The Early Start Denver Model is a new form of therapy for young, autistic children. It is a scientifically valid method that integrates playtime, communication, and positive reinforcement to help reach the various developmental stages during the child’s early years. ESDM therapy is directed towards children from 12 to 48 months, whereby the program develops all the significant skills: communication, social interaction, and cognitive development. This integration of the therapy into natural settings has consequently provided a nurturing environment whereby kids can thrive. Here is how ESDM therapy improves early childhood development.
Communication Skill Enhancement
The esdm therapy is focused on both verbal and non-verbal communication. The therapist trains the parents to engage in structured interactions that allow the child to express their needs wants and thoughts.
During play-in, such activities as role-playing and interactive games-children learn labels for objects, imitate the sounds of speech, and combine forms into sentences. It is not only a building-up of their language that they acquire, but also confidence in expressing themselves in various social settings.
Promoting Social Interaction
One of the major objectives of ESDM is to enhance the child’s participation in social interaction. Playfully, the therapists give hedonic or pleasurable experiences of the interaction that he could possibly do with his peer group, parents, and caregivers.
Activities are designed to teach the skills of turn-taking, eye contact, and joint attention that form the basis of all social interaction. These then become the building blocks for forging healthy relationships and facilitating smooth transactions within social situations.
Development of Cognition
ESDM therapy also targets cognition development, wherein children engage in various activities meant to enhance problem-solving and critical thinking. An example would be using puzzles, sorting games, and storytelling by therapists to improve memory, attention span, and reasoning.
ESDM, through such tailored activities to the developmental level of the child, ensures gradual and measurable progress that fosters a sense of accomplishment and boosts self-esteem.
Improved Behavioral Regulation
Children with ASD generally face the greatest challenges with emotional and behavioral self-regulation. ESDM embeds self-regulation in non-aversive ways.
The therapist, through positive reinforcement, rewards desired behavior so that in time the child will understand the consequences of his/her actions. This will thereby allow him/her to regulate his/her emotions, manage frustration, accommodate the changes in routine, and thus build up much better emotional resilience and stability.
Empower Parent-Child Relationships
Unique in ESDM is the emphasis on parental involvement: training parents to incorporate therapeutic strategies into daily routines at home, thus ensuring that every possibility for learning is utilized at home.
It strengthens the parents-and-child relationship by which therapy itself does not stop after the clinical sessions. Thus, the more confident parents are about their co-therapist role, the better prepared they will be to empower the child further in his or her development.
Holistic Development End
ESDM therapy focuses on many developmental aspects all at once. That would mean integrating the cognitive, social, emotional, and communication skills within these therapy sessions for their balanced growth.
It is an encompassing technique that does not prepare children for academic challenges alone but equips them with the resources they need in life. That way, overall development takes place and lays the very foundation for future successes in life.
ESDM therapy is such a unique approach whereby the child gets every possible opportunity for optimum development during the tender age of life, developing like any other child by enhancing his communication, interaction, imitation, and playing cognitively and emotionally.
The effectiveness increases by involving the parents themselves in the treatment process of their children and making the atmosphere continuously supportive and nourishing. This provides a child not only with developmental milestones but also with self-confidence and good practices for the potential development of further skills. Surely, esdm therapy does enrich early childhood development by offering children and their families a happier future.
