Training Education Professionals to Use the Picture Exchange Communication System: a Review of the Literature

Abstract

The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) is a popular augmentative and alternative communication strategy. Like many communication interventions, the successful use of PECS is dependent on the skills of the communication partner. This article provides a systematic review of the published research on teaching education professionals (EPs) to use PECS. Training of EPs was usually conducted during individual or small group sessions and included a description of the PECS strategy, practice on implementation of PECS, and feedback on performance. Instructional activities typically resulted in an immediate increase in the quality and/or quantity of PECS opportunities provided by the EP; however, mixed findings are reported for maintenance and generalization. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Picture Exchange Communication System® (PECS®) Use in a Community Setting: A Preliminary Investigation

“…Although, given the small number of participant-camp worker dyads for whom complete data were available, these results should be interpreted cautiously. These results are consistent with those of recent reviews that found that the majority of PECS implementers were able to achieve mastery criteria and improve the quality of PECS implementation following training (Alsayedhassan et al, 2016;McCoy & McNaughton, 2019). In addition to overall treatment fidelity, exploratory analyses examined the accuracy of teaching at different phases.…”

“…Encouragingly, those studies that did report fidelity reported high degrees of such (e.g., 98.6%; Tincani et al, 2006). In fact, recent reviews of PECS mediator training demonstrated that following training, the majority of PECS implementers achieved high treatment fidelity (Alsayedhassan et al, 2016) and demonstrated improvement in the quality of PECS implementation (McCoy & McNaughton, 2019). Importantly, a few studies have also presented data on treatment fidelity by PECS phase (e.g., Cummings et al, 2012;Martocchio & Rosales, 2016); however, this level of detail is rare, leaving gaps in understanding whether certain phases of PECS may be taught with higher or lower fidelity.…”

Examination of the role of training and fidelity of implementation in the use of assistive communications for children with autism spectrum disorder: a meta‐analysis of the Picture Exchange Communication System

“…When the child is successful with the prior phase, the next phase of the PECS is introduced (Wong et al, ). Given the suspected effectiveness of the PECS (McCoy & McNaughton, ), there is little research that evaluates the effectiveness of the PECS when comparing a person who is trained and person who is not trained.…”

Comparative Study of the Perspectives on the Impact of a Culturally Responsive Picture Exchange Communication System for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder in the United Arab Emirates

“…Indeed, a corpus of studies from countries such as Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States shows that the use of PECS among children with ASD is closely linked to better communication and positive behavior (5,6,10,(21)(22)(23). Some studies have demonstrated that the use of PECS among children with ASD enables them to engage in prolonged conversation, initiate conversation, and make demands, decisions, and choices (5,10,24,25). Furthermore, the use of PECS enables children with ASD to develop better or more positive behavioral skills that facilitate their inclusion in society (6,24,26).…”

“…Some studies have demonstrated that the use of PECS among children with ASD enables them to engage in prolonged conversation, initiate conversation, and make demands, decisions, and choices (5,10,24,25). Furthermore, the use of PECS enables children with ASD to develop better or more positive behavioral skills that facilitate their inclusion in society (6,24,26). This clearly underscores the need for the practitioners and the parents to adopt PECS to enable non-verbal children with ASD to develop a form of language for communication.…”