By Andy Bondy, PhD

The answer to the question, ‘Is PECS compliance based?’ is a resounding, ‘No!’ Some people suggest that the first Phase of PECS® (Picture Exchange Communication System®) involves compliance because the learner must give a picture to get a desired item. “If I know the child wants the ball because I see her reaching for the ball, why don’t I just give it to her? Why insist on the exchange?” Should we give a ball to the child just because she wants it? The answer is, sometimes! The answer is not, always. Of course, some of the time we should simply be nice and give children things they like and enjoy. However, consider what would happen if we tried to do that all the time. We would have to continuously observe what the child wants moment by moment, anticipating every desire to every degree possible and also hope that we never make a mistake. Not only would this approach be challenging to implement across settings and people, more importantly, it would be a disservice to the learner’s developing skills.

The earliest Phases of the PECS Protocol focus on teaching a learner that communication involves delivering a message to another person. Our focus is on immediately teaching meaningful communication skills that are viewed as critical for everyone, so our early implementation focuses on the learner’s interests. Everyone needs to learn to request some things and activities (or their removal), ask for help, signal the need for a break, respond to questions such as “Do you want this?”, as well as learn to wait, transition, and follow functional instructions. Without these universally critical communication skills, serious barriers result for the learner as well as those interacting with them.

 What is Compliance?

When grandma says, “Set the table so we can eat lunch,” no one would say that when the grandchildren set the table, they are complying with grandma’s demands. When children learn to follow instructions and directions that are functionally appropriate the term compliance is never used. Within PECS, and the entire Pyramid Approach, we stress the importance of building lessons within functional settings, whether at school, home or the community. We never work on compliance for compliance’s sake.

When we think of the word compliance, we often think of a situation where someone is forced or made to do something. When someone is forced to sit in a chair or stand by the sink via physical means, the physical contact is meant to restrict movement. The intent is to prevent someone from leaving or doing something else. Forcing someone to sit in a chair is not an example of teaching! Teaching involves finding ways to help someone learn a new skill. There are many ways we might support someone learning a lesson- we might tell them something, show them something, model a performance, modify the materials, or physically assist them. These various ways of helping are called prompts. The aim of a prompt is to support or help the performance of a task. When physical guidance is used to restrain or restrict movement, that is not a prompt. When we teach learners to move the picture from the tabletop to another person in the first Phase of PECS, we are helping guide the acquisition of a new skill- we are not forcing or making the learner do anything. When we do this thoughtfully and with care, we see children and others quickly smile because of the new impact they have- “Wow! A simple way to get this person to understand and give me things I like!”

PECS and Compliance

The PECS protocol differs from other communication strategies because it prioritizes teaching individuals to initiate communication, rather than waiting for a communication partner to initiate. We strongly advise not to begin by asking learners what they want. The communication partner always waits for the learner to begin or “go first” in the interaction. When teaching a learner to communicate using PECS, we are relying upon their current motivation for an item or activity to develop a form of communication that is readily and universally understood by others. The learner’s reach for an item is guided or transformed into an interaction with another person.  This is the essence of communication. If we observe the learner strongly protesting or resisting, we immediately stop providing guidance for the picture exchange. We work quickly to identify what they need or are interested in, but never force communication. Our goal is for independent, autonomous communication, and thus we eliminate ALL prompts as quickly as possible based on learner progress.

Dating back to its initial development in the 1980’s, the PECS protocol has always focused on developing skills based on the learner’s motivations and does not demand or require compliance. Initiating communication and requesting are the first skills taught in PECS but the complete protocol leads to teaching commenting (e.g., I feel, It’s, I don’t like and more), answering questions and engaging in conversations. It is a fundamental right of all people to acquire functional communication skills, which includes requesting actions, things, and events. These skills are foundational to supporting self-advocacy and independence. As our learners develop these critical skills, they become empowered to make their opinions known, to act upon their environments, and to have more choices and opportunities available to them.

Andy Bondy, PhD, president and co-founder of Pyramid Educational Consultants, is an innovative leader in the field of autism and applied behavior analysis. Dr. Bondy and Lori Frost, MS, CCC-SLP developed the evidence-based PECS Protocol and are the authors of the PECS Training Manual. He also wrote the Pyramid Approach to Education, a training manual that offers an integrated orientation to developing effective educational environments blending applied behavior analysis with functional activities and creative communication strategies.

To learn more about the evidence-based PECS protocol and view our training options visit pecsusa.com.

© Pyramid Educational Consultants, LLC. 2024