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For more information about the Early Start Lab, please contact:

Megan Devitt, M.A.:
(916) 703-0465 or megan.devitt@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu

Early Start Lab

Early Start Lab Mission Statement

The mission of the Early Start lab is to design, study, and deliver effective interventions for people with ASD and their families. We value collaborative, reciprocal relationships with clients, families, trainees, community members and colleagues. We are committed to life-long learning: for persons with ASD, for university and community learners, and for ourselves as autism scientists and interventionists. The goal of our work is to improve the quality of life for each person with ASD, characterized by personal feelings of efficacy, meaningful inclusion in community, individual exploration of interests and use of talents, and satisfying relationships. This goal requires both access to high quality education and treatment for all persons with ASD and the public’s commitment to supporting each person with ASD.

What is the ESDM?

At the heart of the ESDM is the empirical knowledge-base of infant-toddler learning and development and the effects of early autism. ESDM intervention is provided in the home by trained therapists and parents during natural play and daily routines. ESDM is a relationship-based intervention, and involves the parents and familes; An Early Start for your Child with Autism, is a parent's guide to using everyday activities to help kids connect, communicate, and learn. The aim of ESDM is to increase the rates of the development in all domains for children with ASD as it simultaneously aims to decrease the symptoms of autism. In particular, this intervention focuses on boosting children’s social-emotional, cognitive, and language, as development in these domains is particularly affected by autism. ESDM also uses a data based approach and empirically supported teaching practices that have been found effective from research in applied behavior analysis. ESDM fuses behavioral, relationship-based, and a developmental, play-based approach into an integrated whole that is completely individualized and yet standardized.

Wagner & Rogers (2011)

Recruiting Now for PATH Project

PATH - Parents and Toddlers at Home

The purpose of this study is to improve the learning rates, language acquisition, and overall development of 12-30-month-old children with autism by teaching their parents ways to foster their development. The project will aim to do so by modifying and testing the effects of two versions of an existing, manualized parent delivered intervention for toddlers with autism, the Early Start Denver Model parent coaching approach. The revised version of the intervention will incorporate empirically-based principles of adult learning and adult behavior change, and will involve careful individualization to each family. The project will provide treatment to 24 families of children with autism spectrum disorder aged 12-30 months. Families will be enrolled for 6 months, during which the parents will learn the intervention in the first 3 months in clinic- and/or home-based sessions. Following this learning phase, both versions of the intervention shift to a maintenance period for the remaining 3 months. We will also recruit up to six families (child age 12-36 months) to test the effectiveness of one or more components of the revised program.

Criteria: Participants are 12-36-month old children with autism spectrum disorder. Children and their parents live within 30 miles of the MIND Institute in Sacramento, and English is a language spoken in the home.

Contact: Lisa (Soyeon) Baik at (916) 703-0486 for more information.