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

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Abstract

Communication deficits are one of the core symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). As such, individuals diagnosed with ASD are often taught to communicate using augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems. One of the most commonly used AAC systems is the Picture Exchange Communication System® (PECS®). Despite the prevalent use of PECS within clinical and educational settings, there exists little empirical information about the use of PECS in community settings, such as summer camps. The present preliminary investigation explored the nature of participants’ PECS use in a community setting using various sources of data from multiple respondents. Fidelity of PECS implementation was also examined. Twenty-two children and youth, the majority of whom scored substantially below average on standardized measures of cognitive and adaptive abilities and in the “severe” range of ASD symptomatology, were taught to use PECS within a therapeutic summer camp. Overall, results indicate that participants were reported to use PECS to request a diverse array of reinforcing items, across a variety of activities and environments. Increased PECS use and appropriate communicative behavior was observed, as well as reductions in contextually inappropriate behavior. Results were reported by parents to generalize to the home environment. Further, PECS was implemented with adequate fidelity by community implementors. Implications for communication training within community settings are discussed.

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Data Availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Funding

No funding was received for conducting this study or to assist with the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Disability Studies, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, Canada

    Julie Koudys

  2. Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Adrienne Perry

  3. Neuropsychiatry Clinic, BC Children’s Hospital, Vancouver, ON, Canada

    Kristen McFee

Authors
  1. Julie Koudys
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  2. Adrienne Perry
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  3. Kristen McFee
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design, as well as data analysis. Material preparation and data collection were performed by the first and third authors. The first draft of the manuscript was written by the first author and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Julie Koudys.

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Ethics Approval

Ethical approval for this research was granted through the university Research Ethics Board and the participating community agency. Ethics procedures and standards governing research involving human participants in Canada were met and the study was conducted in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.

Consent to Participate

Parents provided written, informed consent for their children to participate.

Consent for Publication

Parents provided written, informed consent for publication of their child’s anonymized data.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors 2 and 3 have no conflicting/competing interests. Author 1 was a consultant to Pyramid Educational Consultants of Canada, Inc., a company that may be affected by the research reported in the enclosed paper, at the time this study was conducted. No compensation for this research was provided by Pyramid Educational Consultants of Canada, Inc. Rigorous protocols were put in place to manage any potential conflicts arising from this arrangement.

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Koudys, J., Perry, A. & McFee, K. Picture Exchange Communication System® (PECS®) Use in a Community Setting: A Preliminary Investigation. J Dev Phys Disabil 34, 829–852 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10882-021-09826-5

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