Investigation of the effectiveness of Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) on children with autism spectrum disorder

Abstract

Background: Autism is a neuronal development disorder characterized by persistent deficit in social interaction, communication, and repetitive patterns of interests and behaviors. The impact of autism is different for each person with autism. It is known that some autistic individuals are considered non-verbal, since they are unskilled in their use of language. Neither do they use gestures to compensate for the absence of speech. Even if the language is good, they do not participate in the conversation, do not express their ideas correctly, do not adjust the volume of the voice, do not understand other methods of communication (gestures, body movements, facial expressions). These children have a critical need for ways to initiate, support, and expand conversational situations, and research in this area is rare and limited in our country. Aim: This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) in children with autism spectrum disorders. Materials and Methods: The current study employed a clinical trial study design to investigate the effectiveness of the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS). Sixty children with ASD participated and were assigned into control (n=30) and experimental (n=30) groups. The experimental group received the intervention “PECS” for 15 weeks, whereas the control group received routine care. Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC) was used to evaluate changes in children with ASD before and after the intervention. After obtaining permission from the parents and guardians of the children, they were introduced to the study and trained for 20-30 minutes, 3 days a week for 15 weeks. Results: Statistically significant changes in the outcome variables were observed between pre and post intervention. ATEC scores used to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention improved significantly from 97.9 (30.4) to 84.3 (28.5) in the experimental group improvement (p<0.0001). Conclusion: The use of picture exchange communication system (PECS) in children with autism spectrum disorders has improved the children’s speech, communication skills, social skills, sensory, cognitive skills, and physical development.