PECS Training Just curious.... If you are a parent and were told by a school administrator that the classroom you'd be enrolling your child in engages in PECS training, what would you expect out of that classroom/teacher? I feel like maybe our administrator is lying...   Any input? Hmm...why would the administrator lie?  Is he trying to discourage you from enrolling your child there? I would expect that the PECS is in place in order to help the children organize their day, prevent meltdowns, communicate more effectively. Most special ed. classrooms where kids do not have good expressive language will utilize PECS. Could you explain this post a little more, I don't really understand what is meant by it!! But I could help if I knew because I have to use a ton of pecs at school and at home with the little ones I tutor for. Does your child need pecs, are you teaching pecs?? If I was told that they would be doing pecs in the classroom, I would expect my child to be able to know how to use the program in the classroom, and to have a communication board that they would use for commincation, transitions, and for many different options!!Do you mean what was the teacher's traiing?  You have the right to ask (under No Child Left Behind) for each teacher's credentials and background.  Also, I would never enroll my child in a classroom I have not see in action (unless there was a VERY GOOD REASON why not -- like the class does not yet exist and then I'd want to meet with the proposed teacher first anyway).  PECS is an excellent program and it's not difficult to learn to use. It's used widely, so it's likely that the teacher and the others in the classroom are adept at using it. If not, PECS won't work. They idea is to use it consistently so the child learns that s/he HAS to communicate.  Also, if PECS is being used in the classroom, it should be used at home, too.  Your child's IEP should include PARENT TRAINING so that you can learn to use PECS.I am in aide in a TEACCH demonstration classroom and the reason I asked this question is because a few weeks back, I was organizing our independent work room when one of the administrators came to show our classroom to an incoming family. I overheard her selling our classroom and she was telling the parents that we implement PECS training.....and I know for sure, that we do not. We do let the kids use their PECS book as they need to, but we do NOT teach PECS and we do not train PECS. Our speech pathologists work with students, but I don't believe they follow the true protocol. I just feel l like the administrators are telling parents what they want to hear, and it's really starting to make me want to look for new jobs. well darling, this sounds like what alot of us hear. I am also a tutor for two boys, I hear stuff all the time that I know in my heart is not true. But you know what you could do, now that the school is saying you do pecs, and all that great stuff, you could get yourself realy familiar with pecs, and use it all the time with the kids... Pecs should be more that just having options. I seriously use my programs and pecs on my boyfriend just so I can practice and make no mistakes. I show them transitions using pecs, I give activity options, food options. I show them emotions using pecs. The boy that I work with has been biting himself for 10 years. I started collecting data on it, and I realized I could work around when he did it. I started by using pecs, and showing him when things were happening, and then I would say " ok remember" this is what we are doing. he has not been biting with me at all, but he does it everyday at school, I can tell because when I get him at 3:00 his little wrist are all red and chewed up, but I am private tutor so the school doesn't want to hear from me!!! and that's ok!! So where I am going with this is, think about the kids, do it for them, not for the school, the kids don't have any control over what the teachers or school says, so just make the pecs better than it has been, and try to use it more often than it is being used. If you quit your job, it is one less child that will have your help!!! That's the way I look at it! One thing to note in this discussion is that the administrator may not have a true understanding of what training/teaching PECS is.  The use of the acronym "PECS" with many educators AND parents has come to mean simply using picture schedules and picture exchange, not necessarily the actual protocol of the PECS System. Perhaps speaking with the administrator and educating him/her to have a clear understanding of what the PECS System is, how the protocol works, would help them to better - and more accurately - explain to parents what actually IS used in the school, i.e., picture schedule, allowing children to use their PECS notebooks, etc. The "PECS" name has been trademarked, and the protocol that is used to teach PECS is patented.   If the administrator is stating to prospective families that the school "implements PECS training" or teaches using the PECS System, and it does not, then the administrator and/or the school are vunerable to being sued for trademark and patent violations, and by her statements she has created that situation.  Perhaps that might be motivation for changing her statements or for the teachers to obtain proper training.  Oh I completely agree. And I use PECS every chance I get. I'm trying to get everyone else on board with me (other aides/teacher), but it seems like no one else is motivated enough. It's just so hard because the kids have learned that with me, they have to work and that with other staff, they can just become lazy and ask for help. I just feel like if the school is advertising that we teach PECS, that we should be doing just that! I feel like the parents should know what type of program they're enrolling their kid in, because honestly, they deserve nothing but the best, and I feel like our program, is definitely not the best. :( I just wish I could get everyone on board with me, but I don't know how, without sounding like a b*tch. It's also hard because I'm an aide, and not the teacher. No one wants to take advice from the aide. Unfortunately, our teacher won't go get trained and isn't pushing staff to use the appropriate programs. :( (P.S. Anyone know of any better jobs out there in the Chicagoland area? I'm dying to work in a more professional program!) If you live in the US, the teachers who work with your child have to have "preservice training" according to IDEA 2004.  That means the teacher and staff had to have had some kind of training already in using PECS.  Ask, in writing, for what kind of training they have.  Go to www.wrightslaw.com and search "teacher training" for more info. OK.....whe I have often found is "taking the formal PECS training and having formal PECs followup coaching" vs. "using the picture systems to get kids to ask for stuff" are to VERY different things!!!!
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