PRINCIPLES OF STRUCTURED "TEACCHING". This is a educational approach that is associated with the University of North Carolina. It was developed to help educate children with autism.
The following information was taken from the TEACCH website.
Principles of
- Understanding the culture of autism(definition listed below)
- Developing an individualized person- and family-centered plan for each client or student, rather than using a standard curriculum
- Structuring the physical environment Using visual supports to make the sequence of daily activities predictable and understandable
- Visual supports to make individual tasks understandable
"CULTURE OF AUTISM" (as defined by TEACCH)
• Relative strength in and preference for processing visualinformation (compared to difficulties with auditory processing, particularly of language)
• Frequent attention to details but difficulty understanding the meaning of how those details fit together
• Difficulty combining ideas
• Difficulty with organizing ideas, materials, and activities
• Difficulties with attention. (Some individuals are very distractible, others have difficulty shifting attention when it is time to make transitions)
• Difficulty with concepts of time, including moving too quickly or too slowly and having problems recognizing the beginning, middle, or end of an activity
• Communication problems, which vary by developmental level but always include impairments in the social use of language (called "pragmatics")
• Tendency to become attached to routines, with the result that activities may be difficult to generalize from the original learning situation and disruptions in routines that are upsetting, confusing, or uncomfortable
• Very strong interests and impulses in engaging in favored activities, with difficulties disengaging once engaged
• Marked sensory preferences and dislikes.
TEACCH tasks can be found on my Pinterest Board TEACCH. This approach helps children develop task independence and the ability to practice skills without the need of an adult to oversee the process. It enables children and adults to use the visual strengths they have to work on independence. A book that has help me create TEACCH tasks is
There are lots of great resources on the internet and on Pinterest boards. Search Google images under TEACCH work box tasks, structured work tasts and structured teaching. This will give you some insight to this method.
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Hello! My name is Emily Paluch and I am a student at Trinity Christian College. The definition/characteristics of autism by TEACCH was the most accurate and in depth definition I have seen. I plan on looking for and following the Pinterest board you mentioned because I think I could use ideas from it in my future classroom. Thank you for writing such an in depth and helpful post about autism!
ReplyDeleteHello, I appreciate the research you have done and the resources you used and referenced to write articles like this and your others. I look forward to reading more from people like you who but in such specialized time into things like Autism. I hope to use the tips I find here and from TEACCH in my classroom one day. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteHello! My name is Jeavonna Munoz and I am also a student at Trinity Christian College. I appreciate you taking the time to share these definitions and resources. This is very much in line with what I am learning at Trinity currently so I am excited to put it to use in the future. I will definitely consider looking into and creating a Pinterest account in order to collect them for my future classroom. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteI love the Pinterest Board that you suggested to follow. I think that it is important to find multiple resources when trying to come up with different ideas and approaches in teaching. I also appreciated your definition of autism using TEACCH. A friend of mine has autism and I could relate to a lot of what you had listed. Very accurate information. Thank you.
Jessica
Hi there!!!!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading what you had to say and the visual aids you shared. I feel visual schedules are perfect to use. It allows students who have Autism to visually see what they will be doing for the day. They won't feel anxious or blind sided. I was excited to see that TEACCH has a Pinterest board. I love Pinterest!! Thanks for the suggestion!!!
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ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteMy name is Ann Daly and I am a Special Education major at Trinity Christian College.
I love your resources on your Pinterest Board regarding how to integrate TEACCH into the classroom. I also really appreciated your advocacy board of inspirational quotes on how to view teaching people who have disabilities. I especially loved the one by Ignacio Estrada " If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn". I found this a great tip for how to reach students and feel that by integrating the TEACCH Autism Program teachers are fulfilling this by using visual supports. Something that was resourceful but did upset me was that under the "Culture of Autism" it was primarily negative aspects of autism other than great at folIowing routines and being visual learners. Looking into what TEACCH stands for as an acronym i found that it is the Treatment and Education of Autistic and related Communication Handicapped Children. I found this to be a little disturbing considering that as a program committed to helping students with disabilities flourish in their education by using their strengths that they would NOT use people first language. Although it may not seem like a huge difference referring to a child with autism as autistic is derogatory because it does not look at a child as a person first but labels them by their medical diagnosis. I really appreciate you sharing your insight on strategies in teaching children with autism and about informing us about the TEACCH system and look forward to hearing more from you. I would like to include some links that I feel might be beneficial in sharing on your site about teaching people first language from the eyes of children with autism as well as parents of children with autism so that in our work as educators we can remember that all children were made as image bearers of God,disabilities do NOT make people unequal but strengthen how we should view the world by looking through another's lens.
http://www.autismspeaks.org/blog/2014/04/01/10-things-autism-parents-wish-you-knew
http://www.ellennotbohm.com/article-archive/ten-things-every-child-with-autism-wishes-you-knew/
Hi, I'm Ashley and I go to Trinity Christian College. I like the visual schedules, I think they are helpful. I was really interested in what you had to say about visual supports for individual tasks. It allows children to become more independent and still have support. I like this because the student does not become dependent, rather he or she can follow the pictures and complete a task. Your pictures of the strategies were extremely helpful as well. I'm looking forward to seeing more great ideas on you Pinterest board!
ReplyDeleteHello!!
ReplyDeleteI'm Sam. Autism is a disability that is really near to my heart. My cousin Richard was diagnosed with autism when he was five years old. Since then I have been blessed to see him learn and grow as an individual due to the wonderful teachers that took time investing him. They've taught him not to be an autistic child but to be a child with autism. Autism does not define Richard it is a part of who he is.
Your Pinterest was so interesting! I spent more time on your pinterest then I did on anything else tonight. There were so many helpful things I learned!
I really loved the strategies you mentions in this article. I love how they encourage the students to be independent while still accommodating to their need for structure and consistency. I would love to see some strategies that encourage social interaction as well.
Thank you so much for sharing!
Hello Ruth,
ReplyDeleteMy name is Michelle Covarrubias. I am a senior at Trinity Christian College. I am currently taking a class called “Teaching Students with Low Incidence Disabilities, Age 3-Grade 5,” and my professor—Dr. Post—asked us to check out your blog.
I really enjoy the pictures you have posted because they are wonderful examples of ways to create the most successful learning environment for students with autism. What I have learned this semester though, is that all of these strategies are not only applicable to students with autism; they are helpful to all kinds of students!
Taking a picture of the steps that a child must follow to complete an activity is a great way to guide her along without having to hover over her shoulder. Allowing students that opportunity to succeed really helps them build self-confidence and independence.
By providing this example, we are also sparing our students from unnecessary confusion and frustration. I have realized that written directions can be overwhelming and very wordy, so they are not always the most effective.
I also noticed the proposal of using a visual schedule. Though I had heard of these before, I had never really appreciated them until this semester. In another one of my SPED classes, I am required to co-teach with two of my classmates, and we must create a visual schedule so that our “students” (our other classmates with be taking on the roles of 4th graders with emotional disabilities) know what activates we will move to next.
Last year, in one of my placements, I realized the importance of informing your students when the schedule changes. My cooperating teacher, Ms. McK., had put up the schedule for the day, but art ended up being cancelled that morning. Ms. McK. however, did not inform the students of this change of plans. So they asked her why the schedule did not match what was actually happening that day. The boys could not focus on the lesson until she rearranged the visual schedule so that it actually corresponded with the events that took place that day.
Though I had already heard my professors talk about the strategies that I found on your blog, they gained even more value when I saw them on your site—when I saw that a professional like yourself utilizes them, and finds them valuable.
Thank you for your post, and I will be sure to check out your website on a regular basis!
-Michelle