Using Magic Tricks to Promote Social–Emotional Reciprocity and Peer Relationships Among Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Inclusive Settings: A Systematic Narrative Review

Abstract

With the goal of maximizing opportunities for inclusivity for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), this systematic narrative review, which allows for more interpretive inferences, investigates the use of magic-based interventions to determine if the skills needed for learning and performing magic tricks have commonality with skills needed to improve social skills deficits, as described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.) (i.e., deficits in social–emotional reciprocity, nonverbal communication used for social interaction, and developing, maintaining, and understanding relationships). The main purpose of this article is to highlight empirical studies that explore how using magic tricks with students with ASD might be beneficial in social skills development, particularly social–emotional reciprocity. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and using predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria, a systematic narrative review was conducted. This resulted in a total of 129 articles reviewed and discussed using an integrative narrative synthesis approach. The findings reveal elements in common in both learning and performing magic tricks and skills needed to improve social skills, including nonverbal communication skills used for social interactions. Skills gained when learning and performing magic tricks also share overlapping elements needed to create and maintain friendships. Conceptually, findings suggest that learning and performing magic tricks provide a natural setting to practice skills needed to successfully attain social–emotional reciprocity, which could, theoretically, increase inclusion opportunities for students with ASD. Therefore, educators may consider including magic tricks in the classroom setting as a strategy to improve social skills deficits of students with ASD.

1. Introduction

“Abracadabra,” “Alakazam,” “Hocus Pocus,” “Presto,” and “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo” are magic words often associated with professional magicians’ magic shows performed on a professional stage. These magic words may also set the “classroom stage” and help teach social skills (e.g., social–emotional reciprocity) to students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The use of magic-based interventions as a strategy to address the social skills deficits described in the criteria from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) will be explored in this article.

The criteria for ASD, in reference to the communication domain, have evolved over the years. Beginning in 1980, the DSM-III was the first edition to focus on ASD as a separate category (American Psychiatric Association, 1980). In 1987, DSM-III-R broadened the criteria for communication to include verbal and nonverbal communication (American Psychiatric Association, 1987). The criteria of language development delay and repetitive language use were added to the diagnosis in the DSM-IV (American Psychiatric Association, 1994) and DSM-IV-TR (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). The most current edition, DSM-5, refers to ASD as a neurodevelopmental disorder “characterized by persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts, including deficits in social reciprocity, nonverbal communicative behaviors used for social interaction, and skills in developing, maintaining, and understanding relationships” (American Psychiatric Association, 2013, p. 31).

In this current edition, social and communication impairments were combined into one domain to recognize that socialization is linked to the development of communication skills (Watkins et al., 2017). To further clarify the diagnostic criteria for ASD, the American Psychiatric Association (2013) expanded social reciprocity by adding the word “emotional” to the criteria as “deficits in social–emotional reciprocity, ranging, for example, from abnormal social approach and failure of normal back-and-forth conversation; to reduced sharing of interests, emotions, or affect; to failure to initiate or respond to social interactions” (p. 50). For students with ASD, experiencing positive social interactions through the use of magic tricks could be an effective intervention to promote inclusion and encourage more social interactions.

Historically, magic has not been used in educational settings. Modern teaching methods have primarily focused on academic content, with little room for what might be considered entertainment. Over the past few decades, magic has ever so slowly emerged as a tool in educational and therapeutic settings. Although throughout history there are a few reports of using magic outside of entertainment purposes, it was not until 1981 when the world-famous magician David Copperfield and occupational therapist Julie DeJean launched Project Magic that the first major shift in the perception of magic from a form of entertainment to a therapeutic tool began. Project Magic was primarily used for occupational therapy goals of improving fine motor skills for individuals recovering from injuries. The success of this therapeutic approach prompted educators to explore how magic could be used to meet educational needs (e.g., improving social skills in inclusive settings).

