Many parents must ask themselves, “Is PECS right for my child?” When making this decision, ideally you would speak to a former PECS user to hear about their journey. In a recent episode of CBBC’s My Life programme, Jazmine and her Mum did just that when they had a video call with former PECS user Swaran and his mum, Mandy. For those than don’t have that opportunity you can try our handy flow chart to determine if your child might be a candidate for the Picture Exchange Communication System. PECS isn’t just for individuals with ASD – in fact, it’s been successfully implemented as an AAC across a huge range of disorders and syndromes that can make communication difficult.

woman and young boy using PECS to communicate

We were thrilled when Woodcut Media approached us about a programme they were making for the BBC about Jazmine and her sister Amaya. Jazmine wanted to raise awareness about her differently abled younger sister Amaya. Amaya has a rare chromosome condition, known as 1Q43Q44 deletion syndrome.

Amaya has communication difficulties and is physically disabled. Jazmine wanted others to see beyond the disabilities, as she does, to the funny, kind and caring person that is her sister Amaya.

 

Filming the Programme

Back in January on a cold, wet Saturday the PECS team, including consultant Louise Maggs, travelled to Swaran and Mandy’s home in Essex where they had last met up several years before during their home consultancy visits. You can read more about Swaran in this blog article about PECS and Speech Regression.

Swaran was treated to a feast of fish and chips, to put him in good frame of mind for a practice PECS session. Since Swaran is now fully verbal, he needed to be reminded montage of photos showing behind the scenes of filming a tv programmeof the picture exchanges he once was so reliant upon. Mandy recalled the days of frustration, which sometimes led to behaviour issues, before Swaran found a voice and gained independence by using PECS. Despite no longer needing PECS, Swaran was able to recall how to build a sentence and exchange it for a reinforcer – he likes to have his hands tickled! Here is building the sentence ‘I want’ ‘Hand’ ‘Tickle’.

Suitably energized, all that remained was for Swaran to become acquainted with Rochelle Newman, Producer / Director for Woodcut Media. They clicked immediately owing to his curiosity about the filming equipment and his desire to be on the ‘Big Screen’.

lights, camera, action…

Prepped and ready, it was time to start filming. Swaran very much enjoyed being the star of the show, lapping up all the attention! After many re-takes due to technicalities and the inevitable issues that accompany working with kids, enough footage was secured for purpose of the programme. Swaran performed a perfect exchange ‘I want’, ‘circle’, ‘biscuit’ for a biscuit as a reinforcer. He performed this several times; we suspect driven by his desire to quench his sugar craving … cheeky! In addition to building a sentence he also requested a break when he’d had enough! It is important to remember PECS is not just for requesting food and that reinforcement comes in many different forms! Swaran is living proof that an Alternative Augmentative Communication (AAC) such as PECS really works!

Rochelle left Essex and dashed over to London to set up a video call between the families so they could discuss if PECS might work for Amaya. The finished programme aired on CBBC on the 10 March 2022, you can catch it on BBC iPLAYER.

We would like to thank Woodcut Media and Rochelle for the opportunity to take part in the programme. Thanks also to Mandy and Swaran for taking part and letting us descend on them en masse! We wish Jazmine every success with raising awareness of Amaya’s rare condition. We hope that Amaya’s communication skills continue to flourish.

By Michelle Hale
© Pyramid Educational Consultants