Using the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) With an Adult With Autism and Severe Inappropriate Behavior at a Rehabilitation Facility for People With Intellectual Disabilities

Abstract

The present study examined the use of the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) for severe inappropriate behavior, including polydipsic behavior (excessive drinking), self-injury, and stepping on feces, of a 28-year-old man with autism who was living in a rehabilitation facility for people with intellectual disabilities. After the Picture Exchange Communication System had been used to shape alternative behavior, generalization of the new behavior to his daily life was promoted. A functional assessment suggested that the man's problematic behavior had requesting and attention-getting functions. In Support Procedure I, the Picture Exchange Communication System, up to its third phase, was used in order to shape alternative behavior. This resulted in his acquisition of mand behavior using photographs. Support Procedure II examined whether the polydipsic behavior could be reduced by introducing the photographs into daily settings as discriminative stimuli for the alternative behavior. After that procedure was introduced, his polydipsic behavior decreased. Because the staffs attention necessarily had to be focused on the man whenever support was provided, it is possible that this functioned as an establishing operation, weakening the reinforcing effect of his inappropriate behavior, which had had an attention-getting function. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved). (journal abstract)