TEACCH (Treatment and Education of Autistic and related Communication handicapped CHildren)

This page has been written to provide information on a particular intervention/approach and any research connected with it, not as a recommendation. The outcome of any approach will depend on the needs of the individual, which vary greatly, and the appropriate application of the intervention. An intervention that may help one individual may not be effective for another. It would therefore not be appropriate for The National Autistic Society to recommend any one particular practice or therapy.

What is TEACCH?

Division TEACCH started in 1966 as part of the Department of Psychiatry of the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina in the USA.

It began as a Child Research Project to provide services to children with autism and their families. In 1972 the North Carolina General Assembly passed legislation which enabled Division TEACCH to become the first comprehensive state-wide community-based programme of services for children and adults with autism and other similar developmental disorders.

Today TEACCH provides a wide range of services to a broad spectrum of toddlers, children, adolescents, adults and their families including diagnosis and assessment, individualised treatment programmes, special education, social skills training, vocational training, school consultations, parent training and counselling and the facilitation of parent group activities. TEACCH also maintains an active research programme and provides multidisciplinary training for professionals dealing with children/adolescents/ adults with autism and their families.

The primary aim of the TEACCH programme is to help to prepare people with autism to live or work more effectively at home, at school and in the community. Special emphasis is placed on helping people with autism and their families live together more effectively by reducing or removing 'autistic behaviours'.

The TEACCH concept

The principles and concepts guiding the TEACCH system have been summarised as:

Improved adaptation: through the two strategies of improving skills by means of education and of modifying the environment to accommodate deficits.
Parent collaboration: parents work with professionals as co-therapists for their children so that techniques can be continued at home.
Assessment for individualised treatment: unique educational programmes are designed for all individuals on the basis of regular assessments of abilities.
Structured teaching: it has been found that children with autism benefit more from a structured educational environment than from free approaches.
Skill enhancement: assessment identifies emerging skills and work then focuses upon these. (This approach is also applied to staff and parent training.)
Cognitive and behavi
our therapy: educational procedures are guided by theories of cognition and behaviour suggesting that difficult behaviour may result from underlying problems in perception and understanding.
Generalist training: professionals in the TEACCH system are trained as generalists who understand the whole child, and do not specialise as psychologists, speech therapists etc.

(Extract from Approaches to autism: an annotated list published by The National Autistic Society, 1993 revised 2003)

TEACCH contacts

UNITED STATES
Division TEACCH Administration & Research, CB 7180, 310 Medical School Wing E, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 27599-7180, USA
tel: + 1 919 966 2174
email: TEACCH@unc.edu
Website: http://www.teacch.com

UNITED KINGDOM
The closest equivalent of the complete TEACCH service in the UK is the adoption of the model by Northamptonshire County Councils Autism Family Support Team. For further information about this project contact:
Autism Independent UK (SFTAH), 199-203 Blandford Avenue, Kettering, Northamptonshire, NN16 9AT, UK; tel/fax: + 44 (0)1536 523274;
Website: www.autismuk.com

Many schools have incorporated elements of TEACCH into their curricula. Other schools have participated in teacher exchange programmes with staff at TEACCH.

Publications

A complete listing of research papers, assessment tools, publications and video material is available from the TEACCH website:
Website: http://www.teacch.com/publications.html

Many of these items can also be ordered from:
The Health Sciences Consortium, 201 Silver Cedar Court, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA.
tel: +1 919 942 8731.

An overview of the TEACCH philosophy can be found in:

Mesibov, G.B., Shea, V., & Schopler, E. The TEACCH approach to autism spectrum disorders. London: Springer. 2004. 0306486466
Available from the NAS Information Centre

Marcus L. & Schopler E. Educational approaches for autism TEACCH. In: Hollander E. L and Anagnostou E. Clinical manual for the treatment of autism. Washington: American Psychiatric Publishing Inc, pp. 211-233, 2007
Available from the NAS Information Centre

Schopler, E. Implementation of TEACCH philosophy. In D. J. Cohen, & F. R. Volkmar (Eds.). Handbook of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders. (pp. 767795). New York: Wiley, 1997
Available from the NAS Information Centre

Other references

Chatwin I. & Harley V. Implementing TEACCH in support of a 24-hour curriculum. In: Carpenter B. and Egerton J. eds. (2007) New horizons in special education: evidence-based practice in autism. Clent: Sunfield Publications. pp. 171-180
Available from the NAS Information Centre

Hume K. & Odom S. Effects of an individual work system on the independent functioning of students with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2007, Vol. 37(6), pp. 1166-1180
Available from the NAS Information Centre

Mesibov, G. and Howley, M. Accessing the curriculum for pupils with autistic spectrum disorders: using the TEACCH programme to help inclusion. London: David Fulton, 2003. 1853467952
Available from the NAS Publications Department

Panerai, S., Ferrante, L. and Zingale M. Benefits of the Treatment and Education of Autistic and Communication Handicapped Children (TEACCH) programme as compared with a non-specific approach. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 2002, 46(4), pp. 318-327.

Preece D.R., Lovett K., Lovett P. & Burke C. The adoption. of TEACCH in Northamptonshire, UK. Int J Mental Health. 2000, 29 (2), 19- 32.

Siaperas P. & Beadle-Brown J. A case study of the use of a structured teaching approach in adults with autism in a residential home in Greece. Autism, 2006, Vol. 10(4), pp. 330-343

Sines, D. Study to evaluate the TEACCH project in the South Eastern Education and Library Board Area of Northern Ireland 1995/96. Belfast: Parents and Professionals and Autism (PAPA), 1996.
Available to download from: www.autismni.org/news/research.asp

Training

There are three and five day training programmes provided for professionals and parents who may wish to use TEACCH:

The Training Services Department of The National Autistic Society, Castle Heights, 4th Floor, 72 Maid Marian Way, Nottingham, NG1 6BJ, UK; tel: + 44 (0)115 911 3363; fax: + 44 (0)115 911 3362;
email: training@nas.org.uk;
Website: www.autism.org.uk/training

Autism Independent UK (SFTAH), 199-203 Blandford Avenue, Kettering, Northamptonshire, NN16 9AT, UK; tel/fax: + 44 (0)1536 523274
Website: www.autismuk.com/

Priors Court Foundation, Hermitage, Thatcham, Berkshire. RG18 9NU
Tel: +44(0)1635 245928
email: training@priorscourt.org.uk
Website: www.priorscourt.org.uk

Autism NI (PAPA) Training Centre
Donard
Knockbracken Healthcare Park
Saintfield Road
Belfast BT8 8BH
Tel: 028 90 401729 Ext 1
email: donna@autismni.org
Website: www.autismni.org/training

If you require information on other approaches please contact the NAS Information Centre.
Tel: + 44 (0)20 7903 3599 or 0845 070 4004.

If an item is marked as available from the NAS Publications Department please contact:
Central Books Ltd
99 Wallis Road
London E9 5LN
Tel: +44 (0)845 458 9911
Fax: +44 (0)845 458 9912
Email: nas@centralbooks.com
Online orders: www.autism.org.uk/pubs

Any item shown as Available from the NAS Information Centre may be ordered at a cost of £3.00 per article/book chapter, subject to copyright restrictions. Please complete a copyright declaration form and post it with your payment to the NAS Information Centre, 393 City Road, London EC1V 1NG, or fax to +44(0)20 7833 9666.

Autism Data, the NAS database of books, articles and multimedia on autism, is available to search on the NAS website at www.autism.org.uk/autismdata

Information Centre, The National Autistic Society, 393 City Road, London EC1V 1NG
Tel: + 44 (0)20 7903 3599 or 0845 070 4004