Abstract: Objective To systematically review the effect of picture exchange communication system (PECS) on social communication and speech in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Methods Literatures were retrieved from PubMed, Medline, EBSCO, Elsvier, VIP, CNKI, evaluated and screened out. Results Six articles were included in the systematic review. Two of them researched the effect of PECS on social communication and speech, two for social communication and other two for speech. Four of them supported that PECS might promote the social communication, three of them supported that PECS promote the speech, and one indicated that PECS did less for speech. Conclusion PECS benefits social communication in children with ASD, especially for the request, and may facilitate the increase of the vocabulary and speech. The characteristics of children with ASD may associate with the efficacy of PECS.

Key words: autism spectrum disorder, picture exchange communication system, social communication, speech, rehabilitation, systematic