Effects of self-evaluation on preschool children's use of social interaction strategies with their classmates with autism.

The researchers taught typical preschoolers to rate their own social play with classmates who have autism.

Kids first learned three simple ways to help play happen: share, give play ideas, and praise.

After each play period they used a smiley-face chart to judge how well they did.

When children scored themselves, they used more sharing, play ideas, and praise during the next session.

The autistic classmates also talked and played more once peers started self-evaluation.

Both groups kept the gains after the training ended.

Charlop et al. (1992) ran a similar peer program the same year but skipped self-evaluation and still saw more social play.

The two studies together show peer training works, and adding self-scoring may give an extra boost.

Wan et al. (2023) later blended games with behavioral skills training for preschoolers with autism and again found social gains, proving the idea keeps working decades later.

Chung et al. (2007) moved the same peer-mediation idea to older kids and added video review, showing the approach extends beyond preschool.

You can copy this in any inclusive preschool room. After you teach peers to share and invite, hand them a quick self-rating sheet. It takes two minutes and keeps the helpers focused, which pulls more language and play out of the autistic children without extra adult prompts.