Event Description
PECS Level 1 Training
Date:         August 21 & 22, 2025
Location: Klamath Community College - Rooms 6108 & 6109
                 7390 South 6th Street
                 Klamath Falls, OR  97603

Lunch will be provided
 
The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) is used to rapidly teach communication skills to those with limited functional speech.  PECS promotes communication within a social context, without lengthy prerequisite training.  Training in PECS begins by teaching a spontaneous request and goes on to teach additional communicative functions such as responding to questions and commenting.  An added attraction for preschool children with autism and related disabilities is the high proportion of children who acquire independent speech.  Participants will learn how to implement the six phases of PECS, plus attributes, through presenter demonstrations, video examples and role-play opportunities.  Participants will leave the workshop with an understanding of how to implement PECS with individuals with autism, related developmental disabilities, and/or limited communication skills.
 
What You Will Learn:

• Describe 9 key components of creating effective learning environments using the Pyramid Approach to Education
• Explain differences between prerequisites for and long-term outcomes for PECS and other modalities such as speech, sign language, picture pointing, or speech generating devices
• Identify strategies to create communication opportunities during routines and functional daily activities
• Implement the 6 phases of the PECS protocol
• Name strategies for successfully saying, “No!”

 
Consultant : Anne K. Overcash, M.Ed.
PECS Supervisor and Trainer
 
Anne K. Overcash, M.Ed. has an Undergraduate degree in Psychology and a Masters in Education. She began working with children with autism in 1991 and started her working relationship with Andrew S. Bondy, Ph.D. and Lori Frost, M.S., CCC/SLP in the summer of 1992 at the Delaware Autistic Program. Anne has extensive expertise in PECS and the Pyramid Approach to Education and is a Senior PECS Trainer and Supervisor.  As an international consultant and presenter she continues to interact with families and professional worldwide. She has been involved in the Supervised PECS Summer Camp, the PECS Implementer Certification process, and the mentoring of national and international Pyramid Consultants. While at the Delaware Autistic Program she was a parent training coordinator for preschool students. This experience provided her with a better understanding of the family dynamic when it involves a child with autism. She worked closely with a group of Psychologists on development of and implementation of a parent-training curriculum. In addition, she collaborated on the development of several research projects. As a consultant for Pyramid, she has developed specific talks for schools and in-home programs on data collection, lesson planning, reinforcement strategies across the day, and behavior. Anne has contributed to the development of many of the Pyramid Educational Consultants, Inc. workshops and services and plays an enormous role in the revisions process. More recently she has worked on the development of a program that will allow people to gain Hands-On PECS Experiences (Project HOPE) under the direct supervision of a Pyramid consultant. Her diverse experiences combined with ongoing service delivery to people with autism and related disabilities enable Anne to present dynamic workshops from a realistic perspective.
 

Location
Klamath Community College

Site
Classroom 6108

Curricular Group
Interdisciplinary

Fee
$385

Contact Information
Lindsay Wiegel
541-776-8590 ext. 3119
lindsay_wiegel@soesd.k12.or.us

Start: Thursday August 21st, 2025 at 08:00 am
End: Friday August 22nd, 2025 at 04:00 pm
PDUs: 13.00
Instructor: Anne Overcash