The TEACCH^® (Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related Communication Handicapped Children^®) Autism Program of the University of North Carolina, USA, was founded in 1971 by Eric Schopler.

Since then, it has been creating and disseminating community services, training programs and conducting research to improve the quality of life for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder and their families throughout their life span.

TEACCH^® considers autism as a lifelong condition and does not aim to cure it, because it recognises it as a different system of organisation, the so called “autism culture”.

It emphasizes understanding the impact of autism on individuals and uses assessment to identify individual strengths, skills, interests and needs in order to design a program that will enable the individual to be as independent as possible, in collaboration with parents and families.

The TEACCH^® methodology stems from behavioural therapy, combined with cognitive elements, and is guided by theories suggesting that the typical behaviour of people with autism results from underlying difficulties in perception and understanding.

The TEACCH^® intervention strategies do not directly affect the individual’s behavior, but rather the underlying reasons, such as lack of understanding of what the individual is expected to perform or what will happen next, and sensory under- or over-stimulation. By addressing communication deficits, the individual is supported to express his/her needs and feelings through other means instead of challenging behavior.

The TEACCH^® intervention strategies are based on the assumption that people with autism learn mainly visually. Thus physical and visual structuring, task organization, Individualized Daily Visual Schedules and Individualized Visual Work/Activity Systems aim to address difficulties in communication, organization, generalization, concepts, sensory processing, change and relating to others.

When other interventions focus on addressing the individual’s areas of weakness, TEACCH^® focuses on their existing strengths and emerging skill areas.

References

Cox, R. D., & Schopler, E. (1993). Aggression and self-injurious behaviors in persons with autism: The TEACCH approach. Acta Paedopsychiatrica: International Journal of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 56(2), 85–90.

Mesibov, G. B., & Howley, M. (2003). Assessing the curriculum for pupils with Autistic Spectrum Disorders: Using the Teacch programme to help inclusion. David Fulton Publishers.

Mesibov, G. B., Shea, V., & Schopler, E. (2006). The Teacch approach to Autism Spectrum Disorders. Springer.

Our mission and Vision. TEACCH^® Autism Program. (2021, November 17). Retrieved September 27, 2022, from https://teacch.com/about-us/mission-st

Philosophy and Overview. TEACCH, University of North Carolina, School of Medicine. Retrieved September 15, 2012. Archived February 24, 2013 in Wayback Machine.

Sallows, G. (2000). Educational interventions for children with autism in the UK. Early Child Development and Care, 163(1), 25–47. https://doi.org/10.1080/0300443001630103

Watkins, A. (2001). A Home-based Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA and Lovaas) Programme: A Personal View. In J. Richer & S. Coates (Eds.), Autism: The search for coherence. chapter, J. Kingsley.