In recent years, researchers in the field of special education have discovered many benefits of using simple magic tricks in educational settings to meet a variety of needs (Ashcraft et al., 2025; Ezell, 2025; Ezell & Klein-Ezell, 2003; Spencer, 2012; Yuen et al., 2023). The employment of magic tricks in the classroom has been used to foster inclusion and acceptance of students with ASD, which has been a priority need for many years (Fidosieva, 2025). The use of magic tricks as an educational tool has gained traction over the years and is now considered an option for teachers to use in the classroom setting (Wiseman & Watt, 2018). This article examines the possibility of using magic tricks in the classroom to create positive social experiences for students with ASD and examines how learning and performing magic tricks may provide authentic experiences for practicing social–emotional reciprocity to improve social skills deficits, including nonverbal communication used in social interactions. Implementing magic tricks as a strategy to develop, maintain, and understand relationships (e.g., establishing meaningful friendships) is also investigated. Increasing positive social experiences of students with ASD can lead to the ultimate goal of inclusion and acceptance by their peers who are not on the spectrum.

Magic-based interventions (e.g., learning and performing magic tricks) are different from well-established social skills interventions (e.g., social stories and peer-mediated instruction). Social stories often rely on students exploring a hypothetical social situation from a presented story. With prompts from the teacher, the student may verbally reflect on the social norms. This may involve role-playing the appropriate social expectations, while the verbal reflection often remains hypothetical. Although role-playing can be part of learning a magic trick, the performance of a magic trick has social skills embedded that occur in a real social situation. Magic-based interventions move beyond verbally reflecting. Peer-mediated instruction relies heavily on typically developing peers learning how to prompt and guide students with ASD to the desired social norms. In this instructor role, the typically developing peer functions as a “helper” and may perform artificial prompts rather than the social experience evolving authentically. Magic-based interventions have the potential to be more reciprocal in nature and develop a more shared emotional experience than peer-mediated instruction.

Social skills not only have a huge impact on the quality of life of students with ASD in their childhood years but also when they become adults (Badiah, 2018), which ultimately determines their quality of life for its entirety. Therefore, it is essential that educators focus on social skills development for students with ASD (Weiss & Harris, 2001). The ability of an individual to competently interact appropriately in a social situation is an essential part of the American Psychological Association (APA) definition of social skills (American Psychological Association, 2015). This includes the skills needed to make friends and the ability to regulate feelings and behavior, which are critical among students with ASD (Badiah, 2018). The ultimate goal is to create social competence where students with ASD are able to evaluate a social situation, know the appropriate behavior expected, and act accordingly (American Psychological Association, 2015). According to Grover et al. (2020), social skills are defined as “the requisite abilities needed to perform competently in social situations” (p. 19). Attaining social competence is the ultimate goal for students with ASD because this leads to inclusion and acceptance. Social competence is needed to build personal friendships and work relationships and resolve conflicts, which are essential skills needed to lead a happy, successful life. The use of simple magic tricks in the classroom may provide a solution for teaching and practicing social skills to students with ASD in a fun and authentic environment (Yuen et al., 2023).

Research Question #1: For students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), do the skills needed for learning and performing magic tricks have commonality with skills needed to improve social skills deficits, as described in DSM-5 (i.e., deficits in social–emotional reciprocity, nonverbal communication used for social interaction, and developing, maintaining, and understanding relationships)?

Research Question #2: For students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), do learning and performing magic tricks increase opportunities for inclusion?

2. Methodology

A systematic narrative review of social skills deficits of students with ASD and how magic tricks are used in education and with students with ASD was conducted according to the PRISMA criteria (Page et al., 2021). PRISMA is a structured, transparent process used to screen and extract data from the literature using predefined inclusion/exclusion criteria. Due to heterogeneity in study designs, a quantitative meta-analysis was not appropriate. A systematic narrative review allows for more theoretically informed conclusions and interpretive inferences than a more rigid, quantitative approach. The qualitative analysis allows a more flexible exploration of the various literature nuances, with the goal of attaining a deeper contextual insight. Therefore, findings were synthesized using a structured narrative approach based on the connection to the research questions using abductive logic and interpretative reasoning.

The PRISMA 2020 flow diagram for new systematic reviews was utilized to illustrate the screening process of papers (see Figure 1). Using systematic criteria, a keyword search was done using six databases: JSTOR, ERIC, DOAJ, EBSCO, ProQuest, and Google Scholar. The keyword search terms “inclusion classrooms and autism spectrum disorder (ASD)”; “social skills deficits and students with ASD”; “social–emotional reciprocity”; “ASD and friendships”; “ASD and nonverbal communication”; and “magic tricks” were used in the initial search (see Appendix A).

