and phrase complexity in preschoolers with ASD even while they’re still learning to exchange pictures.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Three preschoolers with autism or developmental delay learned PECS Phases 1-4.
The kids worked one-on-one with adults. The team tracked picture exchanges, spoken words, and babble.
What they found
Every child mastered the first four PECS phases.
While they still swapped pictures, their real words and short phrases grew and useless babble dropped.
How this fits with other research
Leaf et al. (2012) pooled 24 single-case PECS studies and saw the same big communication jump.
Van der Molen et al. (2010) later ran an RCT and still found strong gains, showing the effect holds when kids are picked by chance.
Doherty et al. (2018) pushed the idea further: they taught the same PECS steps but had children trade pictures with peers, not just adults, and social turns rose too.
Magiati et al. (2003) looked similar on paper—kids quickly used more pictures—but that pilot measured teacher training, not child mastery, so the outcomes do not clash.
Why it matters
You can start PECS even with tiny clients who have almost no speech. Expect spoken words and longer phrases to tag along while picture swaps grow. Try peer pairs after Phase 4 to fold in social mileage.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Few studies on augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems have addressed the potential for such systems to impact word utterances in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) is an AAC system designed specifically to minimize difficulties with communication skills experienced by individuals with ASD. The current study examined the role of PECS in improving the number of words spoken, increasing the complexity and length of phrases, and decreasing the non-word vocalizations of three young children with ASD and developmental delays (DD) with related characteristics. Participants were taught Phases 1-4 of PECS (i.e., picture exchange, increased distance, picture discrimination, and sentence construction). The results indicated that PECS was mastered rapidly by the participants and word utterances increased in number of words and complexity of grammar.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2004 · doi:10.1023/b:jadd.0000037416.59095.d7