These courses and support services are designed for parents and carers of children with autism and other developmental disorders. Because infant-toddler learning is primarily influenced by the quality of adult-child relationships, Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) strategies can turn everyday activities and routines into opportunities to promote your child’s communication, development and learning.
ESDM for parents and carers
For Families of Children with Autism
Your child has been diagnosed with autism? See the steps below for ways we can help support you and your child.
EXPERT INSIGHT: ESDM for the Home
Elizabeth Aylward, Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) Program Manager at Early Start, University of Wollongong, explains the benefits of ESDM for parents and carers of children with autism and other developmental disorders.
How can the ‘ESDM for the Home’ course, designed for Parents and Carers of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) be useful?
In the home- Um just getting through the day, just going getting through a mealtime, getting your child in and out of the car, taking your child out into public to a park or to a shopping center. They are all enormous challenges for a parent who has not learned those specialist skills Again, you know, in how to engage their child and how to have fun with their child and just how to play with their Child, and how any moment in a day from bath time to meal time can actually be turned into therapy. It doesn't have to be an add-on therapy where the parent you know has to stick down at a desk and a chair child with them – no- it can be built into every single moment of their Day. And you know the science behind fun is that when a child's having fun they're learning at a faster rate and they're more likely to remember what they've learned and the child having fun is also keeping the child's motivation optimized and they just want to they want to be spending time with us.
Training and workshops
Families may use NDIS funding to support course attendance.
- ESDM for Parents and Carers of Children Living with Autism: ‘ESDM for the Home’
- ESDM Parent Coaching Program - this service is no longer offered
This small group course is designed for parents and carers of children with autism and other developmental disorders. Families may use NDIS funding for the full cost of the workshop (Early Childhood Supports – Early Childhood Professional – Other Professional CODE: 15_005_0118_1_3).
Course sessions, delivered online via zoom, are designed specifically for the home setting, so that parents learn how to embed the ESDM teaching principles in everyday routines.
Each week we will learn the strategies to turn everyday activities and routines into opportunities to promote your child’s communication, behaviour and learning.
Please note that this group workshop is a pre-requisite to the ESDM one-on-one Parent Coaching Program.
Following completion of this workshop you will be invited to join a FREE Parent Support Group, held every second month for ongoing support.
Topics covered in ‘ESDM for the Home’ sessions
- Session 1: Understanding Autism and its Impact on Your Child’s Development
- Session 2: Becoming a Play Partner with Your Child in Everyday Routines and Activities
- Session 3: Using the ESDM Principles to Guide all of Your Interactions with your Child at Home
- Session 4: Activities and Materials that will Support the Interactions you have with Your Child
- Session 5: Understanding and Managing and Unwanted Behaviours you may be experiencing with your child
Cost: $858 (Includes GST)
5 weekly sessions: 10:00 – 11:30am
Note: Program fees are under review and the new fee structure will be announced in 2024
Course Dates for 2023
- Series 1: Wednesday, 8 February-8 March, 10 -11.30 am | COMPLETED
- Series 2: Wednesday, 26 April-24 May 10-11.30 am | COMPLETED
- Series 3: Wednesday, 14 June-12 July 10 -11.30 am | COMPLETED
For further information and enquiries, please contact the ESDM Course Coordinator via ESDM-ParentsandCarers@uow.edu.au.
Please note all courses are conducted online from Wollongong/Sydney, Australia. Course times from April to September each year are based on Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST), and courses held from October to March are based on Australian Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT). Please double check course times against your Country or City’s local time zone.
This service is no longer offered
This 12 week program is designed to support parents to incorporate the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) techniques into their everyday routines at home with their young children with autism. Families may use NDIS funding for the full cost of the workshop (Early Childhood Supports – Early Childhood Professional – Other Professional CODE: 15_005_0118_1_3).
