EDUCATION
EARLY AUTISM INTERVENTION PROGRAM A SUCCESS
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oung Mind Community Center (YMCC) opened last September, with founders Amanda Wood and Sara Mertel driven to change what early autism intervention looked like in Phoenix. Their mission is to bring together clinical expertise in autism and excellence in early childhood education in order to deliver the best possible outcomes for young children with and without autism. After analyzing the first quarter progress reports, it is clear that this vision is becoming a reality. In the early autism intervention program at Young Mind Community Center, the average learner has met over 100 objectives in three months. Mandy Zerbib, a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst, said she has seen huge cognitive, communication, and social gains in a short period of time. “One of our three-year-old students wouldn’t interact with his peers at all.
He had a goal to simply react positively to being approached by other children. Now, he’s regularly playing with his friends for 10 minutes,” she said.
through because their work demonstrated that brain function among young children with autism can normalize with effective early intervention in profound, enduring ways.
YMCC, the intervention takes place in an inclusive preschool and focuses on the learning opportunities that exist in the social interactions young children have with other people.
In terms of language development, “He also went from communicating in two- or three-word phrases to 6-word sentences in that same time.”
Just this month, a major new study replicates research that demonstrated that children with autism as young as 18 months can vastly improve their language, cognition and social skills with early intervention utilizing ESDM. The new study found that children receiving intensive ESDM made significantly greater language gains than children in the community interventions, and this was true for both children with more severe delays and those with fewer.
“We use children’s interests and favorite activities to ensure that social interaction is interesting and fun,” Zerbib said.
Dr. Wood is not at all surprised by the first quarter scores. She believes it is a combination of their highly skilled team (which includes experts from early childhood education, psychology, behavior analysis, speech and language pathology, and occupational therapy) and their unique, focused approach. YMCC is the only early autism intervention program in Arizona that utilizes the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM). In 2012, TIME magazine named ESDM a top 10 medical break-
What distinguishes ESDM from the more traditional behavior interventions used with children with autism is that it combines developmental and behavioral approaches and is carried out within everyday routines. At
“The type of gains they found in this new study are what we see in our program. They’re what we should see in all high-quality early intervention programs. These findings should raise not only hope for families, but also expectations,” Mertel said. Find out more at youngmindcommunity.org or 602-237-6653 The new study appears in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
FREE EVENT!
Friends and Family Day April 13th | 1pm - 4pm
10210 N 32nd St, Phoenix (623) 377 - 9753 DanceIsLifeStudios@gmail.com www.DanceIsLifeStudios.com Instagram: @DanceIsLifePHX
Dance Is Life Studios is a company owned by sisters Yesenia and Stacy Rodriguez. They started dancing in San Pedro, California at a young age. Growing up they had many dance opportunities which included traveling back up dancers, dance competitions, and joining Relentless Dance Company in Los Angeles. Since they were little it has been a dream to open a studio where they could continue to focus on their passion and help others reach theirs. The sisters will be celebrating their 2-year anniversary by hosting Friends and Family Day for the community on April 13th from 1pm - 4pm. This free event will include dancing, games, fun activities, food, and prizes. Bring your family and neighbors to this event for a day of fun. We offer group classes, private lessons, and mommy and me classes. Each class is based on skill level and age. The genres are ballet, hip hop, and modern. For adults we also have a dance fusion class which is a combination of many genres. In every class we instill confidence and celebrate uniqueness. Registration is available online! Visit www.danceislifestudios.com or call 623-377-9753 You can find us on social media @danceislifephx
14 • April 2019 • NORTH 32ND NEWS
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