Ask Amanda - PECS system

Hi Amanda - I thought I'd get in early with a question for you - I am exploring the idea of adapting a PECS system to help Hannah cope in an inclusive classroom. Can you suggest some ways to introduce her to this, also how would it work in a classroom? ( Is it really that easy for a teacher to and child to use? it is the one I am considering because my experience is that teachers rarely ahve the time to learn signing and then use it consistently) Also - what should I include in it eg are there categories that are commonly going to be useful in kindy? Anecdotally I have heard parents say that using this system has helped their children increase utterance length due to the sentence strip. I have access to the 2008 pecs cd - if I find it is working I will probably consider buying an updated version - next year. Thanks a lot. Shelley of Mainstream Musings(using Kit's private blog address cos I am not very technologically able - sorry!

What is PECS?

First, for those who aren’t familiar with the term PECS, it stands for Picture Exchange Communication System. The most common picture system used in schools is Boardmaker, with more and more schools actually purchasing the CD for use in their inclusive classrooms. See Spectronics for more information.

However, for families this system is not always affordable. There are other picture systems that have been developed, but if you want some free downloads you can visit Visual aids for learning, Sparklebox and do2learn. Both of these sites have free, downloadable pictures of commonly used concepts at home and at school.

How are PECS used?

The idea behind PECS is that by using concrete objects (pictures), the child can communicate without having skills such as eye contact and shared attention (paying attention to the same thing as the person they are communicating with, and taking turns in conversation) (Charlop-Christy, Carpenter, Lee, LeBlanc, & Kellet, 2002). These abstract skills can be taught in a very concrete, hands-on way using the pictures.

For example, if you are finding it difficult to get your child to pay attention to what your are saying, giving them a picture can help focus their attention. If the child is trying to communicate something, but is struggling to engage in the give-and-take of conversation, exchanging pictures can be like using a “talking stick”. In this way, they are getting your attention, and you are able to respond to their needs.

Pictures can be used instead of speech, but are usually used to supplement speech. PECS has been shown to be effective in helping children develop increased vocabulary and functional communication (Charlop-Christy et al., 2002). That is, children develop the ability to communicate their needs, wants and feelings in a way that helps them participate throughout the day with fewer “meltdowns” due to the frustration of not being able to communicate.

PECS is used for children with a wide variety of difficulties, including children with Down Syndrome and Autism.

How do you teach young children to use PECS?

Applied behaviour analysis and incidental teaching are usually used to teach PECS (Wolery, 2000). Here are some ideas:

a) Put things out of reach so that the child has to request the object:
Make sure you have the picture card readily available. Do this as a game, and be prepared with extrinsic rewards such as stickers if necessary so that it does not become distressing for both the child and yourself. But the aim is to arrive at a place where getting what they want or need, and a hug or a smile is enough to make the activity rewarding for your child.

For example, if you want to teach your child to request to use the toilet (an important skill for school participation), first shut the toilet door. Assuming your child can’t open the door for themselves, that is. Then, blu-tack the picture representing the toilet to the door, making sure it is within easy reach of your child. Praise your child and immediately open the door when they point to, touch or pull the picture off the door and give it to you.

(picture from do2learn)

b) Modelling
Continuing with the above example, have everyone in the house use the same technique. When you want to go to the toilet, give your child the picture of the toilet before you open the door. This means that she will learn to apply the “word” to others, not just herself. And whenever you use the card, say the phrase, “I need to go to the toilet.”

c) Repetition
Don’t vary this routine, right down to what you say. Get her to try to say exactly the same thing every time she uses the picture as well. If you repeat the same phrase, it will become familiar. Your child will also be able to practice and develop an “imprint” of that phrase in their memory – this it will help the shaping of the sounds with their mouth, their hearing of the sounds and their understanding.

d) Prompt and wait
You may also need to have a phrase and a gesture that will help prompt her to use the picture and/or language. Again, this phrase should remain the same … and pass this on to the teacher of her inclusive classroom. Make it something simple, like pointing to the picture and saying, “What do you say?” Then give your child a minute or so to process what you have said, and have a go. If she is getting distracted, use the same gesture and phrase again. Repetition and familiarity with the prompt are important, though at first you may need to use more physical prompts like guiding her hand to touch the picture. But gradually, try and reduce the prompts you give.

How is it used in the classroom?

PECS, especially boardmaker, is used in a number of ways in schools.

Individual communication booklets:
This is where the child carries around a little booklet of key pictures in their pocket, or on a key ring clipped to their waistband. Here is an example from http://www.autismshopper.com/page8.html.

At school the communication booklet usually has pictures of key people, such as their teacher; self-help words, such as “toilet” and “hungry”; and emotions, such as happy or sad. They may also have pictures that represent key timetable features such as lunch, class and playground time.

Timetables and transitions:
Becoming more common are velcro timetables. This is where pictures representing the different activities of the school day are stuck to a strip of velcroe either to the board at the front of the room, or to the child’s desk. Each time a task is finished, the picture is taken of the strip. Therefore the child can keep track of what is going on. This benefits all children in the classroom.

