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

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.