Brief report: Increase in production of spoken words in some children with autism after PECS teaching to phase III

The context for this work was an evaluation study [Carr, D., & Felce, J. A. (in press)] of the early phases of the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) [Frost, L. A., & Bondy, A. S. (1994). The picture exchange communication system training manual. Cherry Hill, NJ: Pyramid Educational Consultants, Inc.; Frost, L. A., & Bondy, A. S. (2004). The picture exchange communication system training manual, 2(nd) edn. Newark, DE: Pyramid Educational Consultants, Inc.]. This paper reports that five of 24 children who received 15 h of PECS teaching towards Phase III over a period of 4-5 weeks, showed concomitant increases in speech production, either in initiating communication with staff or in responding, or both. No children in the PECS group demonstrated a decrease in spoken words after receiving PECS teaching. In the control group, only one of 17 children demonstrated a minimal increase and four of 17 children demonstrated a decrease in use of spoken words after a similar period without PECS teaching.