on the fence about pecs | Autism PDD

PECS is an asset to communication in my opinion. I wish I could get my act together to use it more at home. They use it at school alot!Thanks for the help, I forgot to mention that we have tried signs but he seems to not be learning them. Sometimes he signs "more" with a physical prompt and once in a while "milk" and we've worked on that one for ages. I will try the pecs.

Sarah refused to sign..totally adversive to it for some reason.

We used both VB/ABA and ST along with pecs/pics all together:) We always paired the picture with a demand to at least attempt to say word either by pointing or grunting to slowing wanting her to make close approximations of the actual picture.

Pec/Pics are great for cutting down tantrums & anxiety by making daily schedules and little books of their favorite toys, foods, places to go ect...and it is how we taught her to say mama by looking & pointing to my picture and then she eventually said the magic word:)

We are about to start pecs with our 23 month old ds. He is not formally dx'd but 4 year old ds has PDD-NOS. Our little guy started speech about 4 months ago and ABA about 2 months ago. He's alot more engaged but he's still not talking much. He can say about 20-25 words but usually you have to prompt. I see him thinking so hard and trying to get the sound to come out, he babbles quite a bit and jargons to us, even on the phone. My question is, do you think pecs is going backwards or will it help his communication? I think it will help and I suspect I am just dragging my feet because I don't want him to need pecs. Have any of your kids used pecs and what was the result?

I think that PECS will help him in the short run because he will be able to free associate the correct pronunciation of words after he sees and hears them through PECS. After a while, he may not need them, or they may be of some use.

My son is completely verbal now...he is still delayed in his speech but is able to communicate most of the time what he needs or wants.

We still use pecs everyday...he just feels so much more comfortable and it seems easier for him to process things with pictures.

I don't think it is impeeding his language at all. He will still use his language if there is a picture involved.

PECS have been proven to encourage language, not hinder it. It may be bothersome to think that he may depend on them, but the research has proven that PECS affect language development in terms of promoting it. Look at it this way, if he does end up needing them, how will you feel having denied him this opportunity when he's at such an important stage in life? Without at least giving them a shot you could be denying him his stepping stone to functional language (or his primary means of functional communication.) What can it hurt to give the a try?

Good Luck!

Our ds was almost completely nonverbal, until we introduced PECS. That opened up so many doors for our little guy its amazing. He still does babble his own little language, but he can ask for things that he wants, which he never could before PECS. Honestly in my opinion, PECS is a lifesaver, and as he grows up he will not need it, he already has gotten to the point of not needing it quite so much. I hope this helps

A 13 yo NT

B 6 yo NT

C 5 yo ASD

ABCMOMMY

Consider sign language and PECS. My son is 30months and we tried PECS but all he wants to do is stim with the picture cards. He has learned about 15 signs and it is helping him start to communicate better and be less frustrated. My son has actually started talking more since we started using signs. Anything that will foster speech, or communication for that matter, is great- give it a try.I think PECS or Sign will help him develop speech rather than hinder it -
With us sign language did not work very well as it toolk him ages and all he had learned was "More"

PECS will help. Just try to verbalize with the cards for him everytime so he associates the words with the cards as soon as he can approximate the words himself, require that he say the word so he knows to associate words with them. I just found them rather cumbersome. My DS found it easier to sign and did not gravitate to the PECS as much as signing and approximating words after a while so we didn't use it as much after a short while. It did help though.

Goodluck.

PECS s not a backward step, trust me. PECS is a visual bridge and facilitates
verbal communication. Sharlet has learned all of her 2 dozen labeling words
from PECS, without it I don't think she would have any words yet.

PECS should be used until your child is using verbal communication %80 of
the time, and then it can be phased out. Good Luck

You don't have to go all out with PECS at first - just use the ones you have the most trouble with to start and go from there. We started out using PECs only for food choices at home before my son turned 2. His language finally took off around the age of 3. He still uses PECs at school which I actually think hinders him at this point in his life. However, with the anxiety level he has at school, PECs is an alternate means of communication.

Thanks for the imput, we have a meeting tomorrow with our team to go over everything. I think we will use them as magnets on the refrigerator (very central location in our home) and we can lay them on a table or floor as well. I think we are going to start with things he tries to request a lot like popsicle and train and drink. We were thinking that having them on the fridge would help prompt him to bring the card over to me rather than stand there pointing at the freezer when he wants a popsicle.

thanks again!

We did sign language instead of PECS. The down side to PECs is that you always need the Icons with you. With sign language they will always have their hands ready!!!

I started usinmg it because the school does. I found it to be more of a visual cue or reminder, rather than a replacement for language. It's especially helpful when for whatever reason he struggles for a word when trying to communicate. With PECS at least he can show me, and then we use the picture to teach the word. Once he knows the word, he rarely needs the picture, and at school it is more of going through the motions.

I was skeptical at first, but once I did it, it really helped preventing meltdowns due to the inability to communicate, and I noticed he was able to understand concepts better.

We use it only when neccessary, because we prefer talking to a dependancy on pictures, but we were able to see a huge improvement right away in school and at home.

Definately try the PECS and if it isn't effective, talk with your SLP about another AAC method. Augmentative/Alternative communication actually aides in verbal language development (this is backed up by research). Not having an effective communication mode generally leads to communication in ways we don't like kids to use (screaming, tantrums etc.) Your child's communication is pretty limited from what you describe right now. Good luck!