Acquisition & Generalization of PECS Behaviors in Children With Autism By: Laurie S. Hanley Faculty Advisor Dr. Ann Beck

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) Diagnostic Features Characteristics Incidence Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)

Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) Developed by Andy Bondy and Lori Frost Purpose: Initiate communication for a concrete outcome in a social context Give a picture of a desired object to a communication partner in exchange for the object Characteristics: Teaches requesting Tangible outcomes Initiation of communication Social context No verbal prompts Does not require prerequisite skills

PECS Phases This study focused on Phases 1 – 3 Phase 1 Teaching the physical exchange Phase 2 Distance and Persistence Phase 3 Discrimination Phases 4 – 6 Building sentence structure, Responding to questions, & Commenting

PECS Literature Bondy and Frost (1994) Rapid acquisition of PECS behaviors Co-development of speech Other Literature Bondy & Frost (1993) – Lima, Peru Daly & Bondy (Bondy and Frost, 2001) Schwartz, Garfinkle, & Bauer (1998) Liddle (2001) Adkins & Axelrod (2002)* Charlop-Christy, Carpenter, Le, LeBlanc, & Kellet (2002)* *Empirically-based studies Need for continued study

Research Questions 1.) Does the use of PECS generalize to untrained settings? 2.) Does the use of PECS transition across untrained communication partners? Additional question of interest: Does the use of PECS result in increases in spoken language?

Method Participants 4 children with autism; ages 7 – 9 years; male; absence of functional communication Materials Items – Reinforcement Inventory Pictures and binders Score sheets, observation forms, and procedural fidelity checklists Design Single-subject with multiple baselines across participants

Method Independent Variable: PECS Program Dependent Variables: Acquisition and generalization of PECS behaviors Verbalizations Coding of verbalizations: 1. Spontaneous or prompted 2. Intelligible or Unintelligible Procedure Baseline Intervention: 30 trials per day; 3 days per week; for 6 weeks Generalization Probes: twice a week in both school and home settings

Reliability Dependent Variables: Acquisition of PECS behaviors: 94% Generalization of PECS behaviors: 97% Verbalizations (spontaneous or prompted) Baseline and Intervention: 75% Generalization: 89% Independent Variable : PECS Program: 100% agreement

Acquisition of PECS Behaviors

Results Acquisition of PECS Behaviors All participants rapidly acquired PECS behaviors (6 weeks) Generalization of PECS Behaviors Across Settings All participants generalized PECS behaviors to both home and school settings Generalization of PECS Behaviors Across Partners All participants generalized across communication partners

Generalization of PECS Behaviors Across Settings and Partners Settings (# of exchanges) -Home: -School: Travis: Rick: Ryan: Ethan: Partners -Home: -School: Travis: 4 times, 1CP 2 times, 2 CPs Rick: 4 times, 1 CP 2 times, 2 CPs Ryan: 0 2 times, 1 CP Ethan: 0 5 times, 1 CP

Results Verbalizations Baseline and Intervention Sessions All participants increased the number of verbalizations All participants increased the spontaneity of verbalizations 3 of the 4 participants increased the intelligibility of verbalizations Generalization Probes All participants produced a minimal number of verbalizations

Verbalizations Produced during Baseline and Intervention (Rick)

Clinical Implications and Directions for Future Study Limitations Structured Environment Peer interactions Differences between “talkers” and “non-talkers”