Author: edac

August is our favorite month! We spend much of the month investing in our staff professional development and preparing for the academic year ahead! We have an exciting school year planned! We are also hiring a new position, Clinical Supervisor that will cover both Bay and Sacramento – see indeed or email us for the job description.

Our demonstration program in the Bay in El Cerrito is busy working in the beautiful newly built playground. Staff are currently training with a group of children and will continue to enroll children for Fall!

We are also taking interest for early Fall enrollment in our GESDM demonstration program Every Child Foothills in El Dorado Hills! We will start with school readiness services such as playgroup and potty training! The class room is ready and the playground is being developed. Complete a services waitlist form to place your child’s name on the waitlist and receive updates.

Workshop Dates:

G-ESDM Advanced Workshop – August 2-4, 2022 in El Cerrito, CA. We have ONE opening remaining. Email training@earlydays.center for more information.

ESDM Advanced Workshop – September TBD, 2022 in El Dorado Hills, CA Email training@earlydays.center for more information.

ESDM Advanced Workshop – October 10th – 12th, 2022- Bologna, Italy (full)

It has been a year since we entered the global Pandemic, this experience has greatly touched us all, some staff and EDAC families have endured significant hardships this past year and much loss.  We share in your grief, pain, frustration and worry.  As a small company with extensive experience in individualizing for families and children, with both expertise in the ESDM one to one model and telehealth modalities we were able to pivot and continue serving children without any pauses in service since March 2020.  We are deeply appreciative of our amazing staff that has worked diligently in keeping themselves and the children safe during this very uncertain time.  Their focus on the children has been inspiring and refreshing in this negative climate.  Despite the challenges, our commitment to the work that we do strengthened this past year.  We worked very hard to stay connected, to stay true to who we are as a company.  In some ways 2020 allowed us to reflect and reposition ourselves as a small company devoted to the dissemination of the Group Early Start Denver Model and inclusion.  Many of the children we are currently serving have not seen peers in almost a year, we are prepared to change this.  As we recover in this Pandemic, we are returning to our specialty and our mission……GROUP based work. We will do this with continued and added protections for safety.  In order to do this, we have secured a large clinic space in El Dorado Hills to meet the needs of our children and families.  

In this space we are envisioning group ESDM sessions in the morning hours for our very young children with associated parent options (e.g., training, support, socializing).  As soon as we are able to make these groups inclusive…we will add typically developing peers!

In the afternoons we are planning social skills groups for our “older” clients (e.g., kindergarten and first grade) centered around interests.  Think “art class” with social skills strategies embedded.  This is a new venture for our team and we are very excited about partnering with community based programs who have specialities in art, music, building, and robotics as well as further developing our skill sets in Pivotal Response Training and Social Skills methodologies.  Again as soon as we are able to add typical peers, we will.

Please see the Industry News section of our website for our new publication….it is in Italian! Our partnership at the University of Salerno has been very productive over the past five years and includes training in four schools (1 in California, 3 in Naples Italy), multiple workshops, and research findings that continue to emerge and shape our work together. Dr. Emanuela Zappala, a former Every Child intern who worked with us for six months in Sacramento has primary authorship on this paper. Great work team!

Early Days Autism Center has several career opportunities available. Clinical positions in Orange County, Bay Area and Sacramento. Early career professionals interested in Naturalistic Behavioral Developmental Interventions are encouraged to apply. Training is extensive so two-year commitments are required.

An administrative position is also open to assist in all three locations (remotely).

Contact us for more information.

Early Days Autism Center, Inc. is proud to open a new Clinic in Orange and to welcome Hazel Vickers, MA, BCBA in Orange County, California as the Director of a new team. Hazel is a Certified ESDM Therapist (Clinical Supervisor) and led a program at the University of California at Irvine prior to joining EDAC. She is passionate about both the ESDM and GESDM and being able to offer more services for families of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Orange County. Jen Nguyen has also joined to help establish this team, Jen is a skilled ESDM therapist and is assisting with the establishment of GESDM programs in the area. Services will be available in English, Spanish and Vietnamese.