Any info on Teacch for ASD?

[Mollyweasley]

Does anybody know where to find info on how to use the TEACCH methods for ASD.My DS is newly diagnosed with ASD and we were advised to use this technique although I don't seem to find any practical info on it.

try here

You've come to the wrong place! I don't think TEACCH has many admirers on this board. My DS used TEACCH 'lite' while at SS, using a structured workstation. He had various activities in coloured drawers which he completed in order, moving each activity into a 'completed' drawer once finished. He was taught to do this to get him doing some work independently. The workstation was set up in a shielded corner of the room with plain white walls, no distractions. It worked to a small extent, he would complete the activities but once in MS, it was quickly dropped by the school who preferred to keep him working with the other NT DC.

He also used a detailed visual vertical timetable, of PECs type Velcro cards which could be removed from the timetable once each activity was completed. He loved this and it helped him a lot with transitions. He would voluntarily use it to check what was happening often throughout the day. His MS school introduced a class timetable that all the NT reception DC also found useful. My DS had to have every detail on it initially, eg go to toilet, wash hands, line up for snack, get snack, sit on carpet, eat snack, whereas the NT DC were happy with 'toilet' then 'snack time.'

Before he used either of these aids he was introduced to PECS which was also very beneficial to him. It kickstarted his communication and led to much better speech.

I think a lot of posters on this board would say that ABA (Applied Behavioural Analysis) is a much better methodology to use with DC with ASD, but it's not popular with LAs.

thanks for the info. I was wondering if you could give me more details as to why TEACCH is not popular on this board? I am relatively new to all these different techniques and welcome any feedback.

I think because it has no scientific basis measuring it's effectiveness, and seems to be trundled out as the standard method by LAs without actually checking to see if it will work for your DC. If I've learnt anything about ASD it's that every DC DXed with it is different, sometimes very different, and a standard package aimed at 'visual learners' isn't necessarily going to be effective. The advantage of ABA, which I know little about, TBH, is that it's tailored to the DC and it's effectiveness is constantly monitored. Have a search for ABA threads on this board and maybe ask a question with ABA in the title.

TEACCH gets a 'positive' rating from this non-partisan autism research review board. It isn't dangerous or worrying, there is some research but they think more research needs to be done

www.researchautism.net/autism_treatments_therapies_interventions.ikml

Try this too

TEACCH was beyond useless for my boy. It is - strangely, given its name - not in fact a way of teaching, but a way of organising the classroom and the school day. The independent ResearchAutism site gives their top "3 tick" rating to EIBI (which is early ABA). Aba understands how many autistic children need different ways of learning - via small steps teaching, and motivation/rewards. But TEACCH is endorsed by most of the UK autism establishment - for no better reason I can see than that is cheap and fluffy. Aba is the education of choice for autism and developmental difficulties in Scandinavia, the US, Canada etc. I personally think it is a national scandal how we are shortchanging our autistic children in this country. But there are tiny signs that the NAS is coming round to ABA, so I remain hopeful.

TEACCH has some good ideas and principles, in terms of organisation and structure. A lot of it is common sense but to be honest, most advice, whether paid for or not, is common sense (think if the dieting industry-utterly bonkers when it ultimatley boils down to eat less and move more).

It does however in many ways enable the difficulties a child has, rather than address them directly like ABA does. One of my colleagues told me about a ridiculous TEACCH video she had seen of a child going into a McDonalds, flanked by two adults holding up pieces of cards, to act rather like blinkers do for a horse.

People will try ad fob you off and tell you they know about TEACCH when what they mean is that someone in their dept. who went on a course 15 years ago gave a ten minute talk on it to everyone else.

I also have an issue with the fact there seems to be little evidence and that the webiste and related info don't seem to have changed in years.

My DS uses TEACCH at school which is fine by me. It has structure and seems fairly easy to manage/apply for staff. However, he did an ABA home program for 4 years and then went to an ABA school for a further 6 years! By then I felt that dropping formal ABA (although behavioural methods of all sorts are used everywhere these days) was fine for him. He had learnt the basic skills and, quite frankly, needed a change.

TEACCH failed my son in his vital early years. Its a modification of the environment to assist learning, nothing more. An unrealistic & artificial one, as once out of the school gates, a colorful & noisy world awaits your child and who then assists in a sensory meltdown? zero teaching & low expectations keeps child happy & in their autism world so don't be fooled by rhetoric.

In Verbal Behavior (look up Skinner), communication/speech is viewed as behavior, reward that behavior and communication/speech comes. Simple behavioral science is the basis of ABA. Its intensive & is expensive. What value communication/speech?