Classroom Teachers' Implementation of the Social Stations Intervention to Improve the Verbal Initiations and Responses of Students with Autism.

Teachers ran Social Stations during daily literacy blocks.

Each station had a clear social script and peer partner.

Students with autism rotated through the stations like any reading center.

Every child started more talks and answered peers more often.

The gains stayed high weeks later without extra training.

Teachers kept the routine going with no added staff.

Raslear et al. (1992) first showed that trained preschool peers can spark talk during free play. Sutton et al. (2022) move the same idea into elementary literacy centers run only by the teacher.

Davenport et al. (2019) proved that brief coach-and-feedback training lifts teacher fidelity to 100%. The Social Stations teachers got the same kind of coaching, so their high success is no surprise.

Root et al. (2017) found that ADOS social scores match real peer talk. Because Social Stations raised those exact peer behaviors, the ADOS can now serve as an easy pre/post check for you.

You can fold Social Stations into the reading block you already supervise. One short coach session gives the teacher the moves. No extra aides, no pull-out room, and the kids keep talking more next month. Try it when you need a low-cost, class-wide social boost that sticks.