The TEACCH Program in the Era of Evidence-Based Practice

• Published in: Journal of autism and developmental disorders Vol. 40; no. 5; pp. 570 - 579
• Main Authors: Mesibov, Gary B., Shea, Victoria
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01-05-2010; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adult; Age Factors; American Psychological Association; Association (Psychology); Auditory Perception; Autism; Autism Spectrum Disorders; Autistic Disorder - diagnosis; Autistic Disorder - psychology; Autistic Disorder - therapy; Behavior Therapy - methods; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Biological and medical sciences; Case Studies; Child; Child and School Psychology; Child clinical studies; Clinical Diagnosis; Clinical trials; Communication Problems; Control Groups; Developmental Disabilities; Developmental disorders; Early Intervention (Education) - methods; Education, Special - methods; Elaboration; Evidence based medicine; Evidence Based Practice; Evidence-Based Medicine - methods; Expertise; Humans; Infantile autism; Intervention; Interventions; Language Usage; Medical sciences; Miscellaneous; Modeling (Psychology); Neurosciences; North Carolina; Original Paper; Outcome Measures; Pediatrics; Pervasive Developmental Disorders; Pragmatics; Professional Training; Program Evaluation - methods; Program Evaluation - statistics & numerical data; Psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychotherapy; Public Health; Randomized Controlled Trials; Research Design; Resistance (Psychology); Social Behavior; Teaching Methods; Training; Treatment Outcome; Treatments; North Carolina; TEACCH; Evidence-based; Human; Autism; Treatment; Evidence-based practice; Developmental disorder; Educational schedule; Child
• ISSN: 0162-3257; 1573-3432
• DOI: 10.1007/s10803-009-0901-6

‘Evidence-based practice’ as initially defined in medicine and adult psychotherapy had limited applicability to autism interventions, but recent elaborations of the concept by the American Psychological Association (Am Psychol 61: 271–285,
2006
) and Kazdin (Am Psychol 63(1):146–159,
2008
) have increased its relevance to our field. This article discusses the TEACCH program (of which the first author is director) as an example of an evidence-based practice in light of recent formulations of that concept.