Social Stations

Supporting social communication for autistic children

Social Stations

Social Stations is a research informed program developed by Dr Bronwyn Sutton, to improve 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.

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.

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 At Schools

Social Stations at School program is a classroom based program designed to improve 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 teaching social skills as part of the usual daily program. These skills are:

 

  • Playing with other children.
  • Sharing toys with other children.
  • Chatting to other children.

Social Stories

Use these stories for inspiration
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 Bronwyn Sutton. These stories have been categorised into “Social-Emotional”, “Behavioural” and “Life-Events”.

Life Event Skills

Download Stories about learning to deal with life events

Behavioural Skills

Download Stories about learning positive behaviours

Social – Emotional Skills

Download Stories about social interactions, emotions and the perspective of others