Real-Life Missions
New skills only count when your child uses them in real life. Real-Life Missions turn the dinner table, the playground and school into chances to practice and grow.
How everyday life becomes practice
We coach you on using the strategies inside everyday routines, so progress does not stay behind in the therapy session.
A note on the study below: it tested one specific program, the Early Start Denver Model. Our sessions are not that program. We cite it because it is a clear example of why starting early, with play and with parents involved, is worth doing.
- Practice happens in the moments that matter: meals, play and school.
- Parents are coached to use the strategies in daily routines.
- If you are worried about your toddler's development, an early evaluation is a good first step.
What the research says
Toddlers with autism who started early intervention scored higher on thinking and daily-living skills two years later.
Toddlers with autism who received two years of the Early Start Denver Model, a play-based program delivered by therapists and parents at home, gained more in thinking, language and daily-living skills than toddlers referred to community services.
What they found:
- After two years, thinking and learning scores rose by 17.6 points on average in the program group, compared with 7.0 points in the community group.
- Most of that gain came from language: understanding language rose by 18.9 points versus 10.2, and expressive language by 12.1 versus 4.0.
- Daily-living (adaptive) skills held steady in the program group but fell by 11.2 points in the community group.
- Seven children in the program group (29%) moved to a milder autism diagnosis, compared with one child (5%) in the community group.
- Measures of autism severity and repetitive behaviors did not differ between the groups.
Good to know: The trial was small, and the two groups did not receive the same total hours of support. Some children in the community group left the study. Two of the authors receive royalties from the program's manual. Longer follow-up was needed to see whether the gains lasted.
The study behind it
Dawson G, Rogers S, Munson J, Smith M, et al. Randomized, controlled trial of an intervention for toddlers with autism: the Early Start Denver Model. Pediatrics. 2010.
Want the detail? Read our plain-language summary of this study. The summary and this page are general information written from the study’s published abstract, not medical advice. The full article belongs to its publisher, and the institution named on the summary does not endorse Speak Live Play. Talk with a licensed clinician about your own child.