PECS begins with a simple concept. Because the child cannot use speech to communicate effectively, he hands you a picture of the item he wants. As the program continues, the child will have a board or binder with Velcro strips and picture icons on it where he will construct sentences and you will verbally communicate his requests to reinforce the connection of spoken word to the picture icons. The system has six phases and is typically used in coordination with a speech therapist. Children must be able to visually identify things and have some fine motor skills to use the PECS system. Within each phase there are a variety of communication activities to teach children to identify and discriminate between different types of items and to communicate needs with those pictures.
PECS sorting activities involving animals can be adapted to age and cognitive level. Using the animal topic boards, children might sort by answering questions. Which animal would you see at night? Which animal would you see in the day? Which animals live on a farm? Another option is to give physical description prompts such as "It's white and furry" or "It purrs" or describe the noise a particular animal makes.
The home sorting activities in the PECS program include pictures of different parts of the house so children can use the boards to talk about the rooms and what each is used for as well as the function of furniture in each. Sorting activities in matching pictures to clues or guessing games are used in this PECS activity. Children sort pictures in answer to questions such as "Where do you eat?" or "Where do you sleep?" Guessing games include prompts such as "I sit on the couch. What room am I in?"
Using the PECS clothes topic boards, initiate weather-related sorting by asking the child to identify the current weather and to identify the appropriate clothing to wear. Reverse the sorting to match the weather to particular items of clothing. Another way to practice is to act out a sensation and have the child identify the weather that might cause it and the appropriate clothing. For example, if you were to shiver, the child would identify winter or a sweater.
The transport boards in the PECS program use sorting activities to match toys, pictures and storybook pictures. You can have the child categorize pictures according to things that go in the sky, things that go on the road or things that go in the sea. If you have a pair or a small group of children, make a sorting game by asking them to find three things that go on the road and see who finds them first.