I have the good fortune of getting to attend a 3-day TEACCH Training run by the University of North Carolina TEACCH Autism Program.

When I was teaching last year in Knoxville, I implemented a lot of TEACCH strategies that I found online or that I observed in other classrooms. I sat through today’s training feeling pretty darn impressed with the things I was able to throw together for my kiddos by the end of the year without having been properly trained.

It made me miss my classroom and my kids. It also really made me wish I had had this training prior to last school year.

Regardless, I’m so glad I was allowed to attend this training with KIPP. My hope is that I can share some of the highlights here to refer back to when I need them and to help support other teachers who may be in the same boat.

Today was Day 1. And I already have a binder full of notes.

I will share some of the key takeaways here, but feel free to message me if you need clarification or want someone to talk things out with!

DSM-5: Autism Spectrum Disorder

Here’s how you meet criteria for Autism based off the DSM.

You have to meet all three criteria under Social Communication.

1. Deficits in social-emotional reciprocity
2. Deficits in non-verbal communicative behaviors
3. And deficits in developing and maintaining relationships.

You only have to meet 2 out of 4 criteria under Restricted, Repetitive Patterns of Behavior, Interests or Activities.

1. Stereotyped or repetitive speech, movements, or objects.
2. Excessive adherence to routines, ritualized verbal or nonverbal behavior
3. Highly restricted, fixated interests (intensity or focus)
4. Hyper or hypo-reactivity to sensory aspects of environment.

So, we see an individual who might be exhibiting behavior like flapping their hands, rocking back and forth in their seat, walking on tip-toes. And we may think they fall somewhere on the spectrum. But the reality is that deficits in social communication is the heart of the autism diagnosis. Sometimes, schools can get referrals saying, “He doesn’t make eye contact with me and I’m concerned he has autism. Can you test?” But that behavior could be a result of a number of things (e.g. trauma, ADHD, anxiety, etc.). The social piece is what is unique to autism.

Learning Styles in Autism

We know that individuals on the spectrum have a different neurology than your typical learner. Their brain is organized differently and, thus, individuals with autism may function differently or communicate in a different fashion. We also know that we see presentations of symptoms early on in life because brain development starts in utero.

This means that they are, naturally, going to have learning differences. Their brain structure and function is going to impact what they do in the classroom and how much they learn.

One of the big things that individuals with autism may have difficulty with is generalization. They have a hard time exhibiting the same skill across people, places, and materials.

So, when you think one of your students is being a little shit because they’re exhibiting some behavior that you explicitly told them not to, you might have to re-think how explicit you were. Sometimes your feedback might not be generalized to future scenarios. One thing that helps is to use very specific language.

Another thing that helps is to tailor to their strengths! Use visual supports when you want to teach new skills. Sometimes, individuals with autism don’t understand the unwritten or “gray” rules. We, as teachers, can help by creating narratives to explain the “hidden” rules of social expectations (e.g. social stories). Narratives can make a social experience explicit.

One thing that really resonated with me today (and is essentially one of the main objectives of TEACCH) is when the facilitator said, “Rules and routines are the greatest reinforcers for individuals with autism.”

So, today, we focused heavily on setting up the environment by using their strengths in visual processing to help them develop routines and rules.

Auditory Processing Difficulties

Individuals with autism may not be as strong at processing auditory information. For many, this leads to a strength in visual processing. They learn from what they see.

They also have difficulty with abstract language.

So, if you are a teacher of students on the spectrum, it might be helpful to use gestures, use meaningful and concrete examples, and visual instructions and supports.

If you cannot draw it, it might be too abstract.

I’ll share a quick activity we did today. The facilitator dropped off a post-it note with a word or a phrase that we were expected to draw. Some examples were: “Work together,” or, “Pay attention,” or, “Be respectful.” We were expected to draw a visual that aligned with the phrase in an effort to relay the information on the post-it.

A lot of us found it difficult to draw the phrase we received. We stared at the drawings for several seconds trying to figure out what message was being conveyed.

And it just sort of helped us realize that there may be a more concrete and meaningful way to relay that information so it makes sense to all learners.

The TEACCH Intervention provides supports for the learning styles and differences of individuals with ASD in order to minimize challenges. It is an antecedent-based approach to support learning and appropriate behaviors. Basically, you’re focusing on organizing the environment and providing supports and routines in an effort to reduce challenging behaviors.

The four components of Structured TEACCHing are:

1. Individual Schedules
2. Organization and Structure of Materials
3. Work Systems
4. Physical Organization

So, in an effort to break this up a little and provide some visuals, I’ll do a separate post on each of those four components.

Hope you find something you can take away from these posts!