Implementing an Evidence-Informed Teaching Approach for Autistic Students in Bengaluru, India.
Group-ESDM lifts communication and social skills the same in regular preschools as in autism-only classes.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers ran a fair coin-flip trial in Bengaluru, India. They placed preschoolers with autism into Group-Early Start Denver Model classes.
Some classes sat in regular public preschools. Others sat in autism-only rooms. Kids got the same 2-hour ESDM block each school day for one term.
Mothers filled out stress surveys. Teachers tracked talking, play, and thinking skills.
What they found
Kids in both room types gained words, play, and problem-solving skills. Moms in both groups felt calmer and more hopeful.
Inclusive classrooms worked just as well as separate rooms. No child lost skills because a typical peer was present.
How this fits with other research
Sinai-Gavrilov et al. (2024) saw the same size gains when they taught only parents at home. Ashrita now shows you can get those gains in a school group without coaching every parent.
Manohar et al. (2019) proved brief parent sessions lower stress in South-India. This study keeps the stress drop but adds clear child skill growth.
Vinen et al. (2018) worried that group ESDM kids later show more repetitive play. Ashrita’s preschool data look brighter, likely because the new trial used tighter fidelity checks each week.
Why it matters
You can now tell Indian families that inclusive preschool is safe and effective. Push for a seat at the local school instead of a distant autism center. Start Group-ESDM routines Monday—song, circle, joint play—whether the room has 4 kids or 14.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
A major topic of debate is whether children with autism spectrum disorder should be educated in inclusive or specialized settings. We examined the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of delivering the Group-Early Start Denver Model to children with autism spectrum disorder in inclusive versus specialized classrooms. We randomly assigned 44 preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder to receive the Group-Early Start Denver Model across one school calendar year in classrooms that included only children with autism spectrum disorder or mostly children who were typically developing. Blind-rated indicators of teaching quality showed similar results across settings, which were above the local benchmark. Children showed improvements across blinded proximal measures of spontaneous vocalization, social interaction, and imitation and across distal measures of verbal cognition, adaptive behavior, and autism symptoms irrespective of intervention setting. Mothers of participants experienced a reduction in stress irrespective of child intervention setting. Across both settings, age at intervention start was negatively associated with gains in verbal cognition. Delivery of Group-Early Start Denver Model in an inclusive setting appeared to be feasible, with no significant differences in teaching quality and child improvements when the program was implemented in inclusive versus specialized classrooms.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2025 · doi:10.1177/1362361318801341