Abstract: Objective To explore the application for occupational therapy combined with Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) in the rehabilitation therapy for children with autism. Methods Eightysix children with autism who were treated in our hospital from January 2017 to December 2018 were selected as study subjects and were randomly divided into observation group and control group, with 43 cases in each group. Control group was treated with PECS while observation group was treated with occupational therapy on this basis. Changes in psychological development level, disease recovery and treatment compliance were compared between the two groups before treatment and after 6 months of treatment. Results After 6 months of treatment, the scores of the three items（communication, physical fitness and behavior） in the two groups were significantly improved compared with those before treatment, and the scores of physical fitness and behavior in observation group were significantly higher than those in control group(P<0.05), but there was no significant difference in communication ability score between the two groups(P>0.05). After treatment, the scores of children' s autism behavior scale and children' s autism assessment scale in the two groups were significantly decreased compared with those before treatment, and the scores in observation group were significantly lower than those in control group(P<0.05). After treatment, the overall rate of treatment compliance in observation group was significantly higher than that in control group(P<0.05). Conclusion Occupational therapy combined with PECS can obviously improve the symptoms, enhance the psychological development level and significantly promote the treatment compliance of children with autism.

Key words: Autism, Occupational therapy, PECS, Psychological development, Compliance