Insider's View of an ESDM Session

At Kindred Kids, our practitioners utilise the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) intervention which is detailed in a previous blog post. To summarise, ESDM is a naturalistic, play based intervention that targets all developmental domains. Often people come to us after discovering ESDM with the question, “but what does a session actually look like.” If you have wondered the same, then please read on, keeping in mind that every child is different and the purpose of ESDM is to create sessions that are suitable to a child’s individual’s needs. This post discusses what an individual (1-on-1) session looks like, and in addition at Kindred Kids, we also run group intervention (G-ESDM) detailed in a previous post.

At the beginning of the session our client will transition into the space, greet the practitioner, sit down to take their shoes off and sing a quick hello song. This routine of coming into the room and getting ready together sets up the environment to be a place where the child feels safe and understands the practitioner is there with them as a helper. The practitioner will then offer a few choices of preferred play activities which will look different for each child and depend on their personal interests that the practitioner has garnered a nuanced understanding of throughout the assessment process.

The practitioner follows the child in their selected play, commenting on and imitating what they are doing. This process communicates to the child that the adult is interested in what they like and establishes play together. If the child is comfortable playing alongside the practitioner in this manner, the practitioner will take a turn to lead and offer a slightly different way to play with the same materials. In these moments, the practitioner is aware of the child’s goals and of their current skills. This elaboration will present a skill that is just slightly above where the child is currently, thus encouraging the child to explore and strengthen developing skills.

When teaching skills in this way, ESDM practitioners will assist the child in a least-to-most style of helping. That is, the practitioners observe the child’s skills and offers the least amount of assistance needed for the child to successfully complete the activity. This encourages the child to develop independence in the skill but also ensures that they know the practitioner is there to help them experience a sense of success and achievement.

After introducing the new idea into the play, the two close the activity together and open a new activity, often by the practitioner offering choices for the next activity. This ensures the child’s interest and motivation in the session is maintained. It also encourages the development of skills around following routines that are mirror what is typically expected within educational settings. The offering of choices after the pack down and throughout the session ensures the session remains child led, thus enriching the play to be filled with preferred activities.

Each activity will last around 5 – 10 minutes depending on the child, their chosen activities and their skill level. This frequent changing of activities allows for the practitioner to target a wide array of skills across all developmental domains. The practitioner is also trained to be attuned to the child’s emotional needs and ensures a well-balanced session with object focussed activities, and more movement, sensory orientated activities that move the child and practitioner from the table to the mat throughout the session. 

In summary, the beginning of the session is set up to the child-practitioner relationship as one of togetherness, safety, and helping. The activities within the session are child led, and the practitioner embeds objective focussed elaborations into the theme to encourage development. The mixture of activity types assisted by frequent close and opening of new activities allows skills across all developmental domains to be targeted. I hope this paints an accurate picture of what a typical ESDM session looks like. If this sounds like something that is relevant and potentially helpful to your child, then please book a free consultation.