This comprehensive, highly interactive 13-hour workshop equips participants to confidently implement the Picture Exchange Communication System® (PECS®) to teach effective communication to learners of all ages. Designed for professionals, educators, and caregivers, the training provides a clear and practical roadmap for supporting communication development across home, school, and community settings.

Participants will:

• Identify learners who will benefit from PECS
• Describe 9 key components of creating effective learning environments using the Pyramid Approach to Education
• Explain differences between prerequisites for and long-term outcomes for PECS and other modalities such as speech, sign language, picture pointing or speech generating devices
• Identify strategies to create communication opportunities during routines and functional day-to-day activities
• Implement the 6 phases of the PECS protocol
• Name strategies for successfully saying, “No!”
• Discuss the evidence for PECS and speech development
• Examine the criteria for transitioning from PECS to other communication modalities

Day 1

8:00 8:15 Introduction, disclosures, learner objectives 

8:15 8:30 PECS History 

8:30 8:40 Candidates for PECS, AAC, PECS vs Speech research 

8:40 8:50 Introduction to the Pyramid Approach to Education 

8:50 9:10 Embedding Communication in Functional Activities 

9:10 9:35 Motivating Learners with Powerful Reinforcers 

9:35 9:50 BREAK 

9:50 10:20 Functional Communication across modalities, conditions under which communication occurs, Critical Communication Skills 

10:20 10:40 Relationship between Contextually Inappropriate Behaviors and Communication 1

0:40 10:55 The importance of generalization 

10:55 11:10 Creating Effective Lessons using discrete or sequential lesson formats 

11:10 11:35 Teaching strategies such as effective prompts and shaping 

11:35 12:35 LUNCH 

12:35 12:55 Error Correction Strategies 

12:55 1:00 Data Collection 

1:00 1:05 Pyramid Approach Wrap Up 

1:05 1:25 Getting ready; Creating and Capturing Communication Opportunities 

1:25 2:00 PECS Phase I: Spontaneity and Initiation 

2:00 2:15 BREAK 

2:15 2:40 Complete PECS Phase I 

2:40 3:40 PECS Phase II: Distance and Persistence 

3:40 3:55 Phase III: Introduction 

3:55 4:00 Review, Q & A 

Day 2

8:00 8:15 Housekeeping & Review of Day 1 

8:15 9:05 PECS Phase IIIA: Simple Discrimination 

9:05 9:25 Alternative strategies for picture discrimination 

9:25 9:45 Introduce PECS Phase IIIB: Complex Discrimination 

9:45 10:00 BREAK 

10:00 10:55 Complete PECS Phase IIIB 

10:55 11:15 Critical Communication Skills for tolerating ‘No’ 

11:15 11:35 PECS Phase IV: Sentence Structure 

11:35 12:35 LUNCH 

12:35 1:15 Complete PECS Phase IV 

1:15 1:45 PECS Attributes: Expanding Vocabulary and Sentence Structure 

1:45 2:15 PECS Phase V: Responsive Requesting 

2:15 2:30 BREAK 

2:30 3:15 PECS Phase VI: Responsive and Spontaneous Commenting 

3:15 3:40 Transitioning to Speech or SGD, Research 

3:40 4:00 Summary, Q & A, Evaluations