The effects of PECS teaching to Phase III on the communicative interactions between children with autism and their teachers.

Carr et al. (2007) tested how fast PECS to Phase III would work in a real classroom.

Teachers gave 15 hours of PECS lessons over five weeks to preschoolers with autism.

A control group kept their usual program so the team could compare changes.

Kids who got PECS started far more back-and-forth exchanges with teachers.

They also made more spontaneous communication attempts than control peers.

The gains showed up after only 15 total hours of teaching.

Staddon et al. (2002) saw similar quick gains in a single elementary student, so the 2007 study replicates that success with a larger preschool group.

Galuska et al. (2006) went past Phase III and taught children to improvise requests when pictures were missing; Deborah’s work sets the stage for that next step.

ADiemer et al. (2023) later moved PECS into a community clinic with older kids, showing the method keeps working beyond preschool classrooms.

You can run PECS through Phase III in under a month without pulling kids out of class.

Brief daily sessions during snack or play give clear, measurable gains in initiation and interaction.

Use this paper when you need to show administrators that a short PECS block is worth the time.