ESDM Advanced Workshop

This professional development program is designed for professionals providing therapy for young autistic children and their families.

The ESDM is a naturalistic play-based early education that can be embedded in multiple settings, including Intervention Programs, Therapy Clinics, Early Childhood Education and Care Settings, Primary Schools, and the Family Home. ESDM has been manualised, which helps to bring all the adults in the child’s life working towards the same goals. The teaching principles used in this model are informed by expertise from early childhood education and allied health professions. Major learning goals include skills that enable social learning and engagement in naturalistic play and cooperative activities.

  • Understanding autism and its impact on a child’s learning and development.
  • Becoming the child’s play partner as a foundation for learning
  • Assessing and programming for autistic children and collecting child data
  • Finding the child’s smile, capturing their attention and building back and forth interactions
  • Using the ESDM Teaching Principles to guide your practice
  • Promoting the child’s development across all domains
  • Understanding and supporting co-regulation
  • Creating effective and responsive learning environments

All ESDM Advanced Workshops are delivered remotely, by UC Davis Certified ESDM Trainers, as a series of 6 x 2.5-hour sessions, each a week apart. One hour of each session is in the form of a pre-recorded lecture we will send you each week and this is followed up by a 1.5 hour live zoom Tutorial each week at a time that suits you.

  • Workshops allow flexibility for working professionals and parents.
  • Time between each session allows for reflection and practice within your own workplace or home, so that you can quickly become proficient in using the approach.
  • You will also receive online supervision to assess a child with ASD and then develop and implement your ESDM intervention program.
  • Coaching and feedback will be provided by your Certified Trainer across the 6 tutorials to build your
  • understanding of the model, your skills, and your confidence.

Advanced ESDM Workshops are a three-level process, which begin with the:

  1. Pre-requisite online Introductory ESDM Workshop, that can only be completed through UC Davis; This 8-10 hour webinar is available to you over a 5 week window of opportunity. Register through: https://cpe.ucdavis.edu/subject-areas/early-start-denver-model
  2. Followed by the ESDM Advanced Workshop offered through our ESDM Training Program;
  3. To become a Certified ESDM Therapist, you would then work through the ESDM Certification process under our supervision and with our regular mentoring and support.