Some articles were added using the reference sections of the articles found in the initial keyword search. The review timeline was from July to September 2025. To be included in this review, manuscripts were required to (1) be published in English, (2) be published in a peer-reviewed journal, (3) use empirical data or a conceptual framework, (4) include keywords in the title, abstract, or keyword section, (5) be published in or after 1980, (6) use quantitative and/or qualitative studies, and (7) be related to the research question (e.g., addressing social skills deficits of students with ASD or magic tricks used in educational settings). Manuscripts were excluded if (1) not published in English, (2) published prior to 1980, (3) magic-related experiences were not related to teaching and learning in educational settings (e.g., attending a magic show for entertainment purposes only, with the content having no relationship to the research questions), (4) written as editorial or opinion pieces, or (5) not related to the research question (e.g., addressing social skills in other populations other than people with ASD).

To minimize bias and strengthen the credibility of the review, an independent reviewer was asked to screen articles using the inclusion/exclusion criteria. As an extra checkpoint, the independent reviewer was asked to appraise the quality of all sources included in the review. Each source was evaluated against predefined quality criteria, and studies were assessed for methodological quality. All sources were assessed for a relevant connection to the research questions. Appraisal judgments were resolved through discussion and consensus, which ultimately resulted in 100% agreement. A protocol was not registered for this review. While this limits transparency regarding pre-specified methods, all review steps were reported following PRISMA 2020 guidelines.

The first search strategy was to include all elements of the research question to see if there were studies that specifically addressed the use of magic tricks as a tool to address all of the elements of social–emotional reciprocity deficits for students with ASD. There were several studies that addressed magic-based interventions and social skills more broadly with ASD, and a few that indirectly addressed the research questions, but no study was found that specifically and explicitly addressed magic-based interventions and social–emotional reciprocity among people with ASD. Since the literature has yet to address this connection sufficiently, the main purpose of this review is to explore the possibility of making the connection between magic-based interventions and the documented components of social–emotional reciprocity.

Using the six databases, JSTOR, ERIC, DOAJ, EBSCO, ProQuest, and Google Scholar, 1251 articles were identified to be included in this review, which included articles that were added using the backward citation searching process. After removing 349 articles due to duplication, 902 articles remained. Records were next reviewed by title and then by abstract when titles were unclear or inconclusive. This screening step eliminated 643 articles, which left 259 articles for full-text review. Seventy-four (74) articles were then removed after an additional screening of the abstracts because they did not focus explicitly on the article’s research agenda, which left 185 articles remaining for further screening. After removing unrelated articles (i.e., those not relating to the research question and using the inclusion/exclusion criteria) (n = 56), 129 remained to be included. Based on the final selection of articles, the distribution based on decade of publication was as follows: 2020–2025 (42%), 2010–2019 (40%), 2000–2009 (12%), 1990–1999(4%), and 1980–1989 (2%).

The systematic narrative review process was first developed based on a predefined categorical framework (established criteria) within the research questions concerning social skills deficits from the DSM-5 definition of ASD. Subsequently, further coding was conducted within and across domains to identify emergent patterns. Codes were repeated and refined through constant comparison, and themes emerged to conceptually explain the possible relationships between categories of social skills deficits and elements of learning and performing magic tricks in inclusive settings (see Appendix B). To establish consistency, the independent reviewer and the author independently coded the included articles. Discrepancies were discussed and resolved through consensus, and the coding scheme was refined accordingly.

A targeted search strategy was used to explore thematic patterns. Sources were systematically reviewed and analyzed using a thematic approach. The results were organized according to the emergent thematic patterns that had the most relevant connection to the research questions. Using abductive reasoning, findings were prioritized to identify meaningful themes and inferences as they related to the research questions.