PECS can also be used to break up and teach the steps in specific activities. See an example on the Spectronics website.

Rules:
The differing social demands of school can be quite challenging for the child. Therefore, PECS are often used to communicate the teacher’s expectations. For example, when sitting on the floor in front of the teacher the expectation is to sit quietly and keep your hands to your self. The teacher may stick the appropriate picture reflecting this on the board. They may also give a smaller version of the picture to the child to gain the child’s attention, then give a verbal prompt (shhh) and gesture (finger to lips). This really helps with the transitions and interactions that are an essential part of the school day. See and example here.

Social stories:
The example in the link above is also a demonstration of how PECS can be used also to develop social stories which will teach children skills to cope with the different social challenges of the school day. I discussed this in a previous post.

In sum, the most commonly used categories at school are:

Self-care, including words such as toilet, food, drink, hurt

Timetabling and transitions: desk work, circle time, craft, sport and so on.

Social skills, including greetings, key emotions (happy, sad), rules (sharing, sitting still and quiet, putting hand up)

PECS may also be used during literacy activities to develop story strips, as seen on the right. These are Boardmaker symbols.

Just a note about sign language: Makaton

Makaton sign language (they have a PECS too) is becoming more common within inclusive classrooms as it is based on natural gestures rather than finger spelling. For example, the natural good-bye wave is used for “good-bye”. The “T” that we use in a “time-out” gesture for basketball is used to signify the need for a toilet break.

Check with your school – you might find that these simple gestures can be used for some key phrases. They can be taught in the same ways as your would teach PECS.

Find out about the difference between Makaton and AUSLAN here.

References:

Charlop-Christy, M.H., Carpenter, M., Lee, L, LeBlanc, L.A. & Kellet, K. (2002). Using the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) with children with autism: Assessment of PECS acquisition, speech, social-communicative behaviour and problem behaviour. Journal of applied behaviour analysis, 35(3), pp213-231.

Wolery, M. (2000). Behavioural and educational approaches to early intervention. In J.P. Shonkoff & S.J. Meisels (Eds) Handbook of early childhood intervention (2nd Ed), pp179-203. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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A conversation with a parent about bullying

Copyright Amanda Gray 2009

Between a parent of a child with ADHD, and Amanda (a special education teacher) - published here with permission.

Parent said:
My 11 year old daughter with ADHD and learning disabilities has experienced some bullying by a boy in her class room. The teacher attempted to talk individually to the boy doing the bullying as well as talk privately with my daughter who was distressed over the nasty name-calling, but the boy continues to bully her. This school year had so many new changes with all the kids switching to a new building that I think this year has been the toughest year on my daughter.

The sad thing is that the bullying only made a bad situation even worse. My daughter is literally asking me if she could start going to counselling. Can you imagine???? She is experiencing "separation anxiety" and hates leaving me to go to school. This has gone on throughout the entire school year, but it never got better. Any thoughts on this?

Amanda said:
There are a few things that you might want to look into (though I don't profess to have all the answers)

1. Find out if the boy's parents know about what he is doing and what they feel about it.
The Education Department in Australia recommend that parents of a child who is being bullied don't directly contact the parents of the "bully". However, you can ask the teacher and/or principal to speak to the parents. If they are shocked or disgusted or upset at their child's behaviour, the school might be able to get them involved in designing and implementing consequences for his actions, or they might help their child understand the impact of their bullying on your daughter.

2. If the parents are not on side, and the bullying is occurring due to lack of empathy, the teacher may be able to incorporate lessons, activities and rules into her classroom that tackle the issue of respect and value for diversity.
For example, set up a buddy system where children take turns in "looking after each other" in the playground.

Or have children do activities that help them recognise and value their differences, for example designing posters saying "I am special because..." (for all children, not specific just to your child).

Every morning she could have a "sharing circle", which is about discussing general issues that children have anonymously reported (using a ballot box) or issues that the teacher thinks they need to discuss. For example, she could get the students to talk about teasing, what it is, how it makes others/themselves feel, then ask the students to come up with a rule that might prevent it, and consequences for if it happens.

Publicly addressing the issue of teasing, and having strict consequences in place without talking specifically about your daughter can be a way of "shaming" the bully into backing off. But more importantly, it is about your daughter knowing that there are people on her side at school, and setting up a support network of peers for her so she feels more protected even if the teacher cannot always be present.

Addressing it in a general way may also reduce the likelihood of the boy targeting your daughter more if he feels she has "told on" or "snitched" on him.

Parent said:
I like the idea of the "sharing circle" and I think that is an excellent way to have children open up without feeling guilty or ashamed. I am sure that it is helpful because the children remain anonymous. My daughter had already discussed the bullying problem with one of her teachers. The teacher contacted me on the telephone and that is how I discovered what was going on. My daughter had not discussed this with me.

