Increasing joint attention, play and language through peer supported play.

The team set up 30-minute play groups once a week. Typical classmates learned to invite, model, and wait for autistic peers.

Three elementary students with autism joined the groups. Adults taught the peers first, then stepped back. The kids played kitchen, blocks, and dress-up while researchers counted shared looks, pretend acts, and new words.

All three autistic children doubled their joint attention—shared looks between toy and peer.

Symbolic play acts (feeding doll, pouring tea) rose from about 5 to 20 per session. Words grew too; one child went from 2 to 14 different utterances in 20 minutes. Gains stayed six weeks later with no adult help.

Bernard-Opitz et al. (2004) compared adult-run natural play to strict ABA and saw ABA win on attending. Chen et al. (2001) show peers can run the same play and still lift joint attention—adults don’t have to lead.

Koegel et al. (2013) later moved peer support into high-school lunch clubs. They added the student’s special interest and also saw social jumps, proving the idea grows with age.

Solomon et al. (2007) used parents at home with DIR/Floortime. Both studies find big play gains, but C et al. prove classmates can do the work at school, freeing parent time.

You can train classmates once, then let them run short play groups each week. The autistic child gets more joint attention, richer pretend play, and new words—without extra staff hours. Try it during recess or free choice; the peers enjoy the leader role and the gains stick.