ESDM Online
Welcome to ESDM Online, a resource for parents and providers eager to discover ways to help children connect, communicate, and learn. Here, you will find examples, tips, activities, the latest research findings, videos, and much more to support your goals as a parent or provider. Join the community and become part of this mission to create positive learning experiences for children.
- Giving children opportunities to practice their skills through play and everyday activities.
- Creating a welcoming, accessible and nonjudgemental space to hear about and share ideas.
- Helping children feel calm, safe and supported.
Connect, Communicate, and Learn
Find out how to use tips from the ESDM for early social-communication skills important to life-long learning, behavior, and health with your child or with families whom you support in an early childhood learning environment.
Learn how to step into a child’s spotlight of attention and support shared engagement through three key setup strategies: choosing “magnets” you can join; arranging the environment to invite interaction; and reading children’s cues to guide your pacing and involvement.
👉 Watch the Quick Tip video
Read monthly research about intervention outcomes for children with or at risk of autism; coaching supports for their families; and/or family-centered, culturally inclusive coaching tools to help early childhood professionals support families. Each monthly article is publicly available for free access.
This month's Latest News is shedding light on why toddlers with autism receive different amounts of early intervention (EI). This study examined how factors like race, language, immigration status, and income intersect to shape the services families actually receive. Instead of looking for a single cause, the researchers explored how these overlapping experiences create very different pathways into EI. Their goal was to understand why some children receive fewer hours than others and how these differences reflect broader inequities in access, support, and opportunity.
Click the article (to the right) to learn how the researchers identified patterns in EI service access and what these findings show about why some toddlers receive fewer services than others.
Researchers identified five distinct demographic subgroups of families receiving Part C EI services. Service hours differed sharply across these groups:
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Children from White, U.S.-born, English‑proficient families with incomes above poverty received the most EI hours (about 12 hours/week).
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Children from Latiné immigrant families received the fewest hours (about 6.9 hours/week).
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Across all groups, the average was 8.8 hours/week, showing consistent disparities despite early autism identification.
What This Means in Practice
This study highlights the need for EI systems and providers to actively address inequities in access and service delivery. Key implications include:
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Recognizing that families’ experiences with EI vary widely based on intersecting demographic factors.
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Offering culturally and linguistically responsive supports.
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Monitoring whether recommended hours match the hours families actually receive.
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Supporting families in understanding their rights, options, and typical EI service intensity.
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Strengthening collaboration between providers and service coordinators to reduce gaps in service delivery.
Practical Tips for Providers
In response to disparities, providers can:-
Ask early about barriers such as work schedules, transportation, language access, or immigration‑related stressors. Normalize these conversations.
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Use culturally and linguistically responsive communication and offer interpreters proactively.
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Explain EI intensity clearly so families understand what typical service hours look like and what their child is eligible for.
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Provide written summaries of recommended services and intensity.
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Check in regularly to ensure families are receiving the hours listed in their IFSP.
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Build trust through relational practices that honor family perspectives and reduce power imbalances.
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Partner closely with service coordinators to troubleshoot gaps in service delivery.
Practical Tips for Parents to Advocate
In response to disparities, parents may need to:-
Ask for a clear explanation of how recommended hours were determined.
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Request written documentation of evaluations, IFSP goals, and scheduled service hours.
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Compare recommended hours with actual hours delivered and follow up if there is a gap.
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Share any barriers (work schedules, transportation, language needs) so the team can help problem‑solve.
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Ask for interpreter support if you prefer communication in another language.
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Bring a support person to meetings to help take notes and ask questions.
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Trust your observations — your insights about your child’s needs matter.
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Follow up when something feels unclear or incomplete and ask how to ensure your child receives the full intensity of services.
Why This Matters
Early Intervention is most effective when delivered consistently and at adequate intensity. Persistent disparities mean that many toddlers—especially those from marginalized communities—are not receiving the level of support needed to optimize developmental outcomes. Addressing these inequities is essential for ensuring that early autism identification leads to meaningful, timely, and equitable care.
