Early Start Denver Model

Abstract

Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) to standard community care, toddlers received 15 h/week of 1:1 ESDM delivered by paraprofessionals and supervised by trained professionals. Children receiving ESDM intervention had significantly better outcomes in terms of their cognitive, language, and social skills, adaptive functioning, and autism diagnosis after 2 years of treatment. In this chapter, we begin with an overview of the theoretical underpinnings, procedures, and implementation of the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM). Interested readers are encouraged to refer to this manual for more detailed information on all aspects of the ESDM, including both theoretical grounding and practical application of this model. We have also provided an overview of the currently published research involving training, implementation, and child outcomes using the ESDM treatment approach. The results of these studies have been summarized in a table. We conclude this chapter with a discussion of some of considerations for practitioners and families interested in applying the ESDM. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)