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Brief Report: Application of the TEACCH Program on Chinese Pre-School Children with Autism––Does Culture Make a Difference?

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Abstract

A longitudinal study was conducted on 34 children with autism to evaluate the usefulness of the Treatment and Education of Autistic and related Communication Handicapped Children (TEACCH) program for Chinese pre-school children in Hong Kong. Eighteen children received full-time center-based TEACCH program training. The control group included 16 children who received different types of individualized or group training but not TEACCH program training. Instruments validated in Hong Kong were used to assess the children’s cognitive, social adaptive functioning and developmental abilities before and during the training at 6-month intervals for 12 months. Children in the experimental group showed better outcomes at posttest. They also showed progress in different developmental domains over time. The study provided initial support for the effectiveness of using the TEACCH program with Chinese children.

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Acknowledgements

The authors have contributed equally to the development of this paper. They would like to thank the Providence Foundation Limited (major sponsor) and the Committee on Conference and Research Grants, The University of Hong Kong for their financial support for the implementation of the project, and the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Grant CUHK4293/03H) for its financial support for the preparation of this paper. The authors would also like to thank Amy A.M. Chow and Natty S.Y. Chan for their assistance in collecting the data.

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Correspondence to Sandra K. M. Tsang.

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Tsang, S.K.M., Shek, D.T.L., Lam, L.L. et al. Brief Report: Application of the TEACCH Program on Chinese Pre-School Children with Autism––Does Culture Make a Difference?. J Autism Dev Disord 37, 390–396 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-006-0199-6

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