Picture Exchange Communication Paper

The Picture Exchange Communication System is divided into six different phases that

encourage the participant to become a more effective communicator as the program progresses.

Pyramid Educational Consultants, Inc. lists the six phases of PECS as follows:

Phase I: How to Communicate

The first phase of PECS teaches students to exchange single pictures for an item the

student desires. For this example, we shall use a piece of candy. The first phase requires two

adults to be present. One adult is the “communicative partner”, who shows the student the

reinforcer, or the favored item, and waits for the child’s natural response to reach for the piece of

candy, otherwise known as first initiation.5 ??? citation?The second adult, known

234). Or According to Smith (2012), “…” (p. 234). Do NOT use footnotes to cite sources you later REFERENCE.

Phase III: Picture Discrimination

In Phase III of PECS, the student is asked to disseminatediction: word choice? between

multiple pictures of desired and non-desired objects placed on their communication book.

Consistent with the previous phases of PECS, the student is to a picture and hand it to their

communicative partner. ???If the student selects the picture of the desired item, then they are

presented the actual desired item coupled with social reinforcement. When a student responds

incorrectly, error correction strategies such as the 4-Step Error Correction Procedure10 are

introduced to help the student realize his/her error. More pictures and objects are introduced as

the student succeeds in consistently choosing the correct or desired object. The student is

The communicative partner then turns the strips toward the student and

recites the “I want” phrase before handing the student the desired object.6

Phase V: Answering Questions

The reason that the communicative partner must use the command “I want” as the

precursor to the desired object in phase IV is the communicative partner is preparing the student

for the answering questions phase of the PECS program. This phase focuses on answering the

question “What do you want?” and the student should be able to spontaneously request a variety

of items.7

Phase VI: Commenting

In the final phase of the PECS program, the student learns to make up sentences starting

with “I see”, “I hear”, “I feel”, etc.1 This way, the student learns to comment on the environment

around him/her. The communicative partner creates pictures for these expressions which can

create opportunities for the student to express themselves by making comments such as “I like

ice cream. What do you