Social Stations
Research by Dr Bronwyn Sutton
Sutton, B. M., Webster, A. A., & Westerveld, M. F. (2019). A systematic review of school-based interventions targeting social communication behaviors for students with autism. Autism, 23(2), 274-286.
Social Stations
Social Stations is a research informed program developed by Dr Bronwyn Sutton, to support the social communication skills of autistic children. The program is set in the child’s natural social setting of the classroom or early childhood room. The program is a part of the usual daily activities in the room. Children learn by talking and playing with their peers who act as peer models.
Sutton, B. M., Westerveld, M. F., & Webster, A. A. (2021). Classroom Teachers’ Implementation of the Social Stations Intervention to Improve the Verbal Initiations and Responses of Students with Autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 1-15.
Social Stations
Social Stations At Schools
Social Stations at School program is a classroom based program designed to support the social communication skills of autistic students. The program aims to develop a student’s ability to:
- Verbally initiate to a peer during a conversation.
- Verbally respond to a peer during a conversation.
- Stay on topic with a peer during a conversation.
Social Stations in Early Childhood
Social Stations in Early Childhood program was designed to provide early childhood educators with a way of supporting social skills with peers as part of the usual daily program. These connections are:
- Playing with other children.
- Sharing toys with other children.
- Chatting to other children.
Social Stories
Social Stories TM use a supportive story format to assist the child in understanding a social skill or concept. They can be used to explain situations in terms of what another person might be thinking and/or why they may behave in certain ways; thus reducing or removing the confusion and unpredictability.
There are ten criterion to follow when writing a story. These guide the writer to develop a story which provides information, social cues, a description of the expected social behaviour and insight into the perspective of all involved.
Check out the links below for free stories developed by speech pathologist Dr Bronwyn Sutton. These stories have been categorised into “Social-Emotional”, “Behavioural” and “Life-Events”.