I'm really glad I bought this system and I love that they give blank templates to make custom cards. I was worried that this would allow my child to remain nonverbal, but it has REALLY helped in his language explosion because he loves to label the cards.
I'm a stay at home dad (my wife works) and i started my 2 1/2 year old son on PECS when he was 1 1/2 year old. I will be totally honest, it took me a while to buy into this system as i thought.. A- my son wont need this because he'll be talking soon and B- My son wont use this. I was wrong. The PECS system has made communication between my son and I extremely helpful. Listen, i'm simply a dad who knows crap about therapy and teaching. But if i can make one suggestion to all you mom and dads, When your child enters phase 2 and begins to discriminate between different PEC icons, I suggest that any time your child grabs your hand to direct you to something (like the refrigerator, The cookie jar, the lollipop container) grab the book as fast as possible and make him tell you what he wants with the PECS book. The more you put into this, the more your rewards.