Early Intervention provides comprehensive services to infants, toddlers and families with disabilities or at risk of developmental disabilities. Services include home-based services with therapists visiting the home, home and school services with support in both settings, and classroom services located in schools or facilities. Therapies address skills like cognition, communication, behavior and more. Common therapies include PECS, dietary interventions, SCERTS, occupational therapy, sensory integration, speech therapy, RDI, TEACCH, verbal behavior, ABA, and DIR/Floortime.

2.  Consider our quote: If you’ve met one child with
autism, you’ve met ONE child with autism.
 Therefore, there are many different ways a child may
be going and many different ways to get where they’re
going.
 What works for you, your family and your child?

3. Early Intervention is a term used to describe a variety of
comprehensive services that focus on infants, toddlers,
and their families. These children have disabilities or
are at risk for developing developmental disabilities.
Taken From:
Children With Autism; A Parent’s Guide
Michael D. Powers, Psy.D.

4.  Home-based services
 Early Intervention team members come to your home to work with you and your
child. May come together or separately.
 Home and School Services
 Teachers spend time at school working with your child in individual
and group settings, while also providing services in your home to help
foster learning and generalization.
 Classroom Services
 Typically located in public schools or private facilities. Some serve only
children with autism, or both children with autism and those with
various disabilities. Some are “integrated” in which children with
autism receive instruction in the same classroom attended by children
without disabilities for at least a portion of the day.
Taken From:
Children With Autism; A Parent’s Guide
Michael D. Powers, Psy.D.

5.  Cognitive Skills
 Social Skills
 Communication
 Self-Help Skills
 Motor Skills
 Vocational Skills
 Behavioral Skills
Taken From:
Children With Autism; A Parent’s Guide
Michael D. Powers, Psy.D.

6.  PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System)
 Gluten Free/Casein Free Diet
 SCERTS
 Occupational Therapy
 Sensory Integration Therapy
 Speech Therapy
 RDI
 TEACCH
 Verbal Behavior
 ABA
 DIR/Floortime

7. A picture exchange communication system (PECS) is a form of
augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) that uses pictures
instead of words to help children communicate. PECS was designed
especially for children with autism who have delays in speech
development.
Taken from:
http://autism.healingthresholds.com/therapy

8.  Removal of gluten (a protein found in barley, rye, oats, and
wheat) and casein (a protein found in dairy products)
 Hypothesis is that these proteins are absorbed differently
in children with autism spectrum disorders and act like
false opiate-like chemicals in the brain.
 Many families report that dietary elimination of gluten and
casein has helped regulate bowel habits, sleep, activity,
habitual behaviors and enhance overall progress in their
individual child.
 Taken From:
 AutismSpeaks.Org

9. The SCERTS® Model is a comprehensive, team-based,
multidisciplinary model for enhancing abilities in Social
Communication and Emotional Regulation, and implementing
Transactional Supports for children and older individuals with
autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and their families. SCERTS is
not an exclusive approach, in that it provides a framework in
which practices and strategies from other approaches may be
integrated, such as Positive Behavioral Supports (ABA), visual
supports, sensory supports, augmentative and alternative
communication (AAC), and Social Stories®
Taken From:
AutismSpeaks.org

10. Occupational Therapy can benefit a person with autism by
attempting to improve the quality of life for the individual.
The aim is to maintain, improve, or introduce skills that
allow an individual to participate as independently as
possible in meaningful life activities.
Coping skills, fine motor skills, play skills, self help skills,
and socialization are all targeted areas to be addressed.

11.  Sensory Integration Therapy is a type of occupational therapy (OT)
that places a child in a room specifically designed to stimulate and
challenge all of the senses. During the session, the therapist works
closely with the child to encourage movement within the room.
 Sensory Integration Therapy is driven by four key principles (1):
 1. the child must be able to successfully meet the challenges that are
presented through playful activities (Just Right Challenge);
 2. the child adapts her behavior with new and useful strategies in
response to the challenges presented (Adaptive Response);
 3. the child will want to participate because the activities are fun
(Active Engagement); and
 4. the child's preferences are used to initiate therapeutic experiences
within the session (Child Directed).
Taken From:
http://autism.healingthresholds.com/therapy

12. Speech Therapy focuses on receptive language, or the ability
to understand words spoken to you, and expressive
language, or the ability to use words to express yourself. It
also deals with the mechanics of producing words, such as
articulation, pitch, fluency, and volume.
Some children only need help with language, others have
the most problems with the mechanics of speech, and
some need every kind of speech help there is.
Taken From:
http://specialchildren.about.com/od/speechtherapy/g/SLP.htm

