#i'm honestly a fan of esdm

[system-of-a-feather]

One of the other thing about ESDM that I really like (which Lin pinpointed first) is that it very much just is the method me and Lin use to help heal traumatized parts PARTICULARLY traumatized child parts Cause other than generic play therapy concepts, ESDM first and foremost is built on this concept of "autistic kids have issues socializing and engaging in play because their usual play is 'atypical' to neurotypicals and sometimes is systemically hard to have shared engagement and control of the play" "Therefore, its important that when we try to play with these kids that we throw out whatever concept of fun and play that we currently have out the window and focus on what THEY find fun and what THEY enjoy and play with them in the way they want to play"

"Then from there expand the play to be more inclusive and cooperative" Like a very very very core concept of how play therapy in ESDM works is very much "If you can't figure out how to play in the way THEY like to play, then don't touch their play" So like, yeah we have blocks and we SHOULD stack them and make towers but you know what You think its fun to drop them on different objects and hear what they sound like?! We can make that into a fun game! I also think its cool to drop blocks on objects! What if we took turns coming up with silly things to drop them on? Oh look! We are practicing turn taking AND join attention AND social engagement AND tolerating people in your area to a reasonable level AND learning that people can be fun and interested in your interests And what are we practically doing? Were just Dropping blocks on silly things together And if you start that at like age 2-4 and maintain that for two to three years you really end up with kids that really realize that people genuinely are interested in what they are doing, that their interests are really cool, and that people are opportunities for MORE joy and MORE engagement than les

[system-of-a-feather]

Thoughts on ESDM

So one of the like... three or four main reasons I moved out to Colorado was to learn and try out ESDM - or Early Start Denver Model. For those that don't know, its a relatively new but highly regarded (albeit some traditional ABA fans dislike it apparently, go figure) due to its active incorperation of developmental and attachment based studies + having some of the most robust research

The thing that has me humoring it at all is that they really dont do any discrete trial training (DTT) or any dedicated "work time" and everything is based in pro-stim play therapy

I heard of it first from my time in university cause the university I went to actually had one of the largest labs participating in research for the treatmenr and I heard it actually from one of their autistic researchers which they do actively look to hire on the labs page

I ALSO ran it by a vibe check from what my therapist (autism specialist, hates ABA) to see what hes heard and thought of it and he hasn't had extensive access to it, but all hes heard and seen is positive stuff and had no outstanding concerns

And so as a hardcore traditional ABA hater who would rather die than do traditional ABA again in ANY form under even the "best clinic" - I was genuinely just curious to see what the hype is

I'm honestly a skeptic despite what I've heard, but I'm on day three of training and (honestly have been doing petty tests to see how dedicated they are to supporting neurodiversity by not only NOT masking actively just stating any reserves I have and dissing traditional ABA whenever I get the chance) so far... I hesitantly want to say I think its living up to the hype???

Tomorrow is when we talk about how we handle "challenging behavior" so I'm KIND of waiting for the second shoe to drop cause if it does at any point in training, it would be there.

But genuinely, compared to what I saw in ABA clinics and even the non-ABA special education (for kids with extra support academically, developmentally or emotionally) classrooms, the kids genuinely seem to be having a much better of a time and actually wanting to be here.

It'll probably be a few months of actually working here before I have a firm stancd about what I think about it but I figured Id document some thoughts and observations I had on the treatment as I didn't see much of anyone talking about it in any "hey I actually hate ABA but do acknowledge that some neurodivergent kids need early support that create a high demand for care that is hard to meet with the current structure of mental health care and availibility of therapists and so I would really like to genuinely see something not traumatizing that can help" cause I personally am hesitant to trust "research" on anything based on ABA cause "research" exists for ABA as well

Anyways Ill be making this a thread of journal-ish things.