Research projects

‘Building the evidence base’ is one of TreeHouse’s main strategic objectives.

In its broadest sense, the evidence base refers to the ongoing evolution, refinement and development of evidence-based (empirical) teaching methods for individuals with autism and developmental disabilities. This evidence base spans at least four decades and TreeHouse aims to contribute to this growing volume of research through its own peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations.

In a more specific sense, TreeHouse is developing its own evidence base to inform the ongoing teaching and behaviour management of its pupils. Ongoing research projects and research interests include:

• A longitudinal study of the effectiveness of a school-based educational provision for children with autism
• The development of protocols to assess meaningful and clinically significant improvements in (educational) progress that may be used both to benchmark and to make comparisons between different types of educational provision for individuals with autism
• Using computer technologies to inform decision-making related to pupil performance in relation to skills acquisition and behaviour management
• Using computer technologies to teach conditional discriminations to pupils with autism
• A comparison of discrete trial teaching and fluency based instructional methods in terms of their relative effects on the speed of skill acquisition and maintenance of those skills
• A survey of behavioural interventions for autism in the UK (results (PDF)

For further information about research at TreeHouse, please email info@treehouse.org.uk.