The person I am thinking about for PECS is not able to match. Should we postpone the introduction of PECS until these skills have been mastered?

PECS begins by teaching the important communication skills of “how to communicate” and “how to be persistent with communication.”  We begin by using single icons in the first two Phases of PECS.  These important skills are taught using one icon at a time to parallel typical language development.  Very young children are able to communicate long before they develop their first words.  In a similar fashion, we teach the “art of communication” via PECS first and then focus on building a vocabulary in Phase III.  Therefore, matching skills are not necessary prior to beginning PECS.  Specific teaching strategies are utilized in Phase III to teach discrimination of the icons.  These teaching strategies have been effective with children who previously were not able to master a variety of match-to-sample lessons.