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| Mastered PECS: What's Next? Transitioning From PECS to Speech Generating Devices |
| Friday, May 25, 2018 |
| 8:00 AM–3:00 PM |
| Manchester Grand Hyatt, Seaport Ballroom F |
| Area: AUT/DDA; Domain: Service Delivery |
| CE Instructor: Jesseca Collins, M.Ed. |
| JESSECA COLLINS (Pyramid Educational Consultants), JAIME WEDEL (Pyramid Educational Consultants), PAIGE PANETTA (Pyramid Educational Consultants) |
| Description: High-tech Speech Generating Devices (SGD) are being used more frequently with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. While research is expanding on the use of various communication apps on smart tablets, many recent publications are fraught with procedural and logical problems. There are no standard protocols established regarding how to teach the use of an SGD. The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) is an evidence-based protocol. This workshop will review the key elements that are necessary to demonstrate that the use of an SGD would qualify as verbal behavior (Skinner, 1957) and which teaching issues, especially regarding discrimination, should be incorporated into training protocols. We will briefly review the main components of the PECS protocol and review how to best transition users to an SGD. We will review published guidelines (Frost and McGowan, 2012) identifying key variables that may influence successful transitioning. We will review recent studies looking at the effectiveness of either attempting to begin communication training with an SGD or how to effectively transition from PECS. Participants are encouraged to bring either an SGD or an app for a tablet to actively practice key transitional steps including how to identify SGD features that may influence learning. |
| Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the workshop, participants will be able to: (1) describe key elements to demonstrate verbal behavior via SGD use; (2) describe key elements of the PECS protocol; (3) describe assessment targets to transition from PECS to an SGD; and (4) describe how to evaluate planning and functional use of an SGD. |
| Activities: Review of recent literature regarding SGD use, review PECS protocol, review published guidelines on how to effectively transition from PECS to SGD, review videos demonstrating effective use and potential problems with transitions, and review how to transition from PECS to SGDs and/or tablet apps brought to workshop by participants. |
| Audience: Anyone working with current users of PECS or with individuals for whom an SGD or tablet app is being considered. This may include behavior analysts, speech/language pathologists, teachers or others involved with communication training with children and adults with disabilities including ASD. |
| Content Area: Practice |
| Instruction Level: Intermediate |
| Keyword(s): Augmentative Communication, PECS, SGD, Teaching Communication |