The effectiveness of the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) in developing some communication skills for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Qatar

Abstract

Due to the clear weakness suffered by children with autism spectrum disorder in communication in general and verbal and non-verbal communication in particular, as well as social communication, which results in the emergence of some behavioral problems in these children, the research aimed to discuss the impact of using Picture Exchanging Communication System (PECS) on improving communication skills (verbal, non-verbal and social) for children with autism spectrum disorder, and the research relied on the semi-experimental approach, and the study tools were represented in Picture Exchanging Communication System (PECS) and the scale of communication skills for autism spectrum disorder, using statistical analysis to analyze data using the Wilcoxon test as one of the methods, and the research community reached (184) autistic children enrolled in integration schools and schools of guidance for people with special needs in the State of Qatar, using a random sample of (14) children, and one group was used, where the experimental group underwent the pre-test, and the experimental period was represented in the application of the program to the experimental group for 40 training sessions, and after the application of the program, the two experimental groups underwent the post-test, and the results of the research showed that there were clear and statistically significant differences at the level of significance (0.01) between the average scores of the experimental group on the scale of communication skills for autism spectrum disorder and these results were in favor of the post-test, as the results showed that there were no clear and significant differences at the level of significance (0.05) between the average scores of the experimental group on the scale of communication skills for autism spectrum disorder in post-test and tracking test, and the results confirmed the importance of training nonspeaking children with autism spectrum disorder (PECS) in order to improve their communication skills.