The Effects of the Early Start Denver Model for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Meta-Analysis
Brain Sciences
Fuller, E. A., Oliver, K., et al. (2020).
Brain Sciences, 10(6).
This meta-analysis investigates the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) in young children, under 6 years of age, on the autism spectrum.
National Institutes of Health
Up to October 2019
Group design studies
12
Findings demonstrated that the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) had significant and moderate effect sizes (<em>g</em>) for improving the language skills (<em>g</em> = 0.408) and cognitive skills (<em>g</em> = 0.412) of young children on the autism spectrum. Therefore, ESDM shows promise as an effective practice for young children on the autism spectrum in improving outcomes in some areas affected by early autism, especially language and cognitive outcomes. The effect of ESDM on social communication, however, was reported to not be statistically significant.
