Learn more about Early Start Denver Model – one of the most effective models for early intervention based on scientific evidence about how young children develop and learn.
There are many models and approaches for early intervention that are globally recognized and developed by special rights researchers, especially in U.S.A. such as ABA, TEACCH, AAC, DIR, JASPER, etc., are the well-known names of early intervention methods for young children with ASD. Moreover, there are many other intervention methods for special rights children or children who have learning or developmental disorders: behavioral intervention, playing therapy, psychomotor intervention, speech intervention, etc.
Learn more about ESDM in this blog.
Early Start Denver Model is a scientific based early intervention curriculum for toddlers with ASD
The origin of ESDM
ESDM was developed in the 1980s by two psychologists, Sally Rogers and Geraldine Dawson, over a 30-year period. The ESDM combines different techniques employed in the Denver Model from 1980s.
What aspects of early intervention does ESDM focus on?
The ESDM is based on scientific evidence about how young children develop and learn, how having an ASD affects early development and learning, and which is the best way to teach young children.
Research on the ESDM has found that many children with ASD show significant improvements in cognitive and adaptive behaviors when taught with this method and that parents/caregivers can also be taught to apply this method at home.
Intervention practices are based on replicated evidence from research on early childhood learning and development learning and on applied behavior analysis (ABA). ESDM uses a data-based approach to child learning and progress. Because infant-toddler learning is strongly influenced by the quality of relationships between children and adults, ESDM involves using sensitive, responsive strategies within everyday learning opportunities provided by parents, family members, and others to support child learning.
The ESDM is both a curriculum and a set of specific intervention strategies used by trained professionals and parents/caregivers to teach young children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in a natural learning environment, such as an early learning and care center or at home. The strategies can be applied to everyday activities, such as when children are playing, having their meals, getting dressed, and interacting with other people.
Objectives of Early Start Denver Model
ESDM targets to urge the development in all aspects of a child with ASD and reduce the signs of ASD which prevents the child from learning by experiences and daily interaction.
While ESDM addresses all developmental areas in which children are behind, it mainly focuses on boosting children’s social-emotional, cognitive, and language abilities because development in these domains is particularly affected by autism.
ESDM thus fuses a developmental, play-based, relationship-based approach with principles of applied behavior analysis to create an integrated whole that is both individualized and manualized: a naturalistic, developmental-behavioral intervention (NDBI) that allows for stepwise alterations in a teaching approach based on an individual child’s learning profiles to assure maximum progress on learning objectives.
How does VICA apply ESDM in our curriculum for early intervention classes?
Vica’s therapists are in the process to be fully certified with the advanced level by the end of 2023 and being supervised by an official ESDM trainer. We set up the classes following the ESDM principles, in order to allow the child to express his own interests, participate happily to all the activities and co-lead the session.
We alternate activities chosen by the child to more specific chosen by the therapist, in both cases we target the individualized goals we set into the educational plan, using the most suitable strategies for each child to scaffold him. We invite one of the parents to join half session each week, to transfer skills and assign some activities to do at home, and, we arrange one session of parent coaching every month, inviting both parents to join. In this session, we update parents about the child progress, but, most important, we support parents to learn new educational skills to help their child to generalize the mastered skills at home and to face challenging situations, using videos parents take at home.
Register to Early Intervention Session by VICA
Parents can get access to this link or contact directly via Hotline VICA: 028 7106 9268 for further information.
Early and intensive intervention
We offer an intensive intervention based on the Early Start Denver Model, applied by internationally certified therapists, and supervised by an international official expert to help each child develop age-related skills in all the areas of their development. We aim to develop the best potential of the child and reduce their challenging behaviors to the minimal level.
VICA.
