The purpose of master work “Parental attitude to the structured teaching method in autistic 3 to 7-year-old children” was to explore the role of the family psychological state to the teaching process (parental attitude to child, acceptance of the autistic child by the family, role of the family crisis), factors which could influence child’s nurturing processes and basic problems of the applying of structured teaching for the early age children in the family.

Study object: structured teaching method in autistic 3 to 7-year-old children.

Study purpose: to explore parental attitude to the autistic child and to the structured teaching method.

Study objectives: to group autistic children according to the level of the severity of autism symptoms; to reveal demographical characteristics of the families of autistic children, to evaluate parental attitude to autistic child and factors which influence this attitude; to evaluate parental attitude to the structured teaching method.

Participants of the study were autistic children and their families from all over Lithuania, who have undergone treatment at the Unit of Early rehabilitation of the Centre for Child Development in Vilnius from September 2004 to March 2005. Forty children have been evaluated using The Children Autism Rating Scale and their parents have been interviewed about applying of the structured teaching method at home and basic problems of the applying.

Qualitative data of the study revealed that the most prominent parental concerns were speech and language disorders and behavioral disorders of the child. Structured teaching method improved social interaction and communication skills and behavior of the autistic children. All of the parents estimated the structured teaching method positively. The main difficulties in application of structured teaching method were lack of the knowledge, lack of the continuity between home and educational institution, parental psychological problems.

Keywords: early childhood autism, structured teaching, TEACCH programm, parental attitude to autistic child.

Raktažodžiai: structured teaching, ankstyvojo amžiaus autizmas, early childhood autism, struktūruotas mokymas