Improving

Access to Evidence-Based Interven/on for Young Children with Au/sm: Oering

Integrated, Family Centered Services within the NYS Early Interven/on Program

Mar/n, C., Winter, J., Dufek, S., Lord, C.

Weill Cornell Medical College/NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital
Center for Au/sm and the Developing Brain
Program Informa>on

Introduc>on

We offer an integrated NDBI-program to

provide evidence-based interventions for
toddlers within the NYS Early
Intervention program. The goal of the
program is to empower and inform
parents while simultaneously providing
direct child treatment in peer group and
individual settings to improve the childs
social-communication, socialinteractions, play skills, and behavior.

Program Outline
Naturalistic Developmental
Behavioral Interventions (NDBIs)

Early Start
Denver
Model
(ESDM)

Intervention Methods

Parent
Coaching

Early Social
Interaction
(ESI)

Teaching Social
Communication
(TSC)

Length of Program

Group-
implemented

Direct 1:1-
implemented

Total Hours of
Service Delivery
Location of Service
Delivery

RESEARCH POSTER PRESENTATION DESIGN 2012

www.PosterPresentations.com

6-months rolling admission

To date, program has run for 3-

cycles (18-months in total)
14-hours weekly
Combina/on of home and center-
based

Child Group Services 3x120 ESDM-Classroom Hours

Combined
Treatment
Approach

1:1 Services

Background

Randomized controlled trials of

naturalistic developmental behavioral
interventions (NDBIs; Schreibman et al.,
2015) for young children with autism
spectrum disorder (ASD) such as the Early
Start Denver Model (ESDM), Early Social
Interaction (ESI) model have been shown
to improve child functioning while
empowering parents to support their
childs development (Rogers & Dawson,
2010; Wetherby et al., 2014). ESDM
provides direct child teaching and parent
coaching, while ESI is a parent-mediated
intervention. Together, these models of
intervention emphasize a developmentally
based curriculum using behavioral
teaching principles within a
communication oriented, relationshipfocused paradigm. Although promising,
access to these intervention programs have
generally been restricted to universitybased research programs and are not
typically available within communitybased settings.

Combined Child and Family Approach

Speech-Language
Therapy

Occupational
Therapy

Parent Group
Services

3x60 clinic-and home-based special

instruc/on, which combines direct
teaching with the child (ESDM) and
parent coaching
2x30 Speech and Language
2x30 Occupa/onal Therapy
1x60 Parent Didac/cs
1x60 Parent Support
1x30 Father Support

Within the New York State mandated Early Intervention program our center offers an
integrated NDBI program to parents and children that provides continuity of care from
diagnosis to treatment in a community setting, at New York Presbyterian Hospitals Center
for Autism and the Developing Brain (CADB). Services are provided at no cost to the
family. In the New York area, most programs focus on adult-directed discrete trial
interventions with minimal parent components. Our goal is to support parents in accordance
with practices from a parent oriented NDBI model while providing ESDM-based direct
child treatment in peer group and individual settings.

Gender

Program Demographics
N=17
Male
65%

Race/ethnicity

Female

35%

Asian

24%

African-American 12%

Age at Intake

Latino(a)/
Hispanic
Caucasian

40%

Average

22.7 months

Range

15 34
months

24%

30
25

ESDM Checklist Data- Frequency of mastered skills between levels

1-3, prior to star/ng CADB EI program as compared to mastered
skills prior to exi/ng the program.
Child A

Child B

20

Direct child teaching is provided to

improve the childs functioning.
Parent coaching trains the parent to
support their childs development and
generalization of skills within their
everyday interactions and activities.
Didactic parent sessions are used to
inform parents about ASD, inform them
about treatment modalities, and teach
ways to increase their childrens social
communication behavior and manage
behavior.
Program Targets

Targeted outcomes of our program are to

improve spontaneous socialcommunication, responsiveness to socialinteraction, and expanding play skills
(similar to Vivanti et al, 2013; 2014) while
simultaneously decreasing problematic
behaviors.
Additionally, through the didactic sessions
we are seeking to support improvements
in overall parental competency and
advocacy in the parents ability to
independently access appropriate special
education services for their child.
Program Exit -Maintenance of Treatment Gains

Once children and parents graduate from

our program they are provided with

transitional planning to connect with other
community-based services.

15
10
5
0

Child A: 22-month old boy; Mullen T-Scores: VR=39, RL=48, EL=25, FM=37
Child B: 18-month old girl; Mullen T-Scores: VR=26, RL=20, EL=21, FM=20

Families are also invited to attend weekly

parent and child groups in our program in
order to maintain treatment gains.