An evaluation of the TEACCH approach for teaching functional skills to adults with autism spectrum disorders and intellectual disabilities.
Twenty TEACCH sessions slipped into a day program lift functional skills for adults with ASD and mild-moderate ID.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers added 20 TEACCH sessions to the usual day program for adults with autism and mild-moderate intellectual disability.
They compared skill gains against adults who only got the regular program.
The study ran in community day sites, not a lab.
What they found
The TEACCH group learned more daily-living and job-ready skills than the control group.
Skills were measured with individual goals, so progress was personal and practical.
How this fits with other research
Koegel et al. (1992) also boosted vocational skills in adults with ID, but they used video modeling plus real-work rehearsal.
Chang et al. (2014) taught recycling skills to adults with cognitive impairments through a computer game.
All three studies show adults with ID can gain real-world skills when teaching is structured and active, whether the tool is TEACCH, video, or a game.
Why it matters
You can fold TEACCH into an existing day program without big cost or staff turnover. Pick one or two functional goals per client, run short structured work stations, and track each week. The paper says 20 sessions moved the needle—something you can trial next month.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: The Treatment & Education of Autistic and Communication Related Handicapped Children (TEACCH) approach has been widely adopted around the world, but most previous studies focus on applying it to teaching children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) who have high functioning or without intellectual disabilities. AIMS: This study evaluated the application and effectiveness of a TEACCH approach in teaching functional skills to young adults with ASD who have mild to moderate intellectual disabilities. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: The study employed an experimental design which compared the training goal attainment of an experimental (n = 32) and a comparison (n = 31) group. We administered the TEACCH Transitional Assessment Profile (TTAP) to identify suitable areas of training and devised three individualized training goals for each participant using the goal attainment scaling (GAS) methodology. The experimental group participated in a standardized, individualized, 20-session training program based on the TEACCH approach, on top of their regular training in day activity centers. RESULTS: All the participants showed improvements in functional skills over the baseline, mid-program, and post-program assessments (F = 146.66, p < .001). The experimental group had significantly larger improvement in the GAS scores than the comparison group (F = 15.40, p < .001). There were no significant changes between the pre- and post-program TTAP scores of both groups. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: The TEACCH approach is effective in teaching specific functional skills to young adults with ASD and mild to moderate intellectual disabilities. The clinical and research implications of the study are discussed.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2019 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2019.04.006