Implementation of the Early Start Denver Model in an Italian community.
Six community-clinic hours of ESDM each week speed toddler cognitive and social growth beyond usual five-hour services.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Costanza and her team brought the Early Start Denver Model to a regular Italian clinic. They gave toddlers with autism six hours of ESDM each week. A comparison group kept getting the usual five hours of mixed therapy.
How this fits with other research
Bono et al. (2016) push the same ideas into living rooms. Their tablet games still use ESDM targets like imitation and joint attention, but parents run the show at home.
Llanes et al. (2020) go further and drop the clinic. They teach parents PRT through an online course and still see social gains. Together these papers show the magic is not the room — it is the teaching style.
Trimmer et al. (2017) asked parents inside the clinic model and heard happy reviews. Costanza now proves those smiles line up with real skill growth.
Why it matters
You do not need a university lab to give top-tier early ABA. Six hours of ESDM in a plain community clinic beats five hours of mixed services. If your waiting list is long, add an extra hour of structured play instead of adding another therapist. The model travels well, parents like it, and kids move faster.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Identifying effective, community-based specialized interventions for young children with autism spectrum disorder is an international clinical and research priority. We evaluated the effectiveness of the Early Start Denver Model intervention in a group of young children with autism spectrum disorder living in an Italian community compared to a group of Italian children who received treatment as usual. A total of 22 young children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder received the Early Start Denver Model in a center-based context for 6 h per week over 6 months. The Early Start Denver Model group was compared to a group of 70 young children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder who received treatment as usual for an average of 5.2 h over 6 months. Children in both groups improved in cognitive, adaptive, and social skills after 3 months and 6 months of treatment. Children in the Early Start Denver Model group made larger gains in cognitive and social skills after 3 and 6 months of treatment. The Early Start Denver Model group made larger gains in adaptive skills after 3 months of treatment. Our results are discussed in terms of implications for intervention research and clinical practice. Our study supports the positive impact of the Early Start Denver Model in a non-English-speaking community.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2018 · doi:10.1177/1362361316665792