| Phase I- The participant watches the model's video picking up the picture, handing it over to the communication partner (CP) and receiving the desired item. At the beginning of the video, the model appears in full body; then, when picking up the picture, the camera approaches so that only the hands of the model appear making the exchange. After watching the video, the stages of the PECS Protocol begin (Bondy & Frost, 2002Bondy, A. S., & Frost, L. A. (2002). PECS: The Picture Exchange Communication System, Manual de Treinamento do Sistema de Comunicação por Troca de Figuras. (2a ed.). New Castle: Pyramid Educational Consultants.). At that moment, there are two people present, one is the CP and the other is the physical stimulator, and, during the sessions, the positions are exchanged, the CP becomes a physical stimulator and vice-versa. The physical stimulator offers physical assistance and gradually withdraws this assistance until the child independently makes the exchange. This phase is called a sequence of objectives: to pick up, to carry and to deliver. As soon as the participant delivers the picture, the CP reinforces, in half a second, delivering the desired item referring to the picture. |
| Phase II- The participant watches the model's video walking to the communication folder; then, the camera is zoomed in to capture only the model's hands to pick up the picture. The model walks to the CP and the camera is zoomed in again to focus the exchange. After watching the video, the stages of the PECS Protocol begin (Bondy & Frost, 2002Bondy, A. S., & Frost, L. A. (2002). PECS: The Picture Exchange Communication System, Manual de Treinamento do Sistema de Comunicação por Troca de Figuras. (2a ed.). New Castle: Pyramid Educational Consultants.), in which a picture of an item must be placed on the cover of the communication folder. The student and the communication partner are seated facing each other, either on the floor or in a chair (optional). The item corresponding to the picture must be available. A physical stimulator must be present. It is important that the folder and the communication partner are distant from the participant so that he/she walks towards the folder and the CP. |
| Phase III-A- The participant watches the video of the model's hand discriminating the picture of the preferred item and ignoring the uninteresting item, takes the picture of the preferred item and delivers it to the CP. After watching the video, the stages of the PECS Protocol begin (Bondy & Frost, 2002Bondy, A. S., & Frost, L. A. (2002). PECS: The Picture Exchange Communication System, Manual de Treinamento do Sistema de Comunicação por Troca de Figuras. (2a ed.). New Castle: Pyramid Educational Consultants.). The participant and the CP are seated facing each other. Pictures of interesting and uninteresting items should be available, as well as their respective items. A discrimination between highly interesting and uninteresting items will be carried out. |
| Phase III-B- The participant watches the video of the model's hand making the correspondence of the picture with a preferred item, that is, he/she picks up the picture, hands it to the CP, the latter says: "You can take it", the model selects the item corresponding to the picture and delivers it to the CP. After watching the video, the stages of the PECS Protocol begin (Bondy & Frost, 2002Bondy, A. S., & Frost, L. A. (2002). PECS: The Picture Exchange Communication System, Manual de Treinamento do Sistema de Comunicação por Troca de Figuras. (2a ed.). New Castle: Pyramid Educational Consultants.), in which the discrimination between pictures of two highly attractive items will be carried out in order to verify whether the participant is making the correspondence between the picture and the item he/she selected. |
| Phase IV- In this phase, only the model's hands appear in the video, the model places the picture "I want" and the picture of the item on the sentence strip, removes the strip from the communication folder and delivers it to the CP, the CP secures his/her index finger and reads the strip to the model. After watching the video, the stages of the PECS Protocol begin (Bondy & Frost, 2002Bondy, A. S., & Frost, L. A. (2002). PECS: The Picture Exchange Communication System, Manual de Treinamento do Sistema de Comunicação por Troca de Figuras. (2a ed.). New Castle: Pyramid Educational Consultants.). In this sense, the participant must learn to build sentences using pictures that represent verbs, for example: I want. Removes the picture "I want" from the communication folder and places it on the sentence strip (a space on the specific communication board for the construction of the sentence), then chooses the picture representing the desired item and places it on the sentence strip, forming a sentence. |
| Phase V- The CP asks the model the question: "What do you want?". The model fixes the pictures "I want" and the picture of the item on the sentence strip, removes the strip from the communication folder and delivers it to the CP, the CP holds his/her index finger and reads the strip to the model as the latter points for the pictures on the strip. After watching the video, the stages of the PECS Protocol begin (Bondy & Frost, 2002Bondy, A. S., & Frost, L. A. (2002). PECS: The Picture Exchange Communication System, Manual de Treinamento do Sistema de Comunicação por Troca de Figuras. (2a ed.). New Castle: Pyramid Educational Consultants.). In this sense, the same sequence as Phase IV is followed, the difference is that the participant answers the question: "What do you want?". |
| Phase VI- The CP asks the model the question: "What do you see?" or "What do you hear?", among other questions. The model fixes the pictures "I see", "I hear" and the picture of the items on the sentence strip, removes the strip from the communication folder and delivers it to the CP, the CP holds his/her index finger and reads the strip to the model as the latter points to the pictures on the strip. After watching the video, the stages of the PECS Protocol begin (Bondy & Frost, 2002Bondy, A. S., & Frost, L. A. (2002). PECS: The Picture Exchange Communication System, Manual de Treinamento do Sistema de Comunicação por Troca de Figuras. (2a ed.). New Castle: Pyramid Educational Consultants.). In this sense, the same steps as in Phase V are followed, with the addition of other initiators such as: "I see", "I hear", "I am", "My name is", "My birthday is", "The weather is" , "I don't want", among others. |
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Source: Research database.
Source: Research database.