Can anyone explain TEACCH please?

[BialystockandBloom]

What does it entail? How is it differentiated for each individual (if at all)?

Is it measurable?

How is it proven to be effective?

It's been specified in ds's statement which we're appealing. He hasn't actually had any yet as the statement only just finalised so won't start till new term. I'm trying to work out how to argue against it but don't actually know how it will work in practice (and can't find that much useful info about it on the internet).

TIA.

I still can't access that first link, and the bootsmd one just links to a generic page on autism. Am I doing something wrong?

Suppose I just need to know exactly what is planned for ds, and so far I've been unable to find out exactly what TEACCH entails other than a workstation and sometimes visual support but sometimes not

vinnie you say your ds uses TEACCH method but not visual aids. Can you explain how the method is used for ds?

I always found that the trouble with explaining TEACCH was that it was all about managing the day via visual timetables, or managing the classroom and work sheets via in and out trays, or making sure the environment was low arousal with lots of pics to explain tasks, but never about HOW they would actually teach my son to read/write/talk etc. I think that just boiled down to "use the normal methods we use for other kids, but do it in a TEACCH environment". Unless I have been missing something?

they do use visual aids in and around the class and school just not pecs as hes no need for them he is getting lots of salt and has had other therapies how much comes down to teacch or the salt/ therapies i have no way of knowing but the pacage in itself is working for ds he has become much more relaxed and concentrating better and generally all round happier which im sure will academically over time improve, he has always worked better with structure and things being predictable (always a contention in MS), they have matched his needs as well as possible,
they work on a principle of giving choices rather than demands and giving rewards rather than punishments ie: if you finish your maths you can have an extra 5 mins of time at end of the day on your DS or on the climbing frame possitive rather than negative,
they are tring to teach him everyday skills like getting a bus , using money , shopping,doing chores,
helping him with his communication skills, this is done by organising them , using visual aids, making sure they know whats expected of them at all times, setting the room out so as they are all looing at each other or all backs to windows 9no daydreaming) and often windows are opaque so as to let in light but not visually disterb them.
showing them how to express their feelings,anger unhappy , bored in different ways done in conjunction with CBT.
Ive not expplained that very well , shedules and prompts things in room clearly marked even areas to be used for say quiet space , a place for lego to play and a quiet room to go to if all else fails.

so sorry terrible typo's

this shows some of the ideas:
www.txautism.net/docs/Guide/Interventions/TEACCH.pdf

it's a short article - i can email you the text if you want to see it - it should not infringe copyright as it is clearly available publically 50% of the time !

Must admit I find the Researchautism.net a very good source of information, and impartial too.

ty that would be good willow
ive looked on this site before but not about TEACCH so ty sickof im going to read that too , have i missed something im not sure, what ive personally been doing since ds3 dx is read , read and more reading my personal favorite (slightly off topic) but may intrest you if your dc has an issue with food is this:

www.amazon.co.uk/Cant-Eat-Wont-Difficulties-Disorders/dp/1853029742

really enjoying reading this its so problematic and rules our life for many years but enjoying knowing im certainly not the only one whos dc eats about 10 foods 5 or 6 at a time if that he then goes off one thing and changes to another so only ever about 6 foods he will eat at any given time.

vinnie thank you that is very helpful.

willow yes please, if you can email the article that would be good, I'll pm you.

Thanks to everyone, this is all really useful.

Agree with sickof our experience was that DS did not get proper Teacch as would be practised in a special school environment where all the children are using it - but he got the schedules, choice boards etc to direct him from a to b but once he got to a or b the staff had no clue how to teach him when he got there. The staff received zero training in the how to teach. So the Teacch type prompts were of no use as the staff could not engage DS even for a few seconds. They couldn't get his attention. DS also would not have worked for a reward at the end of the day - even now 2 years on his rewards are pretty instant eg within a few minutes. The staff also didn't know how to stop him stimming. So they could say DS go to the sandtable and he would go, but just stim once he got there.

The other thing was that actually DS is really happy to sit on his own and that was the opposite of what we wanted, we wanted an approach that made him spend time with adults and then peers, not one where he was sat on his own at a workstation as his social deficit was a massive barrier to learning. So I would be asking about social skills and what training / input there will be for that. DS got a weekly singing group which he stimmed through and failed to socially engage with another child at all.

try and go a see a mainstream school where you can see a child using it.