3. Results

The review of the literature revealed a wide variety of educational practices with overlapping elements relating to the following themes: 1. ASD and Social Reciprocity. 2. ASD and Social–Emotional Reciprocity. 3. ASD and Positive Social Experiences. 4. ASD and Turn-Taking. 5. ASD and Perspective-Taking. 6. ASD and Joint Attention. 7. ASD and Interpreting Social Cues. 8. ASD and Initiating Social Interactions and Responding to Social Initiations. 9. ASD and Repairing Social Interactions. 10. ASD and Social Referencing. 11. ASD and Nonverbal Communication Used for Social Interaction. 12. ASD and Developing, Maintaining, and Understanding Relationships. 13. Magic Tricks in Education, Magic and Students with ASD and Other Disabilities, and Magic Cognition/Misdirection. The literature showed overlapping essential elements between learning and performing magic tricks and social skills deficits in students with ASD.

For students with ASD, gaining social competence is a complex and difficult challenge with few effective treatments (Yuen et al., 2023). Positive social experiences occur in healthy social interactions and lead to social competence, which includes a broad set of skills (Grover et al., 2020). The main component of social competence is social–emotional reciprocity, which includes turn-taking, perspective-taking, joint attention, interpreting social cues, initiating and repairing social interactions, responding to social initiations, and social referencing (Yavuz et al., 2017; Yuan et al., 2025). Additionally, nonverbal communication, including body language, understanding gestures, and facial expressions, is used for social interactions and contributes to social competence (Yavuz et al., 2017). All of these skills are the foundation to meaningful connections and play a vital role in developing, maintaining, and understanding relationships (e.g., creating and maintaining friendships) (Gresham et al., 2006, 2010). Social competence facilitates positive peer interactions and promotes inclusion and acceptance (e.g., where every student feels seen, heard, and accepted) (Yavuz et al., 2017). Social competence is the foundation for inclusive environments, which can bridge the social gap between students with ASD and their neurotypical peers (Llorent et al., 2024).

3.1. ASD and Social Reciprocity

For students with ASD, social skills development is a high priority and needs to be consistently and explicitly taught throughout all school grades, not just preschool and kindergarten (Majoko, 2016). When students have social competence, they have the self-esteem and confidence needed to be successful academically, not just to succeed in social situations (Silveira-Zaldivar et al., 2021). Students with ASD have difficulty with social reciprocity, which is one of the most important skill sets to master for social competence (Apicella et al., 2013). Social reciprocity is the back-and-forth, give-and-take of social interactions that requires an understanding of how to respond to others’ social cues (Apicella et al., 2013). Social reciprocity is mutual engagement in a social situation where one person acts, and the other person responds (Schwartz et al., 2021). Mastering the rules of social interactions helps the flow of conversations (e.g., Person 1: “Nice to meet you.” Person 2: “Nice to meet you as well.”). Understanding how to initiate and respond to communication and share attention by taking turns in conversations are key factors of social reciprocity (Schwartz et al., 2021). Students with ASD have deficits in these areas and need explicit lessons to gain success in social reciprocity (Leach & LaRocque, 2011). The goal for communication is to feel connected with others, and conversations need to be meaningful. Social reciprocity is the foundation of connected and meaningful relationships. Without social reciprocity, interactions can feel one-sided, disconnected, and not genuine (Whitcomb et al., 2013). Understanding social dynamics helps students build friendships and promotes inclusion (Fusaroli et al., 2025). Students with ASD often struggle with interpreting social cues and may find it difficult to initiate or maintain conversations (Sally & Hill, 2006). Some students with ASD may prefer a more predictable and solitary activity over interactive ones (Whitcomb et al., 2013). Experiencing positive social interactions promotes inclusion and encourages more social interactions (Llorent et al., 2024; Pozas et al., 2021).

