Presents strategies for helping children with autism interact with others and achieve their potential, covering such areas as back-and-forth interactions, nonverbal communication, and imitation.

Supported by the principles of developmental psychology and applied behavior analysis, ESDM's intensive teaching interventions are delivered within play-based, relationship-focused routines. The manual provides structured, hands-on strategies for working with very young children in individual and group settings to promote development in such key domains as imitation; communication; social, cognitive, and motor skills; adaptive behavior; and play. --from publisher description

In the United States, preschool education is characterized by the dominance of a variegated private sector and patchy, uncoordinated oversight of the public sector. Tracing the history of the American debate over preschool education, Andrew Karch argues that the current state of decentralization and fragmentation is the consequence of a chain of reactions and counterreactions to policy decisions dating from the late 1960s and early 1970s, when preschool advocates did not achieve their vision for a comprehensive national program but did manage to foster initiatives at both the state and national levels. Over time, beneficiaries of these initiatives and officials with jurisdiction over preschool education have become ardent defenders of the status quo. Today, advocates of greater government involvement must take on a diverse and entrenched set of constituencies resistant to policy change. In his close analysis of the politics of preschool education, Karch demonstrates how to apply the concepts of policy feedback, critical junctures, and venue shopping to the study of social policy.

This book examines a group-based adaptation of the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) designed for use with preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It describes the principles and procedures of the Group-Based Early Start Denver Model (G-ESDM) and provides practical and empirical guidelines for implementing effective, affordable programs across public healthcare and educational settings. Chapters offer rationales and strategies for designing and evaluating interventions, building interdisciplinary teams, and organizing learning spaces to engage student interest. Examples discuss the social interactions in groups that provide opportunities for learning, improving interpersonal skills, and reducing problem behaviors. In addition, the book offers ideas for retooling teaching strategies when an individual child lags behind the rest of the group. Featured topics include: Creating treatment objectives in the G-ESDM. Setting up the G-ESDM team and learning environment. Development of the G-ESDM classroom curriculum. Practical tools such as decision-making trees, teaching templates, and fidelity systems. Facilitating learning through peer interactions and social participation. Implementing the Group-Based Early Start Denver Model for Preschoolers with Autism is a must-have resource for clinicians and practitioners as well as researchers, professors, and graduate students in the fields of child and school psychology, behavioral therapy, and social work along with psychiatry, pediatrics, and educational and healthcare policy.

The Early Start Denver Model Curriculum Checklist for Young Children with Autism is used to comprehensively assess the skills of toddlers and preschoolers with autism across multiple developmental domains and to establish individualized teaching objectives. Administered every 12 weeks, it is an essential component of the intervention program described in the authoritative manual, Early Start Denver Model for Young Children with Autism. Sold in sets of 15 two-color booklets.

There is a growing interest in teaching languages to young children. This publication brings together papers from 18 countries. It gives a cross section of major achievements and problem areas as well as an insight into research issues.

The time-tested, gentle, and successful method that introduces children to potty training as early as six months While parents around the world successfully potty train their children well before preschool age, in the United States, we've moved away from this early introduction. However, there's no evidence that later is better--in fact, there's even significant reason to believe that later can be detrimental. Written by a respected child psychologist, Early-Start Potty Training shows why the early-start method is preferable to the commonly used readiness method. Waiting until children show signs of readiness can hold them back from preschool, cost a fortune in diapers, and lead to health problems. The early-start method avoids these concerns by starting the process of training as early as six months old. This easy-to-follow program provides you with: Time-tested training tips for introducing toddlers--and even infants--to the potty Methods for combating common problems of training delay A troubleshooting plan for moving toddlers from diapers to potty independence Hints on how to overcome accidents and build confidence in children