PECS or an AAC app?

These get compared as if they're two products competing for the same slot. They aren't. PECS is a teaching protocol. An AAC app is a tool. Understanding that difference makes the choice much clearer.

What PECS actually is

PECS stands for the Picture Exchange Communication System, developed by Andy Bondy and Lori Frost. The defining feature is in the name: exchange. The child physically picks up a picture card and hands it to another person to make a request.

It's a structured protocol that moves through six phases, beginning with a single-card exchange and progressing toward sentence strips like "I want" plus an item. Practitioners are trained in it, and the structure is the point.

That physical handover is doing real work. It builds the idea that communication is directed at a person, not performed into the air. For a child who doesn't yet seek out a communication partner, that's a genuinely valuable lesson, and it's why many therapists start here.

What an AAC app is

An AAC app turns a tablet into a speech-generating device. The child selects a word or picture and the device speaks it aloud. There's no protocol built into the software: it's a tool, and how it's taught is up to you and your therapist.

The spoken output changes the social dynamic. A child using an app can be understood by someone who has never met them, without that person needing to know what any card means.

The practical differences

• Voice. Cards are silent, and require a partner who's looking. An app speaks, and reaches someone across the room.
• Partner requirement. PECS by design needs someone to hand the card to. An app can be used to comment with nobody paying attention, which sounds trivial and isn't: it's how a lot of language learning happens.
• Durability. Cards get lost, chewed, left in the car. Tablets get dropped and run out of battery. Pick your problem.
• Adding vocabulary. New PECS cards mean printing, cutting, laminating. New app cards take a moment, and can use a real photo.
• Setup cost. Cards are cheap to start and add up over time. Apps are a subscription or a purchase.
• Structure. PECS comes with a method and training. An app hands you freedom, which is helpful if you have therapist support and daunting if you don't.

Where each tends to fit

PECS often suits a child who doesn't yet initiate toward other people, a family with therapist support to run the protocol properly, and settings where a screen isn't practical.

An app often suits a child who already seeks out people but can't make themselves understood, families who want a voice others can hear, and situations where vocabulary needs to change quickly as a child's world changes.

Where BublTalk sits, since you're on our site: we use PECS-style picture cards inside an app that speaks, plus baby sign videos, aimed at the very early stage. That's a deliberate blend rather than an implementation of the PECS protocol, and we don't claim to be PECS.

What about signs?

Signs are the third member of this family and often the fastest to start, because there's nothing to carry or charge. We cover combining them in Baby sign language and AAC.

Common questions

What is PECS?

PECS, the Picture Exchange Communication System, is a structured teaching protocol developed by Andy Bondy and Lori Frost. A child physically hands a picture card to a communication partner to make a request. It progresses through six defined phases, from single-card exchange to building sentence strips.

Is PECS the same as an AAC app?

No. PECS is a teaching method with a defined protocol and training, using physical cards and requiring a communication partner to receive them. An AAC app is a tool that speaks a message aloud when a child selects it. Both fall under the umbrella of AAC, but they are different categories.

Can a child use PECS and an AAC app at the same time?

Yes, and many do. Families commonly use physical cards in some settings and a speech-generating app in others. Using more than one method is normal in AAC rather than a conflict.