OUGD505 - Design Practice 2: Study Task 1 (PECS Research)

Pyramid is the exclusive home of the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) and the Pyramid Approach to Education.

Pyramid Educational Consultants UK Ltd offers a wide range of consulting services and products for educators and parents of children and adults with autism and related disabilities. Pyramid is a consortium of highly trained professionals dedicated to providing the highest quality service.

Pyramid also offers a variety of training opportunities and products that focus on the initiation of communication and the design of effective educational environments. We present a unique blend of broad spectrum applied behaviour analysis, in conjunction with the development of functional communication skills. Our philosophy emphasises the individual needs of each learner.

We are the exclusive source of training and consultation for the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) and the Pyramid Approach to Education. Both PECS and the Pyramid are evidence-based strategies, with supportive research from countries around the world.

Some of the products:

Hungry Caterpillar Story Book Activity Set
Books with repeated lines and predictable stories are great for PECS activities because the repetition and predictability provide a functional context for multiple opportunities for requesting or commenting.The set includes a Hungry Caterpillar story book (paperback), Activity Board (colour will vary), hook & loop coin fasteners and all the 4.5cm pictures for both requesting and commenting activities including a variety of sentence starters. 

Show and Go - with lanyard

This handy key-ring set allows educators to visually show their “voice” or direction for students to follow. Printed on durable plastic, this set includes the following PECS pictures - “clean up”, “feet on floor”, “finished”, “hands on lap”, ”line up”, “quiet/shhh”, “raise hand”, “stand up”, “sit” and “toilet”. A blank card is also included to allow you to add your own chosen direction or to store tokens on. Hook it on your belt loop or purchase with the lanyard. The Pyramid Approach to Education differentiates between Prompts and Cues. The Show and Go comes with a description of each and how to move your students from responding to prompts to the natural cues of the situation.

Visual Reinforcement System Large

"Lets make a deal"!" These card systems provide motivators for staying on task and focusing on the lesson. Comes complete with hook and loop coins, counters and full instructions . The larger is suggested as the one to use when introducing the system 

Card Creator

This specially developed programme simplifies printing your Pics for PECS images. It allows you to easily change the size of your pictures (select any size PECS pictures or larger visual time-table pictures, etc.), change borders and to add different captions to the pictures, ideal if you need to change them from English to another language. Images from many different sources can now be made into PECS pictures with ease. For instance, produce PECS pictures of relevance to you students by using pictures of familiar objects, people or places from your digital camera. Card Creator can be used on PCs running Windows 98, ME, 2000 or XP. Please note card Creator does not run on Mac operating systems.

Source

Activity Binder Update for 2014

This sturdy Polypropylene A4 size binder will house all of your activity boards and spare PECS symbols. It opens to an easel format and can be used in lessons to allow easy access to pictures. Comes complete with 2 Activity Boards and 2 Sentence Strips, pictures and loop coins/fastener sold separately.

Source

Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See? Book

Featuring exuberantly coloured artwork and favourite animals, this rhythmic story offers an introduction to looking and learning about colours. Each spread leads seamlessly into the next and young children will delight in the colourful collage animals and simple repetitive language.

Source

•