Re: Peer -reviewed research on the efficacy of TEACCH

[Anonymous]

#5225

I am in a support group for parents of autistic children. Its only been running for a short while. The committee brought in some speakers from a larger ASD support group to give us some pointers. One of the first questions they asked was, “do you all know what a statement is?”

do you know how many people put up their hands? 3 out of about 20. The parents in this group all had children under 5, most of whom were just about to enter nursery or primary 1.

So yes, parents are ignorant. Please refresh yourself what “ignorance” means, i.e. not knowing the facts. This does not equate with lack of IQ or being “stupid”. Parents are kept deliberately ignorant by the school system so they dont have the ability to ask questions in the first place.

Do you really think that every parent who has an autistic child has a copy of the Code of Practice by their bedside? or that they read copious amounts of books on different intervention methods? Do they do this in Essex, Glasgow, Mosside, and Islington, the same??

Let me tell you something, I am a parent. Jayne you are not a parent of an autistic child??? I speak for me and my own experiences of meeting, speaking and working with other parents and NO they are not aware of their rights, aware of what teacch really means (they dont even know what the acronym means, much less its philosophy or approach.)

I was a naive parent before my child was diagnosed with autism. I knew the school system sucks generally, but having a child with special needs, parents have to learn real quick. For those who choose not to, or for those who avoid having to learn or dont feel the “need” to learn about how their child is being educated, so be it. But please, these parents cannot be making informed choices just because they “accept” that teacch is useful for their child. Just because “johnny can read the word “cat”” does not prove progress.

Mostly, with teacch, its a case of “johnny can’t read, because he is autistic. My local teacch facility has 8 children in the class age nursery and primary 1. None, and i mean NONE of those children can speak, much less use pragmatic language. they run around like little robots, unable to make decisions for themselves learning useles tasks. In my opinion, the gushing of the teachers about how well teacch does for “our” children springs from teachers who dont know any better either.

How do i know? Cause i visited the class in November just to see for myself. My boy was in a teacch facility for nursery for six months and i thought maybe things would change going into primary one so i gave teacch the benefit of the doubt.

Nope, nothing changed. Those primary one children are still doing tasks that a 3 year old would do and are not encouraged to push to their “limit”.

Teacch stinks and any parent who says that it is great, is a parent who has not investigated alternative methods of teaching, or has been put off of alternative methods of teaching, due to lack of funding or opportunity to obtain same or simply does not have the energy or will to fight anymore. There are all kinds of reasons that a parent would “say” they think teacch is effective, but that is just opinion, it cant possibly be based on fact.

Like i said, i would send my dog to a teacch school. Even dogs need to make choices in life.

I hear repeatedly from people like you who purport teacch has merit, that “well, that is because teacch is not being used “correctly”. What a load of B.S. Where exactly is teacch being used “correctly” then? and what would “correction” prove? I think a “correct” application of teacch would be even more damning to the child, so maybe its a godsend that schools in the UK use a “watered down” version of teacch.

I note that there are so many courses for teacch, some lasting only 3 days. What can a teacher fresh out of university, who hasnt a clue about special needs learn in 3 days or even a month??????

teacch proponents should be learning from us, the parents. But i dont see a two way street in that regard in the UK. the government bought teacch hook line and stinker, cause its cheap, plain and simple. Cause our kids dont matter.

get real already and stop peddling teacch. Show the evidence in the research journals, tell gary to open his doors for some real research to take place.

My child is being taught via science backed by decades of real research and evidence. He is not being taught by teachers who feel sorry for my child, or who have preconceptions about his “ability” or disability.

All teacch does is make teachers feel good, and even there i think we have a problem. I know 2 teacher now, who are very sick of teacch. One of them actually came to our meeting to listen to us parents complain about the school systems. She and I had a quiet word and I know she is unhappy with the application of teacch. She has no where to go if she does not “tow the line”, as all the schools use this method, so all she can do is be the best teacher she can be. She is caught, just like the parents, in the headlights of vulnerability and ignorance.