3.2. ASD and Social–Emotional Reciprocity

Social–emotional reciprocity is a subset of the more general term “social reciprocity” and specifically includes emotions, interests, and social connections (Wiley & Siperstein, 2015). Social–emotional reciprocity and social reciprocity are related terms and have similar elements, but there is a clear difference, specifically in relation to an ASD diagnosis. A student with ASD may have some elements of social reciprocity but lack the emotional connection, may exhibit monotone speech or irregular pitch variations during social interactions, or may engage in conversations with, for example, atypical prosody without expressing a genuine emotional connection (Grice et al., 2023). According to DSM-5, individuals with ASD have deficits in social communication and interaction including deficits in social–emotional reciprocity (e.g., difficulty with the back-and-forth flow of a conversation that shows emotional understanding and connection), nonverbal communication (e.g., difficulty maintaining appropriate eye contact or lack of facial expressions), and developing, maintaining, and understanding relationships (e.g., difficulty making friends in an inclusive environment) (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Deficits in social–emotional reciprocity are a core part of the definition of ASD (Whitcomb et al., 2013). Social–emotional reciprocity could be returning a smile when someone smiles, noticing when a friend is sad, or showing interest when someone tells a personal story (Yuan et al., 2025). Social–emotional reciprocity goes beyond responding to social cues and general back-and-forth social interactions and involves showing emotions within the social context (e.g., sharing excitement or comforting a friend) (Yuan et al., 2025). Students with ASD need explicit social skills instruction and opportunities to practice social–emotional reciprocity in authentic settings (e.g., turn-taking, greeting a peer) (Weiss & Harris, 2001).

3.3. ASD and Positive Social Experiences

Positive social experiences are social interactions where an individual experiences a genuine meaningful connection within a social context, feels accepted, and leaves the social exchange feeling good about the social interaction (Cummins & Lau, 2003). Positive social experiences are part of social–emotional reciprocity because they involve mutual emotional connections enjoyed by all involved (Mahar et al., 2012). In an inclusive setting, positive social experiences can create a sense of belonging, where one feels like their presence matters (Badiah, 2018; El-Daw & Hammoud, 2015). Positive social experiences can be described as joyful interactions (e.g., sharing a smile or laughing together) (Heinsch et al., 2020). Students with ASD have fewer positive social experiences than their peers who are not on the spectrum (Locke et al., 2017). Students with ASD experience more social stigma and social isolation; therefore, it is particularly important to foster an inclusive environment where positive social experiences can occur often (Mamas et al., 2021). When students with ASD feel included, accepted, connected, and valued, it fosters emotional wellbeing and self-confidence (Heinsch et al., 2020). Positive social experiences can increase their social skills and increase their ability to use these skills in future social situations (El-Daw & Hammoud, 2015).

There are certain characteristics that must be present to create positive social experiences, such as the feeling of social inclusion, where the student with ASD is actively involved and not just physically present (Soresi et al., 2011). In a social context, there should be mutual respect and enjoyment, where the student with ASD feels a sense of belonging and feels valued as part of the group (Gur & Bina, 2022). The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles promote social inclusion with a goal of every student feeling comfortable and supported (Klonowska & Chen, 2024; Praveen et al., 2024). UDL has been supporting the diverse needs of students since 2008 and is considered the exemplar for creating an inclusive environment. In July 2024, UDL added the consideration of nurturing joy and play to increase student engagement (Gronseth et al., 2025). The joy and play consideration also has a key role in creating a positive social–emotional experience (Valerio, 2012; Whitebread et al., 2012). When students experience joy and play in a social context, they will leave the social situation feeling good about the social exchange (Valerio, 2012). To increase the likelihood of creating positive social experiences, teachers can design activities that foster social–emotional reciprocity but also nurture UDL’s joy and play consideration (Pollak et al., 2024).

3.4. ASD and Turn-Taking

Students with ASD have deficits in turn-taking skills and need explicit instruction (Lee & Staggs, 2021). Life is full of situations that require taking turns, and it is an essential skill for students with ASD because it directly supports their social–emotional reciprocity goals (Fusaroli et al., 2025). Turn-taking is a fundamental part of communication in a conversation (e.g., understanding the back-and-forth flow of taking turns talking) (Lee & Schertz, 2020). Reciprocal conversations require learning how to pause, listen, and then respond (Hood et al., 2017). Nonverbal activities also require turn-taking (e.g., understanding how to share and take turns during a game of basketball) (Mlakar et al., 2021). Experiencing delayed gratification and knowing how to control impulses are key elements of successful turn-taking (Dozie et al., 2023). Without the skill of taking turns, students with ASD will have difficulty engaging appropriately with their peers, which could lead to social isolation and peer rejection (Gantman et al., 2012). Following expected patterns of social interaction can lead to peer inclusion, acceptance, and friendship (Kamps et al., 1992). Ultimately, knowing how to take turns promotes inclusion and acceptance (Vincent et al., 2018).

