PECS IV+

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Has an artificial limit for some reason. People have been asking them to up the limit or remove it, but they don’t care. The page’s will randomly lose their layout. It also desperately needs a sync feature. Do yourself a favor and get something better.

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When I updated the device the volume on the Pecs program stopped working. I have to reboot the device for the volume to work. Not good when your autistic child is non verbal and can't use her words.

This app is amazing! No more having to make PECs icons...no more Velcro, lamination, and cutting! This app allows me to make multiple boards to support my daughter's communication at home and school. I have also used it with my students of varying ages and abilities. As a special educator and parent, I recognize the value of having a time saver like this app. It is so easy to create new boards and the excellent graphics support vocabulary development and literacy skills. The other benefit is that it is easy for anyone- other adults and children too- to use the app while supporting the specific student. Kids are able to access the boards easily in order to model the use for the target student. It is worth the money. It is versatile and easy to use. It comes with a wealth of already made PECs images- pre-sorted into categories. I highly recommend the investment.

As a speech-language pathologist who has implemented PECS successfully with so many students, it is exciting to see the developers once again creating an amazing communication tool. PECS IV+ is clearly the next step for my students who have mastered phases I-IV using the classic PECS books with pictures. I particularly love that the app looks just like a traditional PECS book which will assist with easier transitioning to a speech generating device for my students. The app is user friendly to the professional in terms of setting up the app to look like a traditional PECS book. The app is organized to allow for the student to quickly create a message with minimal navigation/steps. This will allow for efficient communication. Great price, great app!

This is a VERY user friendly and effective app for individuals that have demonstrated the ability to communicate using the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) at the sentence construction (Phase -4) stage. Individuals at this stage have demonstrated the ability to obtain a picture(s), socially approach a listener, and deliver a picture to a communicative partner. Additionally, these individuals are able to discriminate between pictures and can create at least a two picture (three word – e.g., I want ball) sentence. This app/communication systems has many advantages over other widely available systems. THIS APP CAN BE PROGRAMMED BY JUST ABOUT ANYONE!!! Working across many settings with people who support others to use augmentative or alternative communication systems, one of the biggest obstacles is the creation and management of the communication system. Unlike other high (or even low) tech systems, PECS IV+ is easy to set up. It is easy to import pictures from the photo library (it includes over 1,000 Pics for PECS images) or from the web, take your own pictures, label your pictures, arrange the pictures, and determine how the user will select pictures. You can also change the size of the pictures. With just about anyone able to set-up and manage the communications system, no one person needs to be responsible as the sole manager of the system (people other than the speech pathologist can take on this task!). When using traditional PECS with individuals at Phase 4, instructors are able to use a time delay prompt strategy to encourage the communicator to speak while the instructor reads back the sentence, pausing between specific words. Most high-tech communication systems do not easily allow for this to occur. PECS IV+ DOES as it has an easy way to program a constant time delay for ‘reading’ the Sentence Strip to create opportunities for the Individual to speak!!! PECS IV+ has an easy way to lock the screen with varied lock codes. This decreases the probability the user inadvertently changes their page layouts and settings, but allows the instructor a way to access the settings without needing to memorize passwords! Paired with guided access on the iPad, this really limits the PECS IV+ user’s accessibility to other apps or the web on the device. This means the device can be reserved as a communication system and not a toy! This app allow the Individual’s usage to be tracked by providing a list of sentence strips constructed by the Individual and weekly and monthly analysis of most frequently-used pictures. It also tracks the amount of time this apps was used. This information and feedback provides instructors with important information to improve their instruction as they can set goals for increasing frequency and time of communication, and increase Individual’s vocabulary. Finally, PECS IV+ offers people an option to move from low to high tech within the same visual presentation. After individuals demonstrate effective communication skills within PECS, this app provides an opportunity to move to a high-tech system. As PECS IV+ app looks like a traditional PECS book on an iPad (or other device), it is familiar to those who have used PECS to communicate and familiar to those or teach others to use PECS. This assists in skill generalization as the similar look of the communicate system uses the strategy “Use common stimuli” (Stoke and Bear, 1977) and does not require the communicator (or instructor) to view a different layout. It looks like a PECS book!