Increasing social interactions of severely handicapped autistic children.

The authors taught two typical classmates how to start play with two severely withdrawn autistic children. They used a multiple-baseline design across the autistic children. The peers learned simple openers like 'Come play' and 'Look at this.' Sessions happened during free-play time at school.

Both autistic children began talking and playing with the trained peers far more often. One child kept the new skills with new, untrained peers. The gains lasted after the coaches stopped checking.

This study is the middle link in a 50-year chain. Strain et al. (1977) first showed that teaching preschoolers to invite shy classmates works in regular classes. Castells et al. (1979) tried the same idea with autistic kids but saw no carry-over to new peers or new places. Barrett et al. (1987) trimmed the procedure and finally got one child to generalize. Laermans et al. (2025) later bundled peer training with teacher cues and doubled play time for four autistic preschoolers—an updated package that supersedes the 1987 lone-initiation tactic.

You do not need fancy toys or 1:1 adult shadowing. Pick one or two sociable classmates, give them a quick script, and set a play goal. Start with the target child you think will catch on fastest; the multiple-baseline look shows the effect spreads once peers stay consistent. If generalization stalls, add teacher prompts or move to the fuller Stay Play Talk model shown in Laermans et al. (2025).