2. Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) "PECS is a methodology that uses pictures and other symbols to develop a functional communication system for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In the early stages of training, PECS teaches students to exchange a picture of the desired item for the actual item. Next steps in training include learning expansion of vocabulary, including attributes (e.g., “big,” “red”) and commenting (e.g., “I like swinging”).” (Association for Science in Autism Treatment, 2016) PECS is divided into six phases (Liddle, 2001, p: 392):
Phase 1 teaches the child the physical exchange, i.e. how to pick up, reach and release the picture in order to request a highly motivating item.
Phase 2 teaches the children ‘persistence and &stance’, i.e. how to remove pictures from the communication board and find a communicative partner then make the physical exchange.
Phase 3 teaches the children how to request specific items
Phase 4 introduces sentence structure. The children are taught to sequence two pictures on a sentence strip, i.e. ‘I want’ plus the desired item.
Phase 5 teaches the children to answer the question ‘what do you want?’
Phase 6 introduces commenting. The children are taught to answer questions such as ‘what do you hear/see?’ Once the child has reached this stage, vocabulary expansion is
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The results that she gained showed that using PECS as a way for improving communication skills is beneficial. Children who were now able to make sentence strips “I want” plus desired object, are also able to use concepts such as color, size, and number. After doing this experiment, many reports from parents were receive saying how it is much easier to communicate with their children. Also, some comments were received from teachers indicating how autistic children have improved in their ability to take part in classroom
Wainer, Allison L. "The use of innovative computer technology for teaching social communication to individuals with autism spectrum disorders". Research in autism spectrum disorders , 5 (1), p. 96.
Incidental teaching focuses on child-initiated interactions. (Hall, 2013) Incidental teaching is used to increase skills of individuals with autism spectrum disorders. (Hall, 2013) A study done by Hart and Risley (1975) looked at the incidental teaching process used at the preschool age to aide in teaching language. Incidental teaching has been the most frequent strategy that has been used to teach language. When using incidental teaching a child’s request may be verbal or nonverbal. Examples include reaching for an object that is out of one’s reach, requesting food or a toy or calling an adult’s name. There is a series of decisions that an adult can use to respond to the child’s request. These choices include: if the occasion should be used for incidental teaching: if so then a choice regarding the language behavior that is obtained from the child, and then a choice has to be made concerning the cue that will be used to initiate instruction, the cur could be focus of attention by itself, or in addition to the focused attention a verbal cue as well. If the individual does not respond to the cue, then a choice concerning the degree of prompt to be used, the “fullest degree: a request for imitation; medium degree: a request for partial imitation, or minimal degree: a request for the terminal language behavior.” (Hart & Risley, 1975) This study was performed on boys and girls between the ages of four years old to five years old. The baseline procedures ensured that the children had a variety of vocabulary for use in sentences. The sentences that they were taught was “I want x so I can y.” The second step of the procedure was the use of incidental teaching of compound sentences directed to teachers. After thirty-six days of school, the incidental teaching began to occur when the children needed assistance in trying to get different preschool materials.
There are four parts to this step that help insure the child is learning the necessary skills for themselves, and are able to use those skills in real-life situations, by role playing and gaining feedback from the instructor running the program (Goldstein 2). This part is crucial, because they have to learn these interpersonal skills before they can move on to the next steps in the program, without learning the first step these children can make some inappropriate choices. According to Becky Sue Roth, “skillstreaming fits well in the context of the class room, children will not even realize that they are not to learn these skills, she found that it would be best taught at the beginning of the year “when group cohesion, communication, and friendships are being developed” (Roth, 2), because the curriculum can easily be added, many schools have adopted the ART program and is taught in early grades, for better effectiveness (Roth,
Early intervention is effective in treating autism spectrum disorder in many ways. One important way it has been proven effective by research is by increasing a child’s cognitive skills. When a child is first diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, they will likely be diagnosed as having a cognitive delay. Research shows that early invention services, such as applied behavior analysis, occupational, and speech therapy has helped increase IQ scores in children with autism spectrum disorder. In one study, children who received up to twenty hours a week of early intervention services had an average rise in IQ points of 17.6 (Solis, 2010). This increase in cognitive skills benefited children in the classroom setting. After receiving extensive early intervention treatment, children typically performed better on standardized testing. With an increase in cognitive skills and better achievement on standardized testing, children were able to be placed in less restrictive classroom settings (Smith, 199...
