How introducing PECs in a nursery setting improved social interaction and behaviour
First day at nursery is always full of trepidation and anxiety for both child and parent, for autistic children and their parents the settling in period can exemplify these very normal feelings. A local nursery contacted us a month before 2-year-old Tom was due to start, Tom’s parents had shared their concerns about his communication difficulties and aloofness.
Tom has a diagnosis of autism, this impacts his ability to communicate, interact and think in a flexible way as a result he finds it easier to interact with adults rather than playing with his peers, finds coping with changes difficult to deal with. Tom’s parents shared their anxiety and worry with the nursery staff. The nursery manager contacted Alpha Autism Care for some advice on transitioning to nursery setting and strategies to help improve and develop communication.
Tom was allocated a worker who visited the nursery and the home, our trained workers utilised active listening to help ease parental anxiety and provided up to date information to both parent and staff working at the nursery. Picture exchange communication system was introduced in both home and nursery setting over a period, in accordance with current evidence consistent and persistent use of strategies has an increased impact and high effectiveness.
The nursery used images to label toys, areas including toilet and kitchen in all the setting for all of the children and found that this had a positive impact on social interaction amongst peers and they also noted that Tom was able to converse his needs and therefore was less anxious and distressed.
