Holy Angels Speech Therapists, case managers, and direct service workers are trained in the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS). PECS allows our caregivers to better communicate with residents and program participants to establish their strengths, likes, dislikes and unique interests regardless of verbal abilities. This allows AngelWorks to implement a curriculum rich in functional skill development.
PECS is a great tool in helping all nonverbal residents with or without autism communicate without words. PECS is used in a variety of ways-starting with pictures- to allow the Resident to make choices and communicate his/her needs.
PECS can be used in several ways: to help an ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorders) individual communicate with you, and for you to provide visual schedules and communicate with them in a way that is easy to understand and organized.
PECS will usually start with pictures of desired objects (such as food, places, and people) and progress over time to pictures with sentence strips (for example: I want cookies) and then, finally move from pictures to words.
PECS can be created by using a digital camera to take pictures of familiar items or by using cartoons and/ or other available pictures from the Internet. Laminating pictures and words can make these useful.
