Workshop 5: TEACCH

This workshop is developed by the concept of the “Culture of Autism” as a way of thinking about the characteristic patterns of thinking and behavior seen in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).

ACCESSING THE CURRICULUM

Why might these tasks be difficult for a pupil with ASD?

Have a go at a task they don’t like
Imagining what a Roman soldier might say
Thinking of ideas for their story about penguins
Sitting still and attending during long teacher talk carpet sessions
Holding a sentence in mind
Following instructions in PE
Handwriting
Working independently for longer periods on creative work
Understanding calculation strategies or number concepts

May have a great PECS snack time, opps to make requests and daily TEACCH activity but during day to day provision, lots of issues, hard for child to engage.

In order to help them access, we need to know what they find difficult and why.

Look at these tasks. What would be the issues?

Choose one – agree issue – think how you could adapt.

Difficulties generalising, grouping together concepts – concrete experiences

Holding in mind – use visual jottings, whiteboards, colour coding

Work independently – make task predictable

MAKING LEARNING IRRESISTIBLE

Think of a task your child doesn’t engage in.

Because of neurological differences, children with ASD won’t work to please their teacher or parents. Other children will be quiet when primary teacher says Shh! They also might not infer how their disruptive behaviour makes it hard for others to concentrate. They might not infer that other children won’t play with them because they are always shouting.

They may also find it hard to regulate their emotions, so trying to get them to do a task they don’t like could lead to them getting really angry or upset.

USING REWARDS

Beware of the child who “only ever wants to play on the iPad”

Have you explored messy play, walks around the school grounds, playing with toy cars?

When there are tasks in the day that you know the child won’t intrinsically like, tell them how long they have to do it for and what will come afterwards.

Have you tried using Now and Next to tell the child what’s happening after that’s fun. Use the sand timer/stop watch.

POSSIBLE EXAMPLES

An envelope of strips of paper in their tray that they write their name on and post in your in tray during every afternoon registration
A computer task e.g. using Clicker to order a sentence, or using a spell check to edit and improve
Reordering a cut up sentence that they have written
Using colourful semantics strips to write about a picture
An opportunity to interview one of their peers about the topic they are studying – practising asking a simple questions e.g. ‘What do you know about…?’

SET UP INDEPENDANT TASKS

When during the day might your child have time to practise independent skills? Maybe for the last half hour of a topic lesson, during register or during part of music. Think of a skills that your child would benefit from practising e.g. writing their name, ordering a sentence.

How could they practise it? Describe a TEACCH task to your partner that would help.

TEACCH with Linda

Workshop 5: TEACCH

This workshop is developed by the concept of the “Culture of Autism” as a way of thinking about the characteristic patterns of thinking and behavior seen in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).

ACCESSING THE CURRICULUM

Why might these tasks be difficult for a pupil with ASD?

Have a go at a task they don’t like

Imagining what a Roman soldier might say

Thinking of ideas for their story about penguins

Sitting still and attending during long teacher talk carpet sessions

Holding a sentence in mind

Following instructions in PE

Handwriting

Working independently for longer periods on creative work

May have a great PECS snack time, opps to make requests and daily TEACCH activity but during day to day provision, lots of issues, hard for child to engage.

In order to help them access, we need to know what they find difficult and why.

Look at these tasks. What would be the issues?

Choose one – agree issue – think how you could adapt.

Difficulties generalising, grouping together concepts – concrete experiences

Holding in mind – use visual jottings, whiteboards, colour coding

Work independently – make task predictable

MAKING LEARNING IRRESISTIBLE

Think of a task your child doesn’t engage in.

They may also find it hard to regulate their emotions, so trying to get them to do a task they don’t like could lead to them getting really angry or upset.

USING REWARDS

Beware of the child who “only ever wants to play on the iPad”

Have you explored messy play, walks around the school grounds, playing with toy cars?

When there are tasks in the day that you know the child won’t intrinsically like, tell them how long they have to do it for and what will come afterwards.

Have you tried using Now and Next to tell the child what’s happening after that’s fun. Use the sand timer/stop watch.

POSSIBLE EXAMPLES

An envelope of strips of paper in their tray that they write their name on and post in your in tray during every afternoon registration

A computer task e.g. using Clicker to order a sentence, or using a spell check to edit and improve

Reordering a cut up sentence that they have written

Using colourful semantics strips to write about a picture

An opportunity to interview one of their peers about the topic they are studying – practising asking a simple questions e.g. ‘What do you know about…?’

SET UP INDEPENDANT TASKS

When during the day might your child have time to practise independent skills? Maybe for the last half hour of a topic lesson, during register or during part of music. Think of a skills that your child would benefit from practising e.g. writing their name, ordering a sentence.

How could they practise it? Describe a TEACCH task to your partner that would help.