DIY Electronic PECS Board Helps Autistic People Communicate

Many people, including children on the autism spectrum, have difficulty with verbal communication. That can be because they are unable to speak at all or because they are uncomfortable speaking in certain situations. Andy Bondy and Lori Frost developed the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) in 1985 to help young autistic children communicate. The system contains a variety of pictorial cards, which kids can give to a neurotypical adult or peer in exchange for the item depicted on the card. Alain Mauer designed this electronic PECS board for his son and has a write-up explaining how you can make your own.

PECS is useful for more than requesting a tangible object. Autistic children (and adults) can also use PECS to communicate their emotions and needs. They can, for example, present a card with a picture of a toilet to indicate the need to visit a restroom or a card with a picture of food when they're hungry. A typical PECS setup consists of a stack of pictorial cards. This electronic PECS board offers one major advantage: it plays an audio clip. That means that the recipient of a request doesn't have to be familiar with PECS or the specific cards. Pressing the toilet button can play an audio clip that says something like "could you please show me to the restroom?"

Mauer designed this PECS board to be affordable and easy to build. The enclosure is made of laser-cut MDF layers, which stack together to form a 3D case. If you don't have access to a laser cutter, you can use a 3D printer or cut each piece out by hand using a router or jigsaw. The board has 16 individual buttons backed by a clever DIY keyboard membrane. Mauer created that membrane with copper foil, cardboard, and a flexible plastic sheet. This construction is both durable and affordable.

An Arduino Pro Mini, running at 8Mhz, monitors that membrane keyboard matrix. When it detects a button press, it tells a DFPlayer Mini MP3 module to play the corresponding audio clip through an 8 ohm speaker. Power comes from a 1700mAh lithium-ion battery via a TP4056 module. Mauer posted the Arduino code to make the board function; you just need to provide the audio clips you want to use. The code even has battery monitor functionality. It checks the battery through a voltage divider and illuminates a red LED when the battery drops below a defined threshold.

If someone in your life suffers from autism and has trouble with verbal communication, this electronic PECS board could improve their life.