Abstract
Objective:
The picture exchange communication system (PECS) is an alternative communication system frequently used with children with autism. Despite its common clinical use, no well-controlled empirical investigations have been conducted to test the effectiveness of PECS. In this paper, the sessions of PECS training and its results of a case with autistic disorder were presented.
Method:
The case was a boy with autism, an eleven year-old, who had limited communication, mutism, poor eye contact, and stereotyped behaviors. Ancillary measures of his social-communicative behaviors and problem behaviors were recorded. The PECS training was done a session every week, and his family has continued this training along week.
Results:
Our case, who met the learning criterion for PECS, showed concomitant increases in verbal speech. Ancillary gains were associated with increases in social-communicative behaviors and decreases in problem behaviors.
Discussion:
The related articles about PECS training on autistics were detected in Medline. The results are discussed in terms of the provision of empirical support for PECS.
Keywords: Autistic disorder, picture exchange communication system.
