Caregivers are generally children’s primary communication partners; therefore, their ability to support their child’s use of augmentative and alternative communication systems, such as the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS; Frost & Bondy, 2006), is critical. However, few studies explore systematic approaches to PECS caregiver training and little is known about how to efficiently and effectively support caregivers’ PECS implementation. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of a 2-week telehealth training package using behavior skills training and general case training to teach caregivers to implement PECS (i.e., the PECSperts Caregiver Training Package). Six caregivers of children on the autism spectrum participated in the study, four mothers and two fathers. Feasibility was evaluated across the areas of acceptability, service demand, community implementation, practicality, and limited effectiveness testing (Bowen et al., 2009). The training was evaluated using a modified concurrent multiple probe across behaviors research design. Caregivers reported a high degree of satisfaction with the training, and high rates of session attendance and study engagement were observed. Caregivers achieved high levels of PECS teaching accuracy for all the phases of PECS targeted in the training (i.e., phases 1 to 3b). Results persisted at 1- and 2-month follow up probes. The results indicate that a brief telehealth model may be an effective approach to PECS caregiver training and may be feasibly implemented in community settings. The results support the need for future research exploring the effectiveness of the training on children’s PECS use.
