SCERTS Model

What is the SCERTS Model?

The SCERTS Model is a model of service provision, rather than a specific therapy or program. SCERTS aims to help families, teachers and therapists work cooperatively to support autistic children. It provides a framework for combining several programs or strategies as the basis for individualised programs for autistic children.

SCERTS is an acronym for the areas the model focuses on:

Social Communication (SC) – how children build relationships and communicate
Emotional Regulation (ER) – how children manage their emotions
Transactional Support (TS) – how the environment and other people support children.

Who is the SCERTS Model for?

The SCERTS Model was developed for autistic preschoolers and primary school-age children. The approach might also be useful for older autistic people.

What is the SCERTS Model used for?

The SCERTS Model is used to plan how to help autistic children learn skills, including skills for regulating emotions and communicating with others.

Where does the SCERTS Model come from?

The research that underpins the SCERTS Model was done during the early 1980s in the United States. The current SCERTS Model was created in 2007 by a team that included educators, occupational therapists, psychologists and speech pathologists.

What is the idea behind the SCERTS Model?

The SCERTS Model is based on the idea that a planned and coordinated approach to therapies is more likely to give children the support they need.

The SCERTS Model takes aspects of well-established therapies for autistic children and combines them in individualised programs designed by children’s parents and therapists.

What does the SCERTS Model involve?

Parents work with professionals to assess children and then choose a set of individual goals and techniques they think will help most.

In choosing these goals and techniques, parents and professionals draw on established, evidence-based therapies like:

The time involved in this approach depends on the specific therapies that are used with individual children.

Does the SCERTS Model help autistic children?

SCERTS is a model of service provision, rather than a specific program. When SCERTS is used in combination with evidence-based therapies, research shows it can help children learn social interaction and communication skills.

Which professionals offer the SCERTS Model?

Professionals who have been trained in the SCERTS Model or who have studied the SCERTS professional manual can use the Model. The SCERTS developers say it’s most effective when professionals from different disciplines – for example, occupational therapists, psychologists and speech pathologists – work together to use it.

Where can you get the SCERTS Model?

The SCERTS Model is offered as part of autism-specific learning and teaching programs in some Australian early childhood services and schools. And some therapy service providers use the SCERTS Model to help their teams work together on children’s goals.

If you’re interested in approaches like the SCERTS Model, you could start by talking about these approaches with your GP or one of the other professionals working with your child. You could also talk about them with your NDIA planner, early childhood partner or local area coordinator, if you have one.

How are parents involved in the SCERTS Model?

If your child is in a program that uses the SCERTS Model, you work with therapists and other professionals to implement the Model. You help with your child’s initial assessment, set intervention goals and use the teaching supports and techniques at home.

How much does the SCERTS Model cost?

The cost of the SCERTS Model varies depending on the service provider.

Therapies and supports for autistic children range from behavioural therapies and developmental approaches to medicines and alternative therapies. When you understand the main types of therapies and supports for autistic children, it’ll be easier to work out the approach that will best suit your child.