Use of an iPad play story to increase play dialogue of preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Peters et al. (2013) showed four preschoolers with autism an iPad story. The story had toy characters talking to each other. The kids watched the clips, then played with the same toys.

The team used a multiple-baseline design. They tracked how much pretend dialogue each child used during play.

Three of the four children started talking more during pretend play. They used lines like the characters in the iPad story. The new talk carried over to play with peers and lasted three weeks after the iPad was removed.

Wormald et al. (2019) ran a near-copy test. They swapped the iPad story for short peer-viewed videos and still saw more unprompted play talk. The match shows the magic is in the modeled dialogue, not the device.

Gotham et al. (2015) used tabletop script cards instead of an iPad and got the same lift in peer talk. Again, the scripted lines matter more than the medium.

Laermans et al. (2025) pushed further. They trained classmates to prompt play, not just model it. Interactive play doubled and stayed high after the adult stepped back. The iPad story is a good start; peer mediation gives you bigger, lasting gains.

You can add pretend dialogue in minutes with a free story-making app. Let the child watch once, then set out the same toys. If you want the boost to stick, move to peer-mediated scripts like Laermans et al. (2025) did. Start with the iPad, then teach buddies to stay, play, and talk.