Parent coaching founded on clinical knowledge and coaching practices uses the same values and techniques that are at the heart of the ESDM. This approach sees parents as experts and partners in the intervention process. The majority of activities in the session focus on parents interacting with their children in their own routines. The ESDM therapist serves as a coach, a supportive person whose goal is to assist the parents to achieve their goals for their child and for themselves.
Coaching is scheduled for an hour each week and can be done in person, in the clinic setting at Early Start University of Wollongong or delivered via zoom into your home.
This program is an appropriate starting point for your child after diagnosis. Following the completion of this program, you and your child will be referred to the ESDM Early Intervention Service for direct child therapy.
Cost: $1,800 plus GST for 12 sessions (fully funded by NDIS)
To schedule your sessions or to have an initial conversation, please contact the ESDM Course Coordinator via ESDM-ParentsandCarers@uow.edu.au.
Support services
Services for parents of children with autism
- Parent-Coach Goal Setting Session - this service is no longer offered
- ESDM Assessment Report to NDIS
This service is no longer offered
This is a comprehensive developmental assessment that is completed by a Certified ESDM Therapist to enable you and your child to participate in our Parent ESDM Coaching Program.
Venue: Early Start, UOW.
To schedule your sessions, obtain cost details or have an initial conversation email us at esdm-professional@uow.edu.au
This is offered to families who wish to access our services and require reporting for NDIS funding applications.
To have an initial conversation and obtain cost details email us at esdm-professional@uow.edu.au
Engage with your child
“It’s a very gentle therapy approach that goes on their own special interests, because kids on the spectrum can become fixated on certain objects or certain ideas and by following their lead it’s very gentle, my son loved every session that he had, and I feel like that’s the key to communication, by following their lead and that’s what ESDM does.”
ASHLEIGH, PARENT
Frequently Asked Questions
Here you will find the answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about the Early Start Autism Clinic’s range of ESDM courses and support services for parents and carers of autistic children, and children with other developmental disorders.
If your questions are not answered from the below FAQs, please contact the ESDM Training Coordinator: ESDM-ParentsandCarers@uow.edu.au
- What can I expect from the ESDM for Parents and Carers of Children Living with Autism ‘ESDM for the Home’ group workshop?
- Is there a Parent Support Group for ongoing support?
- What can I expect from the ESDM Parent Coaching Program?
- How do I get on the waiting list for the ESDM Parent Coaching Program?
- How are these parent and carer workshops delivered?
- What time are the courses?
- Are the workshops recorded?
- Can I use NDIS funding
This small group course is designed for parents and carers of autistic children and children with other developmental disorders. Each week you will learn the strategies to turn everyday activities and routines into opportunities to promote your child’s communication, behaviour and learning. All sessions are delivered by zoom, so you can participate in your home.
Yes and this support is FREE! Following completion of the group ‘ESDM for the Home’ workshop you will be invited to join a FREE Parent Support Group, held every second month for ongoing support with your ESDM Parent Trainer.
This is a 1:1 parent coaching program that runs for 12 weeks and is designed to support parents to incorporate the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) techniques into their everyday routines at home with their young autistic children. The majority of activities in the session focus on parents interacting with their children in their own routines. The ESDM therapist serves as a coach, a supportive person whose goal is to assist the parents to achieve their goals for their child and for themselves.
To register for this 1:1 coaching program, you will need to complete an application form. Contact ESDM-ParentsandCarers@uow.edu.au to obtain your application form.
All parent workshops are delivered via Zoom, so you can do them from home.
Courses are conducted online (Zoom) by certified trainers and therapists, who are all based in Wollongong and Sydney, Australia and all times are in accordance with the Australian Eastern Standard Time or Australian Easter Daylight Time, depending on the time of year.
Please check course times, and the time zone convertor to ensure the timing of the workshops will be convenient for you
Due to privacy, our workshops are not recorded
Families may use NDIS funding to cover the full cost of both the group workshop ‘ESDM for the Home’ and the Parent Coaching Program.