Have they specified how often outreach will come / how much training etc?

We asked for months for a written description of what DS provision would look like in practice and never got one. The trouble is the SEN officers often do not know they just use phrases borrowed from reports, they don't know what it means

My worry would be that it is called teacch but actually its just mainstream with a visual timetable and therefore its not autism specific or individualised at all.

DS got the teacch in mainstream approach for 10 months before we got to tribunal and in that time we were able to show it had not worked for him. That is not to say teacch done well would not have worked, but what he got was utter utter crap and he learnt absolutely nothing.

I agree with what your saying totally Agnesdipesto .
Its often the same with everything in the statement , its all words to the SEN officers they have no way of knowing how this will be put into practice and a lot of the time its impractical in MS environment, they just plainly do not have the trained staff to be able to implement the statement and certainly as the government made it non compulsory to be trained in sn they are even less likely to be able to do so.

That's all similar to my experience. DS used teacch at SS, combined with a Reggio Emilio approach that worked really well, but couldn't be slotted into a MS school. MS school was rigid and academic, horrible for many but suited DS down to the ground!

Being a visual learner is not part of the diagnostic criteria for ASD.
Further, if a child's strengths ARE visual, all the more reason to train them to take in information in other ways as well as play to their strengths. A system that is based purely on visuals and makes no attempt to develop weaker skills is flawed.

no its not starlight but we were saying it is an aspect of the assesment (triad of impairments) as in processing and retaining verbal information usually dcs find visual aids very helpful quite possibly in the wrong environment and due to lack of TAs and teacher skills it most certainly will be flawed but it is not in any way based solely on visuals this is a misconception they are also assesed as some dcs can still learn effectively from auditory or kinesthetic lessons

StarlightMcKenzie

Being a visual Learner my not be part of the criteria but is one of the ways around the auditory problems which cause the communication problems which trigger the behavior that are most of the criteria of an diagnosis of ASD.

You really do need to begin to understand the underlying neurological causes of ASD, and the research of the recent last few years, and last decade.
Have a look at
CiteULike Group: Autism - library 150 articles
and Autism (currently 250 research papers) and you may begin to have a better research based understanding of neurology of the issues, and more balanced view regarding interventions.

I don't need a research based understanding to know that my ds had trouble understanding auditory information so we worked on his auditory information skills and now he is better at understanding auditory information.

I don't recall anything in the ADOS about visual learning. The Paediatric asked me if he had visual strengths as something to put in her summary of positives but I said not especially
and she nodded and that was that.

StarlightMcKenzie

Unfortunately you seem think all who have a diagnosis of ASD are clones of your DS, and what applies to your DS applies to all who have a ASD diagnosis.

There are 12 possible criteria which may be considered for an ASD diagnosis, but you only require 6 criteria, so each diagnosis will be different. And currently their is no objective assessment, it is all done using subjective observations.

In the near future there will be neurological diagnostic system for ASD, which replace the current observation based process.

dolfrog Was trying to take a read on some of the articles on your links..........forgive me for sounding daft but how do you actualy get to read the whole reports? I am clicking on abstract or review etc but I can only see the first bit. Do you have to register? Sorry again.

Its just that my DS is fully verbal but also needs to see a visual whist talking to him iyswim. He takes in half of what you are saying but with being sensitive to everything going on around him the visual sort of helps him focus on what is being required as if it has put a picture confirmation in his head. He is being assessed for AS at the moment and the links look very interesting.

So he kind of needs to talk AND have visual

Dolfrog, I only take the position that generics strategies are not suitable for all and that an individualised curriculum is more sensible - for all. Visual supports are not suitable for all, and for those for who they are, they are not suitable all the time.

When considering any strategy there are two important points

1. Will they help the child to engage with their world/education now?
2. will the help the child to engage with their worl/education in the future, bearing in mind that once out of the educational establishment things will be very different.

No.1 is an essential first step, but often that is where it ends because no.2 is harder work and there is no incentive to work on no.2 as this becomes a problem for other services, the child and their family but not Education.