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Grounded in Evidence
Proven Approaches. Stronger Practice. More Meaningful Participation.
Research, Practice, and Lived Experience
Where Evidence Meets Childhood
Pappus CoLab helps early childhood professionals turn evidence-based ideas into thoughtful, inclusive everyday practice.
Founded by Dr. Cynthia Zierhut Ursu and Dr. Irene Russo, our work brings G-ESDM into dialogue with Reggio Emilia-inspired education—connecting developmental support with relationship, inquiry, participation, and belonging.
Training, Consultation & Support for Early Childhood Communities
Explore professional learning and implementation services shaped around your people, setting, and goals.
Professional Training
Training for Real Classrooms
Our G-ESDM workshops help educators, therapists, early interventionists, and leaders apply developmental principles within active group environments.
Introductory workshops establish the model's foundations. Advanced training moves into program design, individualized objectives, Group Activity Routines, social learning, data, fidelity, and team coaching.
- Introductory and advanced learning
- Online, in-person, and hybrid formats
- Customized for schools, clinics, agencies, and universities
Consultation
Build Inclusive Programs
We collaborate with schools, clinics, and organizations to examine environments, schedules, teaching practices, team systems, and opportunities for participation.
The goal is not simply to place an intervention inside a classroom. It is to make evidence-based support part of the everyday life of the learning community.
Supervision
Keep Practice Moving
Individualized supervision helps practitioners reflect on implementation, interpret feedback, strengthen fidelity, and plan practical next steps.
Support may include observation, video review, professional action planning, and guidance for bringing G-ESDM-related practices into real settings.
Our Shared Purpose
Support Development. Protect Childhood.
G-ESDM + Reggio Emilia-Inspired Practice
From Intervention to Participation
Evidence-based intervention and a rich culture of childhood do not need to occupy separate spaces.
G-ESDM offers a systematic framework for understanding development, setting individualized objectives, creating learning opportunities, and evaluating implementation. Reggio Emilia-inspired practice asks educators to recognize children as capable participants, teachers as researchers, and the environment as part of learning.
Bringing these perspectives together supports developmental needs while protecting each child's opportunity to communicate, contribute, build relationships, and belong.
Customized Learning
Bring Pappus CoLab to Your Community
Every organization is different. We shape workshops, consultation, and speaking engagements around the people, priorities, and setting involved.
- Early Learning Programs
- Schools & Universities
- Clinics & Agencies
- Professional Organizations
- International Groups
Topics include autism and neurodiversity, inclusive education, G-ESDM, naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions, Reggio Emilia-inspired practice, coaching, participation, and belonging.
Featured Professional Learning
San Francisco Infant/Toddler Conference
In 2026, Dr. Cynthia Zierhut Ursu served as a presenter, consultant, and facilitator for this professional learning event supported by the San Francisco Department of Early Childhood.
She led the four-hour special topics session Attachment in Context: Supporting Emotional Development for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and participated in the conference’s closing plenary. The work centered developmental differences, meaningful relationships, and practical support within early childhood communities.
Why Pappus?
Pappus CoLab Is About Learning Together
The dandelion has been part of our story from the beginning. What appears to be one simple flower is actually a community of individual florets growing together.
- Honor individuality: Recognize the beauty, strengths, ideas, and complexity of every child.
- Build community: Create environments where children can communicate, connect, participate, learn, and belong.
- Carry ideas outward: Share knowledge shaped through evidence, practice, collaboration, and reflection.
The word pappus names the delicate structure that carries a dandelion’s seeds outward. It represents our hope that these ideas will travel while continuing to grow through every community in which they take root.
The symbol is not about changing who a child is. It honors the hopes families hold for their children to flourish as themselves.
Meet the Founders
Built From Practice and Inquiry
Dr. Cynthia Zierhut Ursu and Dr. Irene Russo are psychologists, educators, trainers, researchers, and practitioners with extensive experience supporting young autistic children, their families, and the professionals who work alongside them.
Their continuing question guides Pappus CoLab: How can we provide individualized, evidence-based support without separating children from the relationships, experiences, and communities that make childhood meaningful?
Co-Founder
Dr. Cynthia Zierhut Ursu
Co-Founder
Dr. Irene Russo
Co-Founder
Dr. Cynthia Zierhut Ursu
Dr. Cynthia Zierhut Ursu is a licensed clinical psychologist and leader in early autism intervention who specializes in the Early Start Denver Model. Her work spans parent coaching, play-based therapy, preschool intervention, clinical research, psychological assessment, and professional training.
Experience and Leadership
- Founder and Director of Early Days Autism Center.
- Experienced in developing and implementing group-based ESDM programs for infants and young children.
- Former psychologist and project manager at the UC Davis MIND Institute.
- Former Clinical Manager at La Trobe University’s Margot Prior Wing.
- Trainer of clinicians in ESDM principles in the United States and internationally.
Dr. Zierhut Ursu earned her Ph.D. from UCLA. Her work brings research, developmental science, inclusive education, and community-based practice together to strengthen support for children, families, and professionals.
Co-Founder
Dr. Irene Russo
Dr. Irene Russo is a Certified Early Start Denver Model therapist and trainer whose work connects evidence-based developmental practice with inclusive early childhood education. She has practiced with the ESDM since 2014 and has helped bring the approach into community and preschool settings.
Experience and Leadership
- Site Director for the Bay Area at Early Days Autism Center.
- Leader of the group-based ESDM demonstration program at Every Child Bay.
- Research collaborator in ESDM and G-ESDM teacher-training implementation.
- Vice President of Every Child, supporting the inclusion of autistic children in early childhood education.
- Experienced in bridging research, professional learning, and community-based practice.
Dr. Russo earned her Master of Science and Ph.D. in Italy. Her leadership centers inclusive learning environments in which developmental support, relationships, participation, and the culture of childhood remain deeply connected.