I did have a long discussion with my child about how bullying is wrong and hurtful to others. I explained that she should tell me and tell her teacher if it happens again. Unfortunately, the boy continued through the year harassing my daughter, bullying her and calling her hurtful names.

…. I think that I will continue to help my daughter try to work through any negative feelings from being bullied. We have considered going to a counsellor just to have someone professional discuss important topics and to try to work through the negative experience.

I want to add that my daughter has been having anxiety and insomnia much more than usual. I am not sure if this is directly related to the boy bullying her or not? It is a serious concern of mine and I do think that counselling could be a good choice for now. My daughter never had anxiety or insomnia to this degree, until this school year when the boy began bullying her.

It is very sad and unfortunate that I was not informed by the school much sooner about my daughter getting bullied by this boy. I was completely in the dark about it. It was not, until the school teacher contacted me that I discovered what was going on. This explains why my daughter constantly did not want to go to school and why she always had a stomach ache.

Schools should contact parents immediately when and if they think there is a bullying situation with their child. Some kids, like my daughter, do not share at home with family the details of being bullied at school. Although, I did not discover the truth, until close to the end of the school year, I am grateful that I finally found out so I can help my daughter work through the negative emotions and feelings.

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Laws about bullying

“Bullies and bullying should never be treated lightly.”
Dr Kevin Leman in his book Have a New Kid by Friday.

The Disability Standards for Education 2005: What it says about bullying.

In Australia, the inclusion of children with disabilities in educational institutions is shaped by the Disability Standards for Education, 2005 . Part 8 of these Standards deals specifically with the issue of bullying. So I thought I would start this month by explaining the key points from those Standards.

For readers who come from countries other than Australia, the key elements of the Disability Standards should be reflected in legislation in your country. In a later post I will explore the UN rights of the Child and would love to hear from anyone who has some information about relevant laws in their own country.

What is harassment or bullying? (picture copyright Amanda Gray, taken from "Dave is Brave" www.learn2bebuddies.com.au)
The Disability Standards define harrassment/bullying as any action that may “humiliate, offend, intimidate or distress the person” (p22). It clearly states that any act that comes under this category that is aimed at students with disabilities or any associate (eg parent, friend, teacher) of that student is unlawful under the Disability Discrimmination Act 1992.

It also more specifically states that no one should be bullied or harassed due their need for supports or adjustments such as teachers' aides, technology, guide dogs and so on.

While I am just focusing on the Disability Discrimmination Act and Disability Standards, there are laws that address this issue for all community members, not just students with disabilities. They all have the following elements.

What is required of an education provider?
First, let’s just clarify that an education provider is any educational institution, authority or anyone who is developing curricula. So, for example, in NSW that includes the NSW Board of Studies, the Department of Education and your child’s school.

And education provider needs to have in place three things:
1. Processes to prevent bullying or harassment
2. Mechanisms for reporting any occurrences of harassment or bullying.
3. Mechanisms to respond to harassment of bullying.

Prevention
The Standards make it clear that part of the process of preventing harassment is to have a code of conduct. This means that there should be rules that help set a positive, supportive, respectful culture in the school.

Every school should have a discipline policy or anti-bullying policy that includes a set of rules or expectations. These expectations should be about promoting respect. These policies should also be frequently discussed and freely available to everyone in the school community, including parents.

There are many other ways of preventing bullying, but I will discuss these in future posts.

Reporting
The Standards require that a school have a system for ensuring that students can report if they have been bullied or harassed. This process should again be clearly stated in the anti-bullying or discipline policy. And, again, this should be available to all students, staff and parents.

Students and staff should be reminded regularly of how they can report bullying.

Students can be afraid of reporting a bullying event if they feel like they are at risk of further bullying due to being seen as a “tattler”. It is important that the school design processes that a confidential and protect the “reporter” of a bullying event. I will discuss this more in a future post.

Responding
The Disability Standards state that any response to bullying should be “fair, transparent and accountable.”

This means firstly that the school needs to understand what caused the bullying in the first place. Misunderstanding? Self-esteem issues on the part of the bully? Prejudice or stereotyping? Lack of empathy? There are many more reasons why one person bullies another.

This does not mean that the bully should not experience consequences. However, it does mean that the only way to really stop the bullying is to address the underlying reason for the bullying and respond to the needs of all parties in the event.

Zero tolerance to bullying is essential. But that does not mean that we ignore the needs of the bully. This will benefit neither the bully nor the child being bullied. But I will talk about that in another post this month.

Being transparent about your response to bullying is about making clear what the consequences for bullying will be in the school or Departmental policy. So the anti-bullying policy should say “If you bully someone, then …”

Being accountable is about recording the bullying event and the steps taken to respond to it. For example, the school principal, parent and/or school counsellor should keep records about what has happened.

If you want to know more….
If you want to know more about the Disability Standards, you can download them here. You could also look at the documents that help explain the Disability Standards (though they are a bit heavy).

If you want to know more about the NSW Department of Education’s approach to bullying in schools, visit Bullying! No Way!

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