Picture Exchange Communication System

Although the official definition of language can vary, speech language pathologists, linguists, and behaviorists can certainly agree that language is a symbolic system. Children with language disorders inherently possess challenges in the area of communication. Communication may be described as comprising the ability to send, receive, or process symbols. One may, therefore, consider effective communication as communication that is efficiently conveyed across individuals and environments, without need for repair (i.e., functional speech).

When working with individuals who are not functional communicators, augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) may be considered. AAC may be implemented to either support verbal speech (augmentative) or in lieu of verbal speech completely (alternative). The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) is a picture-based, hence “iconic,” AAC system. PECS was developed to increase functional ...