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Models
and Classroom Instruction: Intervention
Models
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Program
Method
Group
Instruction
TEACCH
strategies can be integrated into individual classrooms. Trainers
from Division
TEACCH in North Carolina provide training for teachers
and professionals and consultation to classrooms and school systems
throughout the nation. School programs affiliated with TEACCH
focus on a broad range of skills, including communication, socialization,
and practical skills, and foster independence and preparation
for adult living. Teachers help students to learn skills in a
natural environment, and help children to apply skills to a variety
of settings.
TEACCH
methods typically rely on the visual presentation of information
and focus on teaching individualized lessons to each student.
Teachers use visual organizers and cues to help children with
autism who have visual processing strengths. For those students
with communication difficulties, teachers use pictures, manual
signs, and written words in the classroom. By incorporating routines
into every classroom setting, teachers give students the opportunity
to understand and predict the order of events around them. Division
TEACCH encourages teachers to de-emphasize the deficits common
to children with autism and to focus on each child’s skills and
strengths.
During
TEACCH training, teachers learn how to establish a structured
learning environment, which is simply an organized and
carefully modified classroom. Teachers alter the physical organization
of their classroom by taking into consideration the size of the
room, lighting, and distracting wall space. In addition, teachers
use signs and pictures to mark clear boundaries for different
activities. Visual schedules are another crucial aspect to TEACCH
classrooms. Teachers establish schedules for the entire class
and for individual students to reduce anxiety about what will
happen throughout the school day.
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Home-Based
Intervention
An
individual with autism can receive one-on-one TEACCH instruction.
After an initial needs assessment to determine the child’s strengths
and weaknesses, the teacher (or TEACCH-trained specialist) works
with the parents to develop goals for the child. The educational
program begins with the teacher working with the child on a task
while modeling the teaching skill for parents observing through
a one-way mirror. A second teacher explains the techniques and
writes down specific activities and methods for the parents to
try throughout the following week. During subsequent sessions,
parents demonstrate what they have been practicing at home while
both teachers provide feedback and change the program as necessary.
Although
educational plans vary depending on the individual child’s needs,
the typical TEACCH session includes a combination of the following
components: structured teaching activities, reinforcement of strengths,
practice predicting future events by working with a schedule,
development of communication (verbal and non-verbal) skills, and
pre-vocational/pre-academic activities. Parents are encouraged
to implement these strategies at home whenever possible. The teachers
suggest individualized teaching strategies, which change and develop
as the child progresses.
Typical
TEACCH programs last ten weeks with at least one visit to the
home and one visit to the child’s daily education site to observe.
Each week, the parents and the child meet with two teachers for
one-hour sessions. As the parents become more proficient with
the teaching techniques, they assume primary responsibility for
the direction of the program, and the teachers assume a secondary
support role. Toward the end of the program, the meetings become
biweekly or monthly as the teachers begin to phase out their involvement.
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Research
on the Efficacy of the TEACCH Program in Classrooms
- The
program is open to all children with autism in the state of North
Carolina. It is also available to students with communication
difficulties who do not have autism. Because of the lack of a
controlled setting, it is difficult to determine the efficacy
of TEACCH.
- Panerai,
Ferrante, Caputo, and Impellizzeri (1998) found that the TEACCH
structured intervention program improved working skills and functional
communication abilities in all 18 children and adolescents with
autism who participated in the study. Although this study did
not use a control group, the study remains particularly interesting
because researchers implemented the program in a classroom setting
with multiple students. These researchers found an overall improvement
in student competence, a reduction of behavioral problems, and
an increase in spontaneous communication after both 12 and 18
months of treatment.
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Research
on the Efficacy of the TEACCH Program and other Home Based Interventions
- Home
based interventions are a cost-effective means of extending the
child’s exposure to therapy. Instead of the intervention period
ending when the child leaves the therapist, there is an opportunity
for the child to practice new skills in an authentic context throughout
the week.
- The
size of a therapist’s patient load, scheduling conflicts, and
available time commitments restrict the amount of time that a
therapist can dedicate to a single patient.
- Being
a part of the intervention team gives the family a sense of power
in a situation that often makes families feel powerless.
- Children
generally show increases in responsiveness to direction from parents
and teachers after exposure to home-based programs. Self-report
survey results of parents and therapists report an increased presence
of appropriate behavior.
- Ozonoff
and Cathcart (1998) found that the TEACCH home intervention
program was effective in enhancing the development of all 11 children
with autism in the experimental group. Researchers found that
after four months of clinical and home programming, the children
in the experimental group made greater improvements in fine motor,
gross motor, imitation, and nonverbal conceptual skills than the
11 children with autism in the no-treatment control group.
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