VIDBE-Q Volume 69 Issue 2
Paige Furbush, Paige.furbush@utah.edu
Sarah Ivy, Sarah.ivy@utah.edu
Meridith Karppinen, Meridith.karppinen@utah.edu
University of Utah
Target Audience: TSVIs, SLPs, other related servers
We worked with three learners with visual impairment (VI) and additional
disabilities attending a special school for children with extensive support needs to
evaluate whether the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) (Frost &
Bondy, 2002) phases 1-3 could be adapted to teach them to discriminate among
tangible symbols (instead of 2D graphic images) to make requests (see Table 1 for
learner descriptions). All learners demonstrated an increase in their ability to
initiate communication with another person and successfully make requests. As
learners with visual impairments and additional disabilities often struggle to
develop symbolic communication, these results are encouraging. Adapted PECS
Implementing Adapted PECS with Tangible
Symbols and Switch Technology