Children with autism have multiple characteristic impairments in their social interaction skills. This results from the lack of “Theory of Mind” in autistic individuals. Autistic children have difficulty interpreting what another person may be thinking or feeling. Social impairments may cause the child to act inappropriately in social interactions and prevent the children from truly taking part in interactions. The children have difficulty recognizing social cues and responding to cues. Autistic children have a hard time forming relationships as a result of these impairments. Social stories, Applied Behavior Analysis, and Pivotal Response Training are three therapy techniques that help children with autism learn appropriate social behavior. Social stories allow the children to practice the situation in a lower stress environment. Applied Behavior Analysis utilizes positive reinforce to teach desired skills. Pivotal Response Training allows the child to learn social skills while in a natural play environment. Learning social skills through these techniques enable the children to have more meaningful relationships and engage more in their community.
Both lesson plan days include think-pair-share strategies, which permits students to engage with a partner using age-appropriate literacy skills and eventually with the whole class. The students are also given multiple times throughout the lesson to engage as well. By using KWL charts students are also able to share their own experiences with the class and this permits the students to contribute their own individual insights.
...ation with individuals with autism does not only involve an understanding of how they communicate but also involves an understanding of why they communicate. With the use of assistive technology devices and augmentative and alternative communication aids provides enhancement to communication of individuals. Communication Technology and other device aids in education is extremely useful in a classroom setting by helping the students with autism understand what is being taught and how to express themselves. Using aids and devices in an educational setting promotes active learning, thinking and collaboration with peers and educators and expressing ones self. The use of technology in a classroom has major impacts on students. Technology improves student’s motivation about learning and allowing students to be challenged while at the same time engaged in the course work.
Luiselli, James K. "Verbal Language and Communication." Teaching and Behavior Support for Children and Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Practitioner's Guide. New York: Oxford UP, 2011. Print.
In stage three, concrete operational, the child now rationalises logically about concrete, real experiences. They have the ability to mentally reverse actions and are able to focus simultaneously on different features of a problem.
Systems of AAC include both high-tech and low-tech methods. High-tech methods consist of electronic devices such as the Apple iPad or iPod. Low-tech methods consist of non-electronic systems such as a Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) or manual signing. Different types of AAC systems give educators the option to choose the best method of AAC for each individual child. When choosing the best method of AAC, educators must consider the severity of autism, the individual characteristics, and capabilities of each child. The type of AAC method or device educators select for the child may depend on the school system and the cost of the device. Multiple research studies have investigated allowing children with autism to choose an AAC system or device (Son, Sigafoos, O’Reilly, & Lancioni, 2006; Van der Meer et al., 2012; Van der Meer et al., 2013). Son et al., (2006) Van der Meer et al., (2012) and Van der Meer et al., (2013) examined if allowing the child with autism to choose an AAC system had a positive outcome on communication. Selecting an AAC system for a child with autism takes time and consideration of each individual child’s abilities.
The last stage is the beginning of the symbolic presentation. Children's imagination roams free, and they begin to understand the world through mental imagery and free play rather than the pure action of
His theory is important because through the learning procedure, kids change their plans by adjusting to the world around them. Through watching kids, he developed his four stages that he believed children go through, which these stages are based on ages and the individual kid’s ability. The first stage is Sensorimotor stage which is from 0-2 at this stage movement and presentation is important. Along with what is stated before mental pictures start to shape while pictures of items remain engrained
One of the most difficult things teachers will face when dealing with Autistic children is their lack of communication skills and inappropriate or nonexistent social skills. In addition to academic instruction children with Autism require instruction in communication techniques and social skills. Kamps et.al. says “A key to accommodating students with autism in public school settings is the provision of social and behavioral programming to develop meaningful participation with nondisabled persons” (p.174).
During this stage, children will be building up their incidents or encounters through adaptation and slowly move on to the next stage of the development as they are not able to have logical or transformational ideas in the preoperational stage (Mcleod, 2009).
Piaget believes functions of language develops over four stages which are, the sensorimotor stage, the preoperational stage, the concrete operational stage, and the formal operational stage. To briefly explain each of these children develop the sensorimotor stage from ages 0 – 2 years, Piaget sees language at this stage as more physical where children experiment with their mouths and learn to repeat parents sounds. The pre-operational stage from ages 2 – 7 years, is when children talk more and have the ability to solve problems about stories on specific and concrete facts. The concrete operational stage begins at about age 6 or 7 when children can work things out in their mind and explain their reasoning. The formal operational stage begins at 11 or 12 years when children use abstract reason and can use language to express and discuss things found in subjects such as mathematics or philosophy. Piaget highlights the roles of language in children’s lives by describing the functions of language. (McDevitt, Ormrod, Cupit, Chandler and Aloa, 2013, p. 209 –