TEACCH, which stands for Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related Communication-handicapped Children, is a comprehensive intervention system that provides a variety of services to autistic individuals and their families across all age periods. Since 1972 the system has operated out of the department of psychiatry of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, with state funding. It has an extensive training program for professionals and is also in use in other areas of the country as well as other parts of the world. Eric Schopler, the long-term (recently retired) director of the TEACCH system, has been a very influential figure in the autism field for many years.
The primary educational goal of TEACCH is to increase the student's level of skill. Recovery is not a term used in this system. While the Lovaas program is based on the premise that the child must overcome his autistic characteristics so as to adapt to the world around him, in TEACCH the child is provided with an environment designed to accommodate the characteristics of autistic children.
A TEACCH classroom makes use of many visual organizers or cues because visual processing is a strength of so many autistic children. Areas for special activities have clear boundaries. There are picture or picture-word schedules for individual children and for the class. Individual work systems are organized to maximize independent functioning and capitalize on the child's affinity for routines. Spontaneous functional communication is the language goal of TEACCH, and alternative modes of communication such as pictures, manual signs, and written words are used when speech is particularly difficult for the child. Such strategies neutralize or de-emphasize deficits common in children with autism and minimize behavioral problems. While the TEACCH model uses individual instruction for some new skills, group instruction is a major format.
Creative Teaching CAP supports TEACCH methodology in many forms. Our activity management tools in particular utilize TEACCH practices. We offer schedule books, that are personal daily planners with pictorial cues and symbol sets that can be used to foster independent work and visually show students where their work can be found. We also provide teachers with many tips and techniques for effectively organizing their classroom, gathering data, and structuring sequential tasks and lessons.
For more information on TEACCH visit - www.teacch.com.