3.5. ASD and Perspective-Taking

For students with ASD, perspective-taking can be a challenging area, especially in an inclusive environment (Blackwell & Stockall, 2021). Perspective-taking is the ability to see things from another person’s point of view (Heasman & Gillespie, 2020). Considering another person’s thoughts and feelings can be a difficult task for students with ASD (Hughes et al., 2016). Prioritizing teaching skills of perspective-taking is essential for students with ASD to gain success with their social–emotional reciprocity goals (Silveira-Zaldivar et al., 2021). Learning that others’ thoughts and emotions may be different from their own is part of perspective-taking (Pronin et al., 2002). Without these skills, students with ASD may misinterpret social cues and appear insensitive (Heasman & Gillespie, 2018). In an inclusive environment, learning perspective-taking skills helps students with ASD connect with others in more meaningful ways and can lead to making and maintaining friendships.

3.6. ASD and Joint Attention

Joint attention, which is the ability to share the same focus with other people, is often delayed or underdeveloped for students with ASD (Charman, 1998). Joint attention is a key part of building social–emotional reciprocity (e.g., together looking at a bird outside a window and shifting attention back and forth between the person and the bird) (Montagut-Asunción et al., 2022). Sharing focus on the same object, event, or activity is an important skill and can be considered the foundation for communication (Mundy et al., 1990). Joint attention often requires eye contact and the use of appropriate gestures. Without joint attention, communication can become one-sided and disconnected (Schwartz et al., 2021). Social connectedness occurs when we share enjoyment and reactions with others (Delgado et al., 2023). Internally, students with ASD may be interested in a conversation but, without joint attention skills, may appear to be uninterested (Gernsbacher et al., 2008). Emotional bonding happens when connections with others are made in a reciprocal manner (Lai et al., 2020). Students with ASD who develop high levels of joint attention skills are more engaged in learning tasks and more likely to connect with their peers socially, which is an important element of successful inclusion (Gillespie-Lynch et al., 2012).

3.7. ASD and Interpreting Social Cues

Social cues are the unspoken rules of a social interaction (Grover et al., 2020). Interpreting social cues is deeply connected to social–emotional reciprocity (i.e., understanding the give-and-take in a social interaction) and is needed to appropriately respond to others in social situations (L. Liu et al., 2024). Tones of voice, body language, facial expressions, eye contact, gestures, personal space, sarcasm, and humor are all interpreted through social cues (Abdulghafor et al., 2022). Students with ASD have many challenges understanding social cues (e.g., knowing when to enter and exit a conversation) (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Communication is guided by interpreting social cues correctly, and without appropriate interpretation, misunderstanding occurs (Cohen et al., 2022). Students not on the spectrum usually learn and understand social cues through observation and experience; however, students with ASD have many challenges with learning incidentally (i.e., it is not an automatic process) (Bean Ellawadi & McGregor, 2016). Because of this, students with ASD need to be explicitly taught how to interpret social cues (Grenier & Yeaton, 2019). When students with ASD do not know how to respond in a social situation, it can create anxiety and frustration (Müller et al., 2008). When students with ASD are explicitly taught how to read and interpret social cues, they have less anxiety (Ahlers et al., 2017). In addition to explicit instruction, students with ASD need consistent opportunities to practice interpreting social cues (L. Liu et al., 2024). Interpreting social cues appropriately promotes inclusion and is essential for social interactions (Grenier & Yeaton, 2019).

3.8. ASD and Initiating Social Interactions and Responding to Social Initiations

At the heart of social–emotional reciprocity is understanding how to initiate and respond to social initiations appropriately (Paul, 2008). For students with ASD, initiating an interaction in a social situation is a foundational skill for social development and is a major challenge to overcome (American Psychiatric Association, 2013; Chen et al., 2024). The initiation of a social interaction starts with a social exchange, and lacking this skill can negatively impact the ability to make friends and engage socially in a group setting (Schwartz et al., 2021). Equally important is the skill of responding to a social initiation (e.g., responding appropriately to a greeting from a peer), which is also a deficit for students with ASD (American Psychiatric Association, 2013; L. K. Koegel et al., 2014). Initiating and responding to social interactions are essential elements for participation in a conversation (L. K. Koegel et al., 2012) and are key elements needed for successful inclusion. Creating a supportive peer environment is crucial when teaching students with ASD to initiate and respond to social interactions (Morrison et al., 2001). For students with ASD, initiating and responding to social interactions do not develop at the same rate, nor do they acquire these skills incidentally as do their peers who are not on the spectrum, and it is important to provide consistent opportunities to practice initiating and responding to social interactions (Yizengaw, 2021).

