I did use them years ago. I saw them used in the pre-school classroom and parents told me about choice boards - and invited me over to see them in use with ABA therapy. I went to www.do2learn.com and made my own (1 year subscription so I could print the colored pictures and make my own schedules). I used clear packaging tape or clear shelf laminate to cover the printed PECS. I used them to tell my son what was on my agenda for the day, to describe his daily routine, to show steps for dressing, bathing, tooth brushing, etc. and sometimes for stories about what to do for a swim lesson or play date.
We don't use them now. We have some written lists up around the house for different routines. But he's pretty verbal now.
I'm actually looking into creating a pecs library on a kindle fire for my 5 year old. There are several different apps for this
We use PECS at home and at school but have only been doing it for about a month. My son likes to see what is coming up next and feels more comfortable knowing the schedule.
We use PECS. We started about 2 years ago and we saw a difference pretty quickly. It helped ease her frustration and we saw fewer tantrums. What it also seemed to do was teach my daughter the benefit to communication. When we started she didn't communicate with words at all even though she knew a lot of words. Within a month she would verbally make simple requests maybe 10% of the time and use the PECS book for the rest. Now she is able to make more complex requests like I want yellow cereal milk please. She doesn't use words like the or and but it is pretty easy to understand her. She still uses the PECS book every once in a while to make requests if she gets too overwhelmed and now we are using it to expand her communication skills. She is currently working on answering questions about herself like what is your name and how old are you.
Have you considered going electronic with an Augmentative Communication System? We started off with a pecs-like system with my son but the number of pictures and images quickly got out of control... we were spending a fortune on laminating supplies and Velcro and constantly losing important little pictures (not to mention grappling with huge and awkward binders that we had to drag around everywhere with us). My son now has every word he needs with literally the tap of a finger and adding new images is as simple as dragging and dropping.
Another benefit to an electronic system is that you get voice output which you obviously wouldn't get from the old-fashioned picture-on-paper system.
You may want to consider getting your child an iPod Touch or iPad, along with a communication app like MyVoice. http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/myvoice-communic...(Phone number can only be seen by the question and answer creators)?mt=8
One more note as it may address one of your concerns... Way back when we were considering getting my son an augmentative communication system, I was worried that this would inhibit speech. When I did some research, however, I discovered that such systems actually encourage language development which was of course, great news!