What Is The Denver Model?

Oct. 23, 2008 -- Question: What is the Denver model?

Answer: The Denver model is a developmental approach developed by Dr. Sally Rogers who was then at the University of Colorado. She provided preschool intervention for young children with autism that was first called the play school model because intervention was developed in the course of children's play activities. The theoretical foundation for this approach was Piaget's theory of cognitive development.

Over the years, as with many of our early intervention approaches they've actually blended somewhat in that we now find the Denver approach using some behavioral procedures or ABA procedures. At the same time we find the newer ABA approaches applying many of the learning-through-play activities that were originally part of Dr. Rogers' approach.