3.9. ASD and Repairing Social Interactions

The need to repair social interactions (i.e., the ability to effectively respond to a request for clarification) is more likely to be experienced by students with ASD, where misunderstandings may be more frequent due to communication and social deficits associated with their disability (Keen, 2003). Repairing social interactions is an advanced skill of social–emotional reciprocity (Volden, 2004). Social interactions can have breakdowns, and knowing how to repair/fix a communication mishap is a critical component of social competence (Martin et al., 2020). For students with ASD, the ability to repair social interactions is often overlooked, yet it is the main component needed to maintain positive relationships (Volden, 2004). Students with ASD have difficulty with social awareness (e.g., recognizing the need to repair or clarify a social interaction) (Keen, 2003). Students with ASD may have limited expressive language and may not know when to clarify or apologize (Sigman & Kasari, 1995). In addition, literal thinking makes it hard to identify jokes or sarcasm, which can lead to a communication breakdown (Wilson & Srikanth, 2024). When breakdowns occur, knowing how to quickly repair the social interaction prevents breakdowns from escalating out of control (e.g., small issues of misunderstanding can escalate into conflict) (Barstein et al., 2018). Gates et al. (2023) noted that students with ASD have more difficulty, compared to their peers without ASD, in understanding and predicting social events (i.e., how a peer will interpret their statement), which can lead to their peers feeling confused or offended, even though that was not the intent of the message.

Having skills in appropriately repairing social interactions can help students with ASD build and better maintain friendships and foster an environment of trust and respect (e.g., “I apologize for how loud that came out. That was not my intention”) and encourage more positive future interactions (L. K. Koegel et al., 2014). When students with ASD know how to better recover from communication mishaps, their confidence in their ability to perform social skills increases, and they become more encouraged to take social risks (Gates et al., 2023). With more social awareness skills and confidence, students with ASD can socially interact positively with their peers and successfully participate in group activities, class discussions, and social situations (Tsou et al., 2024). In an inclusive environment, mastering the skill of repairing social interactions is a key pragmatic skill crucial for students with ASD to maintain successful communicative interactions (Martin et al., 2020).

3.10. ASD and Social Referencing

When a student with ASD looks at their teacher’s face after hearing a loud noise to determine if it is safe, it is an example of social referencing (Sivaraman et al., 2020). Social referencing plays a key role in social–emotional reciprocity and is needed to connect emotionally and socially with others (DeQuinzio et al., 2016). Students with ASD have difficulty watching someone else’s facial expression, tone, or body language and use it to reference and guide their own responses (Paul et al., 2009). When engaging in social referencing successfully, there is a form of nonverbal, emotional back-and-forth of social reciprocal interaction (Sivaraman et al., 2022). Without the ability to read emotional cues and understand how to respond in unfamiliar situations, engagement in reciprocal interactions will not occur, and students with ASD may react in ways that may seem “out of sync” with the group (Zampella et al., 2020). Missing emotional cues that guide social behavior and not participating appropriately in shared emotional experiences can be a huge challenge in an inclusive environment (Yeo & Teng, 2015). Having the ability to look at others, read their emotions, and respond in a manner that supports a shared understanding is an essential skill needed for students with ASD (Bar et al., 2025).

