Some fellow norwegian aspie said to me that she had a better view about the training method (if that is what it is) TEACCH better than what she calls ABA (there are however plenty different versions of ABA).
I'm abit interested in different training methods used for autistic children because many parents face no other choice but a "bad one" as the only best option for their children.
I’ve been formally trained in both TEAACH and traditional ABA (i.e. Lovaas) ( what was a very long time ago so I am somewhat rusty but I’ll try to help here. ) While it is all behavior modification, I would classify TEAACH as being a much kinder, gentler approach. For one thing TEAACH targets emergent skill areas vs. Lovaas which targets underlying deficits. In this way it teaches each task at the point where the child is already displaying some learning and is therefore thought to be developmentally ready, ie..he/she has the prerequisite preskills to learn the targeted skill. It also meets the child where the child is so to speak in that, if a child fails to learn a program, the program itself is modified, accommodations/ adaptations added which serve to crutch the child to extent needed for successful performance. It is built on organizational factors: activity schedules, work schedules and systems which help the child with things like follow through, directional movement and completion recognition, and ultimately independent performance. Once learned the systems can even be fairly readily embedded into outside environmental situations for greater generalization of skills. It is ideal for the visual learner, but can be somewhat adapted for use with other learning styles. It also happens to be a phenomenal assessment tool relative to identifying what/where individual overselectivies exist. They have a number of Cardinal rules, the most important of which is the recognition that you can only teach one thing at a time. What constitutes “one” thing is unique to each individual, what is their foundational sensory and skill set at any particular point in time. Done correctly, it results in an almost instantaneous learning. Programs are designed and expanded with the ultimate long term goal of employment with a lot of sort and assemble style tasks. All skills, once mastered are moved to a level of independent performance. I can’t give you the exact % but I know their end employment rate is very high, much higher than other treatment intervention programs. A really nice system if you know what you are doing and why you are doing it. I think of it as a box of tools. You still have to be able to correctly diagnose the problem so as to know which one to use, when, and how to use it. Problem is that many possess the tools without a real understanding of what they are seeing when an underlying issue for the child displays itself in the course of programming. .. for instance, the child who is so attentive to detail that they continually cue to nondominant characteristics, like whether an item has buttons when the task is to sort to shirts and underwear.
On the down side… TEAACH is somewhat satisfied to allow the child to continue to use his/her abnormal learning process. Program/ skill sets expand largely dependent on how/where the child develops. There is no active attempt to normalize the child’s learning process (this is a very different thing from trying to make someone "normal", by the way. It is simply trying to help them learn to learn more effectively) As practical matter we live in a world that is generally set up for normal learning. Alternate processing is often erroneous, onerous, and over all error fraut.
As personal matter we had to use a combination approach using TEAACH techniques targeted to underlying deficits to develop a more normative learning process for Hrick, ... but then he was single modal at outset.
My favorite system…. Koegel’s Multiple Remediation Training.
Hope this helps a bit. Mom of Hrick
Thanks very much mom of Hrick!
Greatly appriciated!
I will definitely look abit into the Koegel's Multiple Remedation Training.
Like with the different ABA techniques I can imagine that TEACCH is used in schools with co-educators. I'm interested in personal experiences with this.