A muffin tin becomes a simple, structured space for sorting, filling, dumping, counting, pretending, and discovering patterns together. This Play of the Month transforms an everyday kitchen item into a shared organizer for pom‑poms, snack pieces, toy animals, magnets, or nature treasures. With just a muffin tin and a handful of small objects, play becomes a gentle invitation to explore categories, compare sizes, make choices, and build early problem‑solving skills. Whether families are sorting by color, creating tiny “homes,” scooping and pouring, matching lids, or imagining each cup as a pond, cave, or treasure chest, the focus stays on connection, shared attention, and co‑creating joyful learning moments.
See below for activity ideas and learning goals linked to the ESDM Curriculum Checklist items to help you discover the play level that best suits your child or the children and families you support in early learning environments.
Pay attention to what children like (or seem curious about) and follow their lead as long as you are a part of the action, too. Remember, the most important thing is for children to have fun doing this with you! Fun means engagement and that excites children's brains and bodies for meaningful learning to happen.
Simple Play (Sensorimotor & Exploratory)
These activities focus on cause-and-effect, sensory exploration, and basic motor skills—like banging, mouthing, or dropping—just to see what happens.
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Shake & Dump — Fill a few cups, shake the tin together, then dump everything out and watch where it lands.
Materials to try: dry pasta, cereal, pom‑poms, cotton balls, small blocks, bells, beads, pebbles, leaves.
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Hide & Reveal — Cover cups with paper squares, washcloths, silicone baking cups, or lids and lift them to discover what’s underneath.
Materials to hide: toy animals, magnets, snack pieces, photos, textured items like sponges or fabric scraps.
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Press & Pop — Place silicone baking cups inside each muffin cup and let children press them down and pop them back up.
Materials to add: cotton balls, crinkly paper, ice cubes, or small objects inside the cups to change the feel.
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Tap & Echo — Tap different cups with a spoon or kitchen tool and notice how each one makes a slightly different sound.
Tools to try: wooden spoon, metal spoon, whisk, spatula, measuring spoon, soft brush.
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Drop & Bounce — Drop lightweight items into the cups and watch how they fall, bounce, or settle.
Materials to try: pom‑poms, ping‑pong balls, cotton balls, mini rubber balls, crinkled foil balls, small beanbags.
Combination Play (Functional & Constructive)
These activities involve using materials together with intention—building, matching, or organizing.
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Color Sorting — Sort pom‑poms, blocks, snack pieces, or magnets into color‑matched cups.
Materials to try: pom‑poms, cereal pieces, buttons, magnets, colored blocks.
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Size Matching — Place big items in big cups and tiny items in tiny cups.
Materials to try: large/small balls, big/small toy animals, mixed pasta shapes.
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Counting Cups Add one item to the first cup, two to the second, and so on.
Materials to try: beads, dry pasta, small stones, snack pieces.
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Pattern Building — Create simple patterns across the row (red‑blue‑red‑blue).
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Materials to try: colored pom‑poms, stickers, blocks, bottle caps.
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Mini Collections — Fill each cup with a “category” (animals, cars, nature treasures).
Materials to try: toy animals, mini vehicles, leaves, pinecones, shells.
Symbolic Play (Pretend & Representational)
These activities support imagination, role play, and storytelling.
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Tiny Worlds — Turn each cup into a “home,” “pond,” “cave,” or “garage” for small toys.
Materials to try: toy animals, cars, peg people, nature items.
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Snack Shop — Pretend the muffin tin is a bakery case or snack tray and “serve” items.
Materials to try: crackers, fruit pieces, pretend food, bottle caps.
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Animal Hotel — Each cup becomes a room; animals check in, sleep, or visit each other.
Materials to try: small animals, stuffed mini toys, figurines.
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Treasure Chest — Hide pretend jewels or coins in the cups and go on a “search.”
Materials to try: plastic coins, beads, buttons, foil balls.
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Cooking Play — Use the tin as a pretend oven tray for muffins, meals, or magic potions.
Materials to try: play food, cotton balls, pom‑poms, leaves, water in silicone cups.
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Story Cups — Place different objects in each cup and create a story that moves from cup to cup.
Materials to try: photos, small toys, nature items, household objects.
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Vehicle Parking Lot — Each cup becomes a parking space, repair shop, or gas station.
Materials to try: mini cars, trucks, trains, or construction vehicles.