13.  Relationship Development Intervention (RDI) Based on the work of
psychologist Steven Gutstein , Relationship Development Intervention
(RDI) focuses on improving the long term quality of life for all
individuals on the spectrum.
 The RDI program is a parent- based treatment that focuses on the core
problems of gaining friendships , feeling empathy , expressing love and
being able to share experiences with others.
Taken from:
AutimSpeaks.org

14. RDI works on 6 abilities which are called dynamic intelligence :
1) Emotional Referencing: The ability to use an emotional feedback system to learn from the
subjective experiences of others.
2) Social Coordination:The ability to observe and continually regulate one's behavior in order
to participate in spontaneous relationships involving collaboration and exchange of emotions.
3) Declarative Language: Using language and non-verbal communication to express curiosity,
invite others to interact, share perceptions and feelings and coordinate your actions with
others.
4) Flexible thinking: The ability to rapidly adapt, change strategies and alter plans based upon
changing circumstances.
5) Relational Information Processing: The ability to obtain meaning based upon the larger
context. Solving problems that have no "right-and-wrong" solutions.
6) Foresight and Hindsight: The ability to reflect on past experiences and anticipate potential
future scenarios in a productive manner
Taken From:
AutismSpeaks.org

15.  The long-term goals of the TEACCH approach are both skill development and
fulfillment of fundamental human needs such as dignity, engagement in
productive and personally meaningful activities, and feelings of security, self-
efficacy, and self-confidence. To accomplish these goals, TEACCH developed
the intervention approach called “Structured Teaching.”
 Building on the fact that autistic children are often visual learners, TEACCH
brings visual clarity to the learning process in order to build receptiveness,
understanding, organization and independence. The children work in a highly
structured environment which may include physical organization of furniture,
clearly delineated activity areas, picture-based schedules and work systems,
and instructional clarity. The child is guided through a clear sequence of
activities and thus aided to become more organized
 Taken From:
 http://www.teacch.com/whatis.html

16. Verbal Behavior Intervention is often seen as an adjunct to
Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA). Though both are based
on theories developed by Skinner there are differences in
concept. In the late 1950s and early 60's when Dr. Ivar
Lovaas was developing his ABA principles, Skinner
published Verbal Behavior which detailed a functional
analysis of language. He explained that language could be
grouped into a set of units, with each operant serving a
different function. The primary verbal operants are what
Skinner termed echoics, mands, tacts, and intraverbals.
 Taken From:
 AutismSpeaks.Org

17. The function of a mand is to request or obtain what is
wanted. For example, the child learns to say the word
"cookie" when he is interested in obtaining a cookie. When
given the cookie, the word is reinforced and will be used
again in the same context. There is an emphasis on
"function" of language(VB) as opposed to form (Lovaas-
based). In a VB program the child is taught to ask for the
cookie anyway he can( vocally, sign language, etc.) If the
child can echo the word he will be motivated to do so to
obtain the desired object.
 Taken From:
 AutismSpeaks.Org

18.  Positive reinforcement and other principles to build communication,
play, social, academic, self-care, work, and community living skills and
to reduce problem behaviors in learners with autism of all ages.
 Some ABA techniques involve instruction that is directed by adults in
highly structured fashion, while others make use of the learner¹s
natural interests and follow his or her initiations.
 All skills are broken down into small steps or components, and learners
are provided many repeated opportunities to learn and practice skills
in a variety of settings, with abundant positive reinforcement.
 Performance is measured continuously by direct observation, and
intervention is modified if the data show that the learner is not making
satisfactory progress.
Taken From:
AutismSpeaks.Org

19.  The goal in Floortime is to move the child through the
six basic developmental milestones that must be
mastered for emotional and intellectual growth.
 Greenspan describes the six rungs on the
developmental ladder as:
 self regulation and interest in the world;
 intimacy or a special love for the world of human
relations;
 two-way communication;
 complex communication;
 emotional ideas; and emotional thinking.

20.  In Floortime, the parent engages the child at a level the
child currently enjoys, enters the child's activities, and
follows the child's lead.
 From a mutually shared engagement, the parent is
instructed how to move the child toward more increasingly
complex interactions, a process known as “opening and
closing circles of communication.”
 Floortime does not separate and focus on speech, motor, or
cognitive skills but rather addresses these areas through a
synthesized emphasis on emotional development.
 The intervention is called Floortime because the parent
gets down on the floor with the child to engage him at his
level.