Siti Nadiah Bte Abdul Gani (Group A)

(a) The intervention addresses: Communication skills that in turn causes social and behavioral difficulties.

The intervention I would use for Annie’s case would be the Picture Exchange Communication System. From the case study, one of the difficulties Annie displayed was communication skills. Her communication may have been a result of her speech impairment in turn causing social and behavioral problem such as biting her classmate. Therefore, addressing her difficulty in communication skills may assist in reducing her behavioral and social problem as she would be able to gradually learn to verbalize or express her needs or feelings. Moreover, Annie’s 2 hours of speech and language therapy services at the local hospital per week may not be adequate and/or may not address Annie’s difficulty she faces in school.
Picture Exchange Communication System as cited in Ganz, Cook, Corbin-Newsome, Bourgeois and Flores (2005),”… is a picture-based augmentative communication program frequently used with individuals with autism spectrum disorders(ASD) and others who are nonverbal(Frost & Bondy, 2002) (p1).

From my understanding of the article that I have read on, PECS requires the child to exchange pictures in accordance to his or her preferred item. In addition, the process goes through six phases. The phases are picture exchange, increasing distance, picture discrimination, sentences, questions and beyond expansion.

(b) Its effectiveness

In the article, the author included and mentioned other articles by author in regards to the result derived from the use of PECS. To name some, an article by Schwartz, Garfinkle, & Bauer (1998), reported that eighteen children with developmental delay in an integrated preschool were trained with the use of PECS. As a result, Forty-four percent of the
Of the children effectively develop speech. Another article researched by Magiati & Howlin
(2003) mentioned in the article, found that the thirty four children that was taught to use PECS, increased their usage of communicating using PECS and improved their overall levels of communication

As for the authors of this article themselves, the findings and research was based on a child name Elise who had characteristics of autism and difficulty with communication. After conducting the study, the authors noted that Elise did show improvement though it was slight and only reached phase 1. Though Elise improvements were minimal, the authors were inspired and took the opportunity to improve and find variations in using PECS with Elise.

(c) Personal Evaluation

Having read from a few resources, I feel that Picture Exchange Communication Exchange will be beneficial for Annie when the strategy is done consistently and is individualized that would adapt to her. From the article that I read up on, it was stated that PECS did work on the child however required more variations and adaptations so as to suit to the child’s needs. I have learned that PECS is an intervention strategy that can be used with children with difficulty in communication, however, bearing in mind that the process of PECS needs to be consistently assessed and observed so as to ensure that it is working effectively. As PECS has phases, it assists in the clarity and understanding for teachers or adults to effectively use it and document improvements.

I feel that PECS would benefit as it is an opportunity for everyone around Annie to be involved. It can help build an understanding and respect among her peers as they would know what exactly Annie needs. Annie would also gradually learned to be able to express her wants and needs. At the same time, it allows Annie to communicate with her peers and adults without the worry of having to verbalize it. PECS does not replace verbal conversation; however, I feel that it is a first step that can be taken to help Annie’s peers to understand her difficulty and to allow Annie to be socially active with her peers. PECS, in a way, provides another medium for communication.


(d) Suggestion for adjustments

It was mentioned in the article that PECS involves trainer and the child itself. A suggestion for adjustment I would take would be to include friends and families to be part of the system so as to avoid Annie from feeling integrated. By including Annie’s peers, it would also greatly assist Annie to feel belonged and in turn for peers to understand Annie’s situation. This would partly address the issue of Annie’s behavioral and social difficulty. Ultimately, PECS would allow Annie to be able to communicate with her peers through a different medium so as to avoid instances where she would withdraw in class. Gradually, with constant support and guidance, Annie would be able to learn to communicate her needs and feelings through conversations and interactions.




Reference:
Ganz, J. B., Cook, K. E., Corbin-Newsome, J., Bourgeois, B. & Flores, M. (2005) Variations on the Use of a Pictorial Alternative Communication System with a Child with Autism and Developmental Delays. Retrieved on September 8, 2009, from
http://web.ebscohost.com.libwww3.np.edu.sg/ehost/pdf?vid=6&hid=3&sid=7dabdce3-aa84-4670-8894-a0e7aaea2fae%40sessionmgr110