• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
Reach Children's Services

Reach Children's Services

Set Up For Success

  • About Us
  • Online Courses
  • Our Services
    • Virtual Coaching Groups
    • Early Intervention for Autism
    • Positive Behaviour Support
    • Life Skills Programmes
      • Sleep Difficulties
      • Feeding Interventions
      • Toilet Training Programme Consultation
    • Home Tuition
    • Training and Workshops
  • Resources
  • Our Blog
  • Contact Us

Early Intervention for Autism

We know that early intervention is key. And it can be so difficult to have concerns, only to be told it will be months before you child can be seen for assessment or therapy. So we’ve created this free resource for parents to offer some support and start on the path.

Get the Guide

 

Early intervention has been proven crucial for children who present with delays. According to research, the two areas of difficulty for children with autism that best predict future language success are joint attention, and symbol use (Botemma-Beutel, 2016; Paul & Norbury, 2012). Therefore, it is essential that early intervention programmes address these behaviours.

Joint Attention is a term that describes the ability to coordinate attention between others and objects. When a parent points to an airplane in the sky, children will generally look to the airplane, look back to the parent and smile. This shared experience is an example of joint attention.  

Symbol Use describes the ability to understand that an object can represent another object (real or imagined), or abstract idea. For example, a child’s toy block can represent an airplane.

The best way to develop these skills and behaviours in the early years are through play and natural interactions. Therefore, our EI supports are guided by the practices and principles of Naturalistic Developmental Behavioural Interventions (NDBIs). These are a set of interventions that blend the principles of applied behaviour analysis with developmentally appropriate practices. In other words, we use our knowledge of how to break down and most effectively teach skills, to teach developmentally appropriate and important behaviours. 

There are many different evidence-based NDBI models, some of which include:

  • Incidental Teaching
  • Pivotal Response Training (PRT)
  • Early Start Denver Model (ESDM)
  • Reciprocal Imitation Training (RIT)
  • Project ImPACT: Improving Parents as Communication Partners

Our senior therapist has completed advanced training in the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM). However, we use various NDBI assessment and intervention tools depending on the child and intervention needs.

 

How do our EI services work?

Before intervention, it is important that we understand what you would hope to achieve, and define what level of support your family requires. We recommend an initial consult involving interview and observation. Following this, our therapist will discuss with you the recommended level and form of support, and agree to next steps.

We provide a range of options and intervention supports.

Assessment and Programme Development

You may choose to proceed with a full assessment of all early intervention domains. In this case, we will conduct further assessment and provide a full report outlining results, goals, and intervention strategies. This report is useful in guiding families to use strategies in everyday routines, but can also be used to help inform home programmes for children receiving the home tuition grant. To learn more about how we can develop and support home programmes, please visit our Home Programmes page.

Parent Coaching

We know that children make the most rapid and meaningful progress when parents are able to embed strategies throughout the day across different settings and activities. This is why our preferred model of early intervention support is through parent coaching.

We provide individualised coaching to help parents and carers learn ways to teach language, communication, and play behaviours through natural interactions and daily routines. This typically involves a series of 6-8 individual sessions conducted in the home, or remotely via video conferencing methods.

Virtual Coaching Groups

We’re delighted to offer a new EI option for families who may need more flexibility in scheduling. Our virtual coaching groups offer families information on practical, proven strategies through online meetings and access to a private Facebook page. Parents can attend live, or view the same content recorded, but still have access to individual guidance and support.

Learn more about our virtual coaching groups.

References

Botemma-Beutel, K. (2016). Associations between joint attention and language in autism spectrum disorder and typical development: A systematic review and meta-regression analysis. Autism Research, 10, 1021-1035.

Paul, R., and Norbury, C. (2012) Language disorders from infancy through adolescence: Assessment & intervention, 4th ed., St. Louis: Mosby

Get in touch with us, we’d love to help!

We want to hear from you!

Send us a message, or give us a call.

One of us will get back to you to talk about how we can help.

Footer

Get In Touch

+353 83 002 1958 | +353 87 920 6783
info@reachchildrens.com
Mo,Tu,We,Th,Fr 9:00 am – 5:00 pm

and by appointment

  • Facebook
  • Instagram

Helpful Links

  • What is Autism?
  • What is ABA?
  • Online Courses
  • Resources
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
Comments Box SVG iconsUsed for the like, share, comment, and reaction icons

There are many mixed emotions around the return to school for our children. Some of us are excited, some of us are worried and many of us are overwhelmed.

