The effects of parent-implemented PECS training on improvisation of mands by children with autism.
Parents alone can teach kids with autism to request brand-new items using homemade PECS cards.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Two kids with autism, ages 4 and 6, took part.
Parents learned to run PECS at home.
The team watched if the kids could ask for NEW items using pictures they had never seen before.
What they found
Both kids started making their own picture cards and used them right away.
They asked for new snacks, toys, and even places without any extra teaching.
The skill moved across categories—food pictures worked for toys and vice versa.
How this fits with other research
Bracken et al. (2014) shows PECS also works for deafblind adults when pictures are made bigger raised lines.
Ferguson et al. (2022) and de Jonge et al. (2025) prove parents can learn communication skills through telehealth, matching this study’s parent-led approach.
McCammon et al. (2022) gives a faster option—a 5-minute video that teaches mand trials without a clinician in the room.
Martocchio et al. (2016) shows staff can train other staff to run PECS, so parents could train babysitters or teachers the same way.
Why it matters
You can hand parents a short PECS script and a stack of blank cards.
In a week they can have their child asking for anything in the house.
No need to pre-make every picture—kidsize the blank card rule and let the family build the library on the fly.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The present study examined the extent to which mothers were able to train their children, 2 boys with autism, to exchange novel pictures to request items using the picture exchange communication system (PECS). Generalization probes assessing each child's ability to mand for untrained items were conducted throughout conditions. Using a multiple baseline design, results demonstrated that both children improvised by using alternative symbols when the corresponding symbol was unavailable across all symbol categories (colors, shapes, and functions) and that parents can teach their children to use novel pictorial response forms.
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 2009 · doi:10.1901/jaba.2009.42-671