| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立屏東師範學院 === 特殊教育學系碩士班 === 93 === The purpose of the thesis was to examine the effects of the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) on spontaneous communication behaviors of two autistic children. The researcher examined whether the subjects could learn all the target behaviors in the six different phases of the PECS program, and then enhance/improve their spontaneous communication behaviors in the experimental settings or at home.
A single-subject research withdrawal design was adopted. The subjects were two autistic boys, five years old and six years old, respectively. The experimental teaching was conducted fours days a week, and lasted for eight months. All the processes were video taped, and the DVDs were analyzed by an independent rater for appropriate inter-observer reliability. The collected data was analyzed by both quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative methods included visual analysis, statistical evaluation, and effect size analysis techniques. In addition, open-ended questionnaires and interviews were used to gather information from parents and the primary caregiver, to provide an accurate assessment of the general effects of PECS program on the daily lives of the subjects.
The results obtained are as follows:
1. The two subjects achieved all the target behaviors of the six phases in the PECS training program, and communicated with others by using PECS.
2. The hypothesis, that spontaneous communicative behavior in the experimental settings would be improved in the two subjects, was not supported by the results. Contrary to expectations, the two subjects showed decreased spontaneous communication behaviors during the intervention and behavior retention phases, periods when the subjects were examined, via videotaping, to determine if their spontaneous communication behavior (verbal and non-verbal) was maintained, increased or decreased.
3. In home settings, PECS could enhance the autistic children’s spontaneous verbal and non-verbal communication behaviors during the intervention and behavior retention phases.
4. The hypothesis, that non-verbal spontaneous communicative behavior in the experimental settings would be improved in the two subjects, was not supported by the results. Contrary to expectations, the two subjects showed decreased non-verbal spontaneous communication behaviors during the intervention and behavior retention phases.
5. In home settings, the two subjects showed different performance in non-verbal spontaneous communication behaviors during the intervention and behavior retention phases. PECS decreased subject A’s non-verbal spontaneous communication behaviors during the intervention and behavior retention phases; however, subject B’s non-verbal spontaneous communication behaviors showed no difference among the baseline, intervention and behavior retention phases.
6. In the experimental settings, the two subjects showed different performance in their verbal spontaneous communication behaviors during the intervention and behavior retention phases. Subject A’s verbal spontaneous communication behaviors showed no difference between the baseline and intervention phases, but increased in the behavior retention phases. Subject B showed decreased verbal spontaneous communication behaviors during the intervention and behavior retention phases.
7. In home settings, the two subjects showed different performance in their verbal spontaneous communication behaviors during the intervention and behavior retention phases. Subject B showed decreased verbal spontaneous communication behaviors during the intervention and behavior retention phases.
8. Parents and the primary caregiver indicated that PECS could improve subjects’ expressive language ability through their use of short sentences to communicate with others.
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