Effectiveness of a Structured Work System to Improve the Independence of Children with Autism

The TEACCH approach (Mesibov, Shea & Schopler, 2005) is a widely used concept to educate individuals with autism spectrum disorders (Francis, 2005; Frith, 2008). According to Research Autism (2010), the TEACCH-approach has limited positive evidence“. Furthermore, Research Autism highlights the need of a manual that clarifies the implementation of TEACCH. To broaden the empirical foundation of TEACCH, this study examined to what extent a “TEACCH-structured work system” (Mesibov et al., 2005), manualized by the “Action-Motivation Approach” (Schatz, Schellbach & Degner 2007), improved the on-task behavior and the independence of two students with autism (7;6 and 6;8 years old). An A1B1A2B2 reversal design with generalization and maintenance phase was used to address this research question. The visual inspection of data as well as the percentage of non-overlapping data-points indicates an improvement of on-task behavior and independence for both participants. However, a causal relationship between independent and dependent variables was evident only for one participant. The TEACCH-structured work system was effective in new settings, too. Additionally, social validity measurements confirmed a decrease of challenging behavior.