There are so many things out of our control, no matter how hard we try, we cannot control them. So what can we do?...

Here are some simple achievable steps we can put in place to make the coming days and weeks easier on the whole family.

1. Practice self-care: Choose one thing you can do for yourself each day. It can be as big or small as you wish, but make it achievable e.g. each morning, write 3 things you are grateful for; spend 5 minutes alone with a hot cup of tea of coffee; go for a walk outside (even if you just walk around your house once!)

2. Build structure and routine into the day: If you're anything like us, those waking and bedtime routines in place during school periods have really drifted. Try not to wait until a day or two before to re-establish those routines. Give everyone a chance to ease back into those bedtimes or school time routines.

3. Ask for help: People may not be able to call and visit or take the children for an hour, but even a chat with a family member, or parent in a similar situation. And there are so many parent support pages or professionals to connect with online.

4. Celebrate the small wins: Make sure and take a moment to celebrate the small wins every day. This could be as simple as your child trying a new food, or bedtime taking 5 minutes less time than usual.

5. Make time to connect with your child: Spend at least 5 minutes with your child playing and having fun with just one goal in mind, laughter!

#reachchildrens #reachchildrensservices #selfcare #smallwins #structure #routine #havefun #specialneedsparenting #autism #specialneeds #controlthecontrollables
... See MoreSee Less

4 hours ago
There are many mixed emotions around the return to school for our children. Some of us are excited, some of us are worried and many of us are overwhelmed. 

There are so many things out of our control, no matter how hard we try, we cannot control them. So what can we do?...

Here are some simple achievable steps we can put in place to make the coming days and weeks easier on the whole family.

1. Practice self-care: Choose one thing you can do for yourself each day. It can be as big or small as you wish, but make it achievable e.g. each morning, write 3 things you are grateful for; spend 5 minutes alone with a hot cup of tea of coffee; go for a walk outside (even if you just walk around your house once!)

2. Build structure and routine into the day: If youre anything like us, those waking and bedtime routines in place during school periods have really drifted. Try not to wait until a day or two before to re-establish those routines. Give everyone a chance to ease back into those bedtimes or school time routines.  

3. Ask for help: People may not be able to call and visit or take the children for an hour, but even a chat with a family member, or parent in a similar situation. And there are so many parent support pages or professionals to connect with online. 

4. Celebrate the small wins: Make sure and take a moment to celebrate the small wins every day. This could be as simple as your child trying a new food, or bedtime taking 5 minutes less time than usual.

5. Make time to connect with your child: Spend at least 5 minutes with your child playing and having fun with just one goal in mind, laughter!

#reachchildrens #reachchildrensservices #selfcare #smallwins #structure #routine #havefun #specialneedsparenting #autism #specialneeds #controlthecontrollables
View on Facebook
· Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
View Comments
  • Likes: 0
  • Shares: 1
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

Great perspective in this quote. 💪

So we still have several weeks of restrictions ahead, and it's all grown quite tiresome. For some, things may be looking up a bit with children returning to school. Others may be very apprehensive about the return.

If you're struggling still with some of the questions remaining about the return to school, services resuming, or any of the many other stressors in life these days, that's OK. You're certainly not alone, but also remember YOUR track record for getting through these days.
... See MoreSee Less

1 day ago
Great perspective in this quote. 💪

So we still have several weeks of restrictions ahead, and its all grown quite tiresome. For some, things may be looking up a bit with children returning to school. Others may be very apprehensive about the return. 

If youre struggling still with some of the questions remaining about the return to school, services resuming, or any of the many other stressors in life these days, thats OK. Youre certainly not alone, but also remember YOUR track record for getting through these days.
View on Facebook
· Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
View Comments
  • Likes: 1
  • Shares: 0
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

Some really cute ideas to get creative and occupy the kids. ... See MoreSee Less

1 day ago
View on Facebook
· Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
View Comments
  • Likes: 3
  • Shares: 2
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

Load more

© 2021 Reach Childrens Services · All Rights Reserved · Built by Upply.io💡