Art Room Specific PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System)

This summer I did a lot of thinking about how I could make my art room the friendliest space possible for my students with Special Needs. Luckily, a trip to the Philly Free Library helped me find an immensely insightful text called "Drawing Autism." The book, edited by clinical therapist, Jill Mullin, with a foreward by Temple Grandin, is a must have for all art teachers working with students on the Autistic Spectrum. The book shares the perspectives of 22 practicing artists who have been diagnosed with some degree of Autistic Spectrum Disorder. The stories juxtaposed with the beautiful art prints really helped me feel what the process of making art-- for some a struggle, for others a refuge, for others a way of dealing with challenging events or alienation experiences in their lives.  I couldn't help but relate their stories to the artists I see in my classroom every week. Art class is time filled with lots of opportunity for social interactions, unfamiliar materials, and complex sets of directions. All three of these things are great for our brains and make us stronger thinkers, but it occurred to me that it could also get pretty overwhelming fairly quickly!

I first learned about PECS, or Picture Exchange Communication Systems, two years ago during my Masters program. Since then, I have noticed this mode of communication being used more and more in modern day teaching environments. I even saw this great video tutorial posted on "The Art of Ed" blog. I looked around for art room specific PECS systems online, but I couldn't really find one that was comprehensive enough to fit my art room procedures and needs. This summer, I picked up my Micron and my watercolor paints and decided to make a list of all the key procedures I would want to communicate to students in my class. I made a visual representation of each concept that fell into four categories

1. ART ROOM TOOLS
2. ART TECHNIQUES/PROCEDURES/ELEMENTS
3. POSITIVE ART ROOM BEHAVIORS
   
4. EMOTIONS

Traditionally, PECS systems are used for identified individuals so I made up a few clip boards with direction sequencing pages, "Today I will...." with three spaces for the student to fill in with pictures and an "I feel....I want....I choose....." Check-In sheet for a paraprofessional to use one-on one with an artist.

In the end, I decided that ALL of my students would benefit from having a visual sequence of directions so I made a large print out with the directions sequence for everyone to see. Each day when the students gather around a for a demo, two students are in charge of being extra expert listeners and they fill in the sequence in the correct order  and hang it on our magnetic board. Hilariously enough, the kids love being in charge of this duty and getting it right. It's also good sequencing practice for the little guys.

Making the system took a lot of work, but it was worth it to have an aesthetically pleasing system in place that fit all of my needs. I made my system available by clicking here.