Has anyone here trained in PECS??

[Eloise73]

Hi

Have any of you taken the 2 day course training in PECS? I don't know much about PECS and from their website it seems the best way to learn is the 2 day workshop but I can't make the one at the end of August which means having to wait until beginning of November now.

Is there another way to learn this system? Would like to hear from those of you who have done training workshops or learned another way. Did it help your child?

Thanks,
Eloise

I done the course as think did starlight feeling few others did to.

Yes if you want to implment it properly I would reccomend it,though be aware your be shocked when realise just how many professionals use it invorrectly

for ds in the end we faded pecs out as he prefered signing and his problems are more about inablity to talk rather than not wanting to communicate

Definitely agree PECS is to teach mechanism of communication so you need to assess whether that is the key problem or not - as roundthebend says many professionals don't know how to use it properly or even what it is for. PECS can be great for the right child in the right circumstances but possibly only you will think the issues right through.

Thanks for your advice.

At DD's assessment they said her main problem was communication. She knows hundreds of words but doesn't really communicate with us. I mean, she asks for milk or food she wants, likes to sing songs and can memorise books and tv shows she likes but if you ask her a direct question 9 times out of 10 she won't or can't answer. She doesn't understand the concept of 'I' or 'me', of self really.

The speech therapist said that intesive interaction and PECS were the best way forwards but I can't get on the PECS course now until November so was just hoping to find another way to learn about it in the meantime and hear from others on here about how it helped.

Sorry for the hijack

Starlight could you either pop on my thread or email me on Phoenixlightfoot@ yahoo.co.Uk need to talk about fact seems that a party in common we share that were both dealing with tribunal are using the same dirty tactics regarding ss and Cp

Hi Starlight

The assessment was done at White Lodge in Chertsey by a community paediatrician, a speech and language therapist and 2 occupational therapists (one of whom has worked with DD for a few months) and our health visitor was there too. They did a DISCO assessment and 2 observational sessions.

Thanks for your comments, I may try the earlier one in Southampton, its not too far from here.

We did the 2 day workshop, then the 1 day PECS throughout the day. Very useful and professional. Still use what we learned there 7 years later (ds1 now 11).

Ds1 has always wanted to communicate but PECS still very helpful for him. His language was very limited, he is non-verbal and he can't produce accurate signs (none at all until he was 8). It's not the only method we use but it's a useful one.

PECS is a means to establish basic communication - I'm not sure if there is a means to cope with the higher level stuff like answering open ended questions . With all of these things you have to have a clear idea what the end result of the intervention is going to be - PECS might be the way or it might not but ask anyone doing it - 'What do you expect my daughter to be able to do in very practical terms with this approach?' It might sound obvious but it gets missed out a lot !

I went on 2 day course many years ago (with Saintlydame and a couple of other "old" MNers!). I think it is well worth going on to really understand how to use PECs properly and correct or detect others not doing so. DS also uses signing and I find that the two work very well together but we did NOT introduce both at the same time, signing (Makaton) about a year later. I think there is some prejudice against PECs or visuals for individuals who can speak and possibly something more along the lines of visual strategies, timetables etc would be more appropriate although PECs and other visual strategies seem to be accepted as supporting processing, memory, retrieval etc even for those who can speak. HTH.

This is fascinating! I didn't know there was a course! I just got the stuff, read the leaflets and did what i thought would work!! Luckily my son talks and communicates well now without the need for PECS or Makaton...phew!!! ps and i made my own PECS style cards hee hee!

I didn't do a course but i would recommend it.

I was taught PEC'S alongside dd2 when she started nursery, i stayed with her at nursery for 2 weeks, they started PEC'S straight away and i sat in and acted as the 2nd person. We were very lucky thaat dd2 got a place at a great sn nursery which had SALT on site as well as staff trained to use PECS.

Thanks everyone, glad to hear that PECS is so useful.

Marne that SN nursery sounds awesome, you don't live in West Surrey do you?! Would love DD to go to a nursery like that. There is one in Chertsey but heavily oversubscribed and she wouldn't be able to go there until she's 4 anyway.

My Ds sounds very similar I went on course and it was excellent but did not use PECS in end. PECs is mainly to teach a child the point of using language which if you DD requests using words she has already grasped. We do aba and held off on Pecs as supervisor felt unnecessary and we used aba to teach expectation that use speech to ask or answer question. Most LA won't use aba as expensive so Pecs is often their default position it was on our statement months after ds started using speech. We do use visual prompts to teach new language at times but this is different to pecs which means exchanging a picture for a desired item. I would consider seeing aba consultant and getting free initial interview as they may feel by use rewards can get your DD to use speech. My Ds is unusual as he uses very few words for the number of words he has because his social deficit is very severe. So for us work on making building social interest has been as important as language teaching. Sorry to put my oar in but sounds like similar situation to what we were in and ds word use increased massively within a week starting aba.

I agree with Agnes - that although is a great system when used appropriately, it is a default approach that is often advised without enough consideration of whether it really is best for the child. DS has always been able to use words to request and to comment and has a big one word vocab but the rest of his language is mostly learned phrases and echolalia. We use ABA to work at getting more useful longer phrases but the advice we still get from professionals is still 'Ooh I wonder if PECS would help.' Very well intentioned but not much use to us ! I also agree visual prompts are probably more appropriate for a minimally verbal child.

Thank you all for your comments.

Agnes and willow thank you for what you said. I am still in the midst of all that comes with a diagnosis and haven't really settled in yet but I have been in touch with Gina Davis who started the Little Group Nursery in Epsom years ago and is now doing workshops and home consultations for kids and we are hoping she will be able to assess where our DD is and i'm sure PECS probably won't be used heavily. Like you say, she does say a lot and ask for things so it is more of a social deficit I think.

I love this board, everyone is so helpful :)

Eloise - CAT me if you want more info on the little group, or Gina Davies.

I have come across/used both.

Any professional who won't use ABA but will use PECs is rather missing the point as PECs is pure ABA, utterly behavioural and uses r+

Absolutely ! But why are there so many people like that around ? Seriously why do they not know that PECS is ABA ? I keep meeting people who rave about PECS then look pitying or nasty or both when I mention ABA !

From what i've read about PECS it does similar to ABA. No idea why people have such strong dislikes to one or another. I couldn't care less as long as it works for us and for others.

I got to speak with Gina who sounds amazing btw and she said if we wanted to use PECS she could teach us so its another option for us with our DD.

Out of curiosity why are some people nasty about ABA (especially given how successful it is with so many kids)?