Friday, July 27, 2012

More PECS Talk

Since I heard from several of you who are quite interested in PECS, I decided to devote a little more time to it today.

First thing I would tell you is that if you're not on Pinterest, you should be! It's a great resource for all kinds of special needs, including lots of information on PECS.  I found most all of the pictures and links below on Pinterest.  If you'd like to follow me there, I'm pinterest.com/lanalrush.

Also thanks to Pinterest, I found a great website that makes creating PECS cards a breeze.  It's called www.mrsriley.com and I highly recommend it.  You can upload your own photos, find pictures on the web, search the library of cards made by other users as well as 3000+ symbols, click and drag to your preferred template size, and print.  Easy as pie.

Now. There are lots of ways to organize your PECS cards.  One way is a binder, like this one:

Large PECS Communication Notebook

with sentence strips like these:
Extra Sentence Strip for PECS Notebook

While this is not my preferred method of storage, that doesn't mean someone else might not love them.  And if a PECS notebook is something you'd like to try, now's a good time to do so.  A sweet reader left a comment on Tuesday's post to pass along that www.especialneeds.com is having a close-out sale on many PECS accessories and the prices are great.  So hurry up and take advantage of the low prices if you're interested.  And thanks Mom25 for the tip!

In Tuesday's post, I showed you the PECS set-up we currently have in our house.  In case anyone missed it, it looks a little something like this:



But there are more decorative ways to display your cards if you're a crafty sort of person:



In the picture above, I really like that little drawer shelf for storing the cards by category when they're not in use.

From Bella & Bambino, here's another cute idea for a PECS visual schedule, using a cheap frame and magnetic paint.
Click here for directions.

Use old cookie Pan...Chalkboard paint and attach to kitchen door. Great idea for PECS & visual schedules.

Here's an idea for a little more discreet way to have PECS cards at the ready.  Plus, since it's a lower cabinet, the cards are right at a child's height.  Handy!
Click here for directions from Under the Table & Dreaming by Stephanie Lynn.

Good idea to use alongside iTouch

So we've seen several ways to store, organize, and display the picture cards.  How about some creative ways to put those cards to use?

Use PECS cards and a paint stick to make Story Sticks, an easy and fun way to involve a child in the plot of a book.  Paint sticks could also make a make a great portable visual schedule.
Click here for directions from Making Learning Fun.

story sticks for Brown Bear Brown Bear...velcro on a paint stick with pics...good for small routine chart too

Virginia Commonwealth University has a great explanation of just about every kind of visual schedule out there and the orderly way to progress through them.
 Click here to learn more.

types of schedules for kids

Click here to visit the blog, She Wears Flowers and you'll find a tutorial for making a felt shopping book for use with PECS cards at the grocery store.  This could be a great way to get your child involved in shopping as well as an easy way to show that the food cards stand for actual food items.

For Clara's PECS.

Last but not least, my simple method of carrying the cards along with me when I'm out and about with the Bird?  Book rings:




Easy to stick in my purse or even hook on the strap.  Quick and easy to take on and off depending on what the day's activities are.  Simple to sort through and make a selection.  And the key rings can be divided by categories - places to eat, errands to run, fun things to do, and so on.

So while PECS may not be as fast as pulling up an image on your iPhone or iPad, there are lots of ways you can make it work for you.  And most importantly, for your child.

Have a great weekend and I'll see you Tuesday!


10 comments:

  1. Lana, I proclaim you Queen of Resourcefulness!!! Informative, Beautiful, Organized, and Variety of Options!
    Great job!!!
    btw - these are helpful for buddies too!! I couldn't find a pull-up in one of the kiddo's bags the other night -- after looking and looking, I saw the "potty" card attached to a bag and voila! Pull-up inside- SCORE!!
    And the crafter in me is getting all sorts of ideas to use these at church too!!! :-)

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  2. Thank you so much for the ideas! I worked with Boo's SPT yesterday and we are going to try to implement a very simple PECS system for home. The ideas you posted above gave a lot to think about!

    Our SPT (just yesterday) gave us this website where you can print free PECS pictures) http://www.do2learn.com/

    We are going to try to implement it this weekend.

    Thanks again, you have been so helpful!

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  3. A boy in my boy uses a laminated manilla file folder with strips of velrco inside for his schedule on the outside there is room for the chice board and sqenuace strip. It is easy to carry around. Graet ideas

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  4. So much awesome and useful information. These things tend to overwhelm me but this makes it, dare I say, fun?! Thank you, thank you for doing some (long overdue on my part) incredible research for me!!

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  5. Great post and wonderful ideas that will be very helpful to others :-)

    xx Jazzy

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  6. Lol - I also have most of these items pinned... Where do you wanna bet I repinned them from?

    Hoping its all going well - please keep us posted!

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  7. Wow! Thanks Lana for giving me so many wonderful options for making the PECS. This has quickly become my new project since your original post. Can't wait to check out the Mrs. Riley site :)

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  8. Wow! So many great ideas. They all fulfill my organizational obsession! Thanks for the tips!

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  9. Thank you so much! I was doing some Google stalking for a fabric PECS book and general PECS ideas like where to put them and how to display them. This was awesome. i even sent your link to my daughters ABA therapist. Thank you for posting =)

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    Replies
    1. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/423271.Why_Is_It_Always_About_You_

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