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Posted ByAutistic and proud on December 08, 1999 at 05:41:02:
: I had such a similar experience with PECS. Josh was two and said about three words a week, usually up, down, and off. His teacher started teaching him PECS with small peices of Twizzlers. She said "Josh, I want candy," then picked up his hand, and had him hand her the card with a picture and the word candy. Then she gave him a peice. Josh was motivated. He liked that candy, but was not interested in the card, so he said "candy." She acted as if she didn't hear him, picked up his hand, had him hand her the card, then handed him the candy. I was floored. It wasn't like Josh to get a two syllable word on the first try. Why did she ignore him? Now Josh said, "I want candy" in a high pitched voice focused on the candy. Amazing! His first "I want" sentence. Again she ignored him, picked up his hand, and had him hand her the card before giving him the candy. I was confused. Was she ignoring him because she thought he was echoing? Even if it was an echo, wasn't he echoing because he wanted the candy? Don't normal children echo a little when learning to talk? : The next week I got up the courage to tell her to stop.
Good for you! It's weird that she was acting that way - at the PECS training course I went on, they specifically discussed this issue and said that PECS shouldn't be used unless a child or adult was clearly not progressing with speech (or it was felt that they needed PECS as a back-up to speech or to help them progress with speech).
They basically said that the only time when it would be acceptable to ignore any attempt at communication is in the case where a child has only a few very indistinct vocalizations or gestures which others have to guess at. Then it may make sense to prompt them to use PECS instead as it's a more effective way of communication for them and allows them more control, instead of keeping them dependent on other people's ability to guess what they mean. But they said even this is a very difficult decision to have to make.
:Not to mention the fact that PECS is a very rote system, and Josh had trouble breaking from routine as it was.
I'd disagree with this (although I'm sure that PECS, like anything else, can be applied in a rote way if people misunderstand it). For me, what's most exciting about PECS is the emphasis it places on developing spontaneous communication and enabling the child to choose what they want.
: I think just like in your situation, the teacher was so focused on the steps involved with PECS, that she forgot to recognize verbal communication.
It sounds like it. It's a real pity, as PECS can be amazingly liberating when it's used properly.
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