Effectiveness of PECS Phase III in Enhancing Requesting Behaviour among Young Children with Nonverbal Autism: A Comparative Classroom-Based Study in Qatar and Nigeria

Abstract

Objective: The pre-post study examined how the introduction of Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) Phase III influences requesting behaviour in young children with nonverbal autism spectrum disorder (ASD) across two culturally distinct classroom settings: Doha, Qatar, and Lagos, Nigeria.

Methods: Participants included 24 children (12 per country) aged 3-6 years in special education classrooms. Data sources comprised video-recorded communication episodes (48 hours total), teacher reflective journals (10 weeks, eight teachers), semi-structured educator interviews (eight interviews, 45-60 minutes each), and environmental field notes collected one week pre-intervention and during the final week of a 10-week PECS Phase III intervention.

Results: Three cross-cutting themes emerged across both countries. Spontaneous initiation as a universal milestone (achieved by 19 of 24 children), reduced frustration behaviours linked to communicative control, and contextual dependency shaped by classroom ecology (board placement, teacher positioning, reinforcement immediacy). Two culturally distinct themes also arose. Teacher-led versus child-led interaction styles and symbol adaptation needs. Qatari children mastered Phase III approximately 2.5 weeks earlier than Nigerian children, but the character of spontaneous initiation was indistinguishable across settings.

Conclusion: PECS Phase III increased requesting behaviour in both national contexts, demonstrating robustness across diverse cultural and material conditions. However, implementation must be culturally responsive, with adaptations to local linguistic environments, pedagogical traditions, and available resources. Findings offer a direct comparison of PECS in Arab and West African special education settings and provide practical guidance for classroom-based AAC implementation in both high-resource and low-resource contexts.