ABSTRACT
Structured Teaching was created by Eric Schopler and Division TEACCH as an alternative to the psychodynamic approach that was the dominant intervention strategy for those with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in the 1960s. Schopler’s idea was that people with ASD think, learn and understand differently from ‘typical’ people so that interventions had to modify learning environments, materials and organisational strategies to make them more autism-friendly. He thought that these children could function in educational settings and in later life in their communities if exposed to educational approaches that were sensitive to their learning styles. This idea was initially embraced by many who were very uncomfortable with the psychodynamic approaches of the day.
