Effectiveness of the PECS program for the development of spontaneous speech and its impact on improving the social communication of autistic children

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Assistant Professor of Psychology Girls College - Ain Shams University

2 Instructor of educational psychology Girls College - Ain Shams University

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of a PECS program for the development of spontaneous speech and its impact on improving the social communication of a sample of autistic children. Methodology and procedures of the study: The current study was based on the semi-experimental approach, which depends on the design of two groups, namely; the experimental and the control. The study procedures were applied to 10 children of autistic children in the Noor Al-Hayat Association for the care of autistic children in Zagazig City. Their ages ranged between 8-12 years and their degree of intelligence between 55-70 and were divided into two groups, one experimental group and the training program was applied. The other was an control group that did not receive any training. The autistic child scale due Adel Abdullah was applied, the automatic speech scale (researcher's preparation), was used to assess the skills of nonverbal communication of autistic children of Hossam Khalil, the PECS automatic speech development program (researcher's preparation). Results of the study: The results of the study reveal the following: There are statistically significant differences between the pre- and postmeasurements of the experimental group in the development of spontaneous speech and social communication in favor of telemetry. There were statistically significant differences between the control group and the experimental group in automatic speech and social communication after application of the program for the benefit of the experimental group. There are differences between the two measurments, namely the premeasurment and follow-up measurment of the experimental group, which indicates the continuity of the impact of the program in improving the automatic speech and its positive impact on social communication.

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