Picture symbols (including PECS) - a parent's view

Judith Betchette, mother of James aged three and a half, describes the progress he is making with communication following the introduction of PECS:

"James, at the age of 3 years and 1 month, was still non-verbal. He communicated by leading us by the hand to where the item was he wanted, normally food, at which point we would take out what we thought he wanted, make him point to his choice and then give him the item in question. This was our sole method of communication.

"We started gradually with PECS with one picture at first - an apple. James loves these and food has always been a great motivator with him. The first time I tried it was with my mother as the silent prompter - no joy! 'Maybe he's tired' was our thought; it was an afternoon and he had been to nursery that morning. So the next day I tried it again with James' Special Needs Assistant as the prompter. We haven't looked back since.

"James now has three pictures stuck with velcro on the front of a folder and we are in the process of building up a bank of other pictures for him to use. We have been lucky - my brother is a graphic designer and he is supplying the pictures for me, but I am also busy contacting James' speech therapist and outreach to see if they can help as I do not like imposing on him in such a way.

"For us, as a family, this has been a major breakthrough in communication with James. It has started to remove the uncertainty and replaced it with a sense of pride in seeing James communicate with us and our understanding him."