A teaching programme for autistic children, only recently introduced into Britain, is producing big improvements in pupils’ language skills, according to teachers. The Picture Exchange Communication System was developed in the United States. It teaches children to use pictures to communicate their ideas.
Teresa Webb, a teacher at a Avalon special school in Street, Somerset, said half a dozen four and five-year-olds who have been exposed to the system for five months are now all using spoken language to communicate spontaneously. They were previously at a pre-verbal level.