The ASA's 38th National Conference on Autism Spectrum Disorders (July 11-14, 2007) of ASA

The Westin Kierland Resort & Spa, Scottsdale, AZ

http://www.autism-society.org/
For a complete author index with session numbers, please click here
Thursday, July 12, 2007: 3:00 PM-4:15 PM
Rainmakers Ballroom B
#2896- "I want purple crayon and yellow paper" Using PECS to Expand Language Skills
Bring your notepad, pencil and all your ideas! Join me for this interactive and idea packed talk! Once students have learned PECS to Phase IV, a variety of attributes may be introduced as we teach PECS users to express themselves even more specifically. Teaching students a variety of attributes will also help them communicate about something for which they have no picture. Techniques for teaching an individual to describe items along more than one dimension will also be discussed.

Presenter:Anne Hoffman, M.Ed., Pyramid Educational Consultants, Inc., Pyramid Consultant/ Senior PECS Trainer and Supervisor - Anne Hoffman, M.Ed. is a Pyramid US consultant with 15 years experience in the field of autism. Since 1997 she has worked for Pyramid providing training and consultation services to professionals and families. She has provided training for parents and professionals in 48 states and 5 countries. She helped develop the PECS Intensive Summer Program in the US as well as the mentoring process for Pyramid US consultants.
 
This talk will begin with a description of our rationale regarding teaching expressive attributes via PECS. While teaching the PECS user to expand requests using attributes, this does not mean that we do not teaching receptive understanding of attributes. The teaching protocol for Phase IV + attributes will be described. Some video segments will highlight the teaching process and others will illustrate a variety of different lessons that can be arranged. Some ideas for teaching “creative” PECS skills will also be discussed. This important issue will be discussed because some people view this as a drawback of PECS because the PECS user may not have an icon for each and every thing they may need to request across each day. Once we teach students to describe the items they want, they will have a back-up strategy that will allow them to describe what they would like when they do not have a picture for the exact item. Examples of combined attributes (Ex., “I want + blue and red gummy worm.” and “I want + big + red + ball”) will also be given. At the end of the talk, the group will brainstorm additional games, materials and activities that can be used to teach attributes throughout the day. Bring your notepad, pencil and all your ideas. This time to share will be a valuable component of this talk.

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