Early Intervention

Children under the age of three with special needs can qualify for Early Intervention (EI) services. Although the name may vary, EI is offered in every state. Insurance companies and state governments usually pick up the bulk of the cost.

EI offers developmental therapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, group therapy, and sometimes music therapy. They can also provide a social worker, nutritionist, nurse, or psychotherapist. Specialists come to a child’s home or daycare to provide services. When our daughter was diagnosed with autism at age two, we were offered up to 20 hours a week of services through EI.

Once a child turns three, they “age” out of Early Intervention. Responsibility then moves to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, so therapy usually takes place in the local school, although home services are sometimes offered as well.

The Early Start Denver Model of Therapy (ESDM)

Our daughter began the Early Start Denver Model of therapy through Early Intervention just after she turned two, which has been tremendously successful in minimizing and often eliminating her autistic symptoms.

ESDM is a behavioral therapy for younger children diagnosed on the autism spectrum, specifically tailored for 12- to 48-month olds. Developed by psychologists Sally Rogers and Geraldine Dawson, ESDM lays out of set of skills that each child should acquire by a certain age as well as a curriculum to teach these skills in a natural setting, typically the child’s home. Parents become integrally involved in therapy, so that the child works on skills as often as possible, not solely with the therapist.

ESDM focuses heavily on a child’s relationships and increasing their social-emotional, cognitive, and language skills with standardized measures of progress tailored to the individual child.

ESDM is fast becoming one of the most successful treatments for children under five with autism. It is being recognized both nationally and internationally. Time magazine cited ESDM as one of the top 10 medical breakthroughs of 2012 relating to autism. In a recent special edition of Scientific American magazine, the article “Help for the Child with Autism” centers on ESDM therapy and its success in treating autistic children.

In the United States, ESDM has a presence in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. Internationally, ESDM therapists are available in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Cayman Islands, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates. A full list of ESDM therapists can be found here.

For those interested in the ESDM therapy, but unable to find a therapist locally, Drs. Rogers and Dawson published a book for parents called, An Early Start for your Child with Autism, that details ESDM activities parents can do with their children.

Social Thinking Learning Model

My daughter’s preschool introduced me to Michelle Garcia Winner’s “social thinking” learning model. Social thinking is a powerful, highly effective methodology for helping children, especially those on the spectrum, understand social situations as well as their own and others’ feelings. When I evaluate new programs and therapists for my daughter, I only consider those that integrate social thinking into their approaches.

 

Other Autism Therapies

In addition to ESDM, other specialty services for autistic children include (among many others):

• Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA)
• Floortime
• Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT)
• Verbal Behavior (VB) therapy
• Relationship Development Intervention (RDI)
• Training and Education of Autistic and Related Communication Handicapped Children (TEACCH)
• Social Communication/Emotional Regulation/Transactional Support (SCERTS)