3.11. ASD and Nonverbal Communication Used for Social Interaction

Social–emotional reciprocity, the natural give-and-take of a social interaction, includes nonverbal communication (Zampella et al., 2020). We communicate a high percentage of what we “say” nonverbally (e.g., facial expressions, body language, tone, and hand gestures) (Fontenot, 2018). Reading someone’s nonverbal cues and knowing when someone wants to talk enables smooth turn-taking in a conversation (Kendrick et al., 2023). Even when verbal communication is present, nonverbal communication supersedes the verbal, making nonverbal communication of high importance (Fontenot, 2018). For students with ASD, nonverbal communication is more of a challenge than it is for their peers who are not on the spectrum (American Psychiatric Association, 2013; Harms et al., 2010). In a conversation, a student with ASD may not pick up on nonverbal cues to notice when a peer is upset or sad and not respond with concern. This missed nonverbal cue could break the social–emotional reciprocity loop needed to maintain an emotional connection (Radford et al., 2025). Without appropriately interpreting nonverbal cues, reciprocal communication stops (e.g., misreading a playful tone as an insult instead of a joke) (Wilson & Srikanth, 2024). In the classroom setting, understanding nonverbal communication is key to improving social connections and successful inclusion of students with ASD (Ayasrah et al., 2022).

3.12. ASD and Developing, Maintaining, and Understanding Relationships

Developing, maintaining, and understanding relationships (e.g., creating meaningful friendships) requires social competence including social–emotional reciprocity (Rodda & Estes, 2018). Students with ASD have difficulty making friends (American Psychiatric Association, 2013; Petrina et al., 2016). There are a variety of reasons that make friendships a challenge for students with ASD (Black et al., 2024). This may be in part due to a lack of interest and a preference for solitary activities, thereby creating a need to encourage social interactions (Calder et al., 2013). Students with ASD may not adjust their social interactions to different social situations (e.g., may talk to their teacher the same as their peers or vice versa) (Y. Liu et al., 2024). In some cases, students with ASD may not even notice when they are excluded (Trimmer et al., 2017). Sometimes students with ASD may not understand social norms, including social–emotional reciprocity skills (Calder et al., 2013), and interrupt conversations, speak too loudly, or stand too close. In other cases, students with ASD may have difficulty with literal language interpretations (e.g., difficulty understanding sarcasm, jokes, or figures of speech) (Wilson & Srikanth, 2024). Regardless of the reason, students with ASD need to be taught the skills needed to create, maintain, and understand friendships (Badiah, 2018; Bauminger & Shulman, 2003). Friendships can lead to social inclusion and acceptance and provide opportunities for students to practice social skills in authentic settings, which is essential for the successful inclusion of students with ASD (Koster et al., 2009).

3.13. Magic Tricks in Education, Magic and Students with ASD and Other Disabilities, and Magic Cognition/Misdirection

The review of the literature outlines many experiences of learning and performing magic tricks that are relevant to the skills needed for social competence and to improve deficits in social–emotional reciprocity, nonverbal communication used for social interaction, and developing and understanding relationships among students with ASD. At the time of writing this systematic narrative review, no empirical studies were found that explicitly investigated magic tricks and social–emotional reciprocity for students with ASD; however, commonality elements were found in the literature that can be applied as social skills development interventions for students with ASD. Ezell (2025), who completed a systematic review of the use of magic tricks with students with disabilities (including ASD), reported the top two benefits of magic-based interventions are “social skills and positive attention gained from peers without disabilities” (p. 16). Ezell (2025) further concluded that the use of “magic tricks can be an integral part of the solution for inclusivity because it involves social interaction in a joyful, playful manner, thereby providing opportunities for students to feel connected and accepted” (p. 22).

Learning and performing magic tricks have been used in various educational settings with researchers reporting many benefits (Ashcraft et al., 2025; Bagienski & Kuhn, 2019; Ezell, 2025; Ezell & Klein-Ezell, 2003; Kovács, 2023; Luis et al., 2023; Spencer, 2012; Wiseman & Watt, 2018, 2020; Yuen et al., 2023). Ezell (2025) suggests that performing magic tricks releases dopamine and activates the brain’s reward system, which provides an extra opportunity for students with disabilities to feel good about themselves. Children have a natural interest in magic and magical thinking (Phelps & Woolley, 1994), and magic creates curiosity and wonderment (Lamont, 2017; Subbotsky, 2010). Since learning magic tricks is naturally fun and engaging, it makes social learning lessons more attractive and increases student participation (Spencer, 2012). When students are self-motivated, it increases success, and tapping into students’ natural interests is the ideal situation, particularly for students with ASD (R. Koegel et al., 2013). After learning magic tricks, students with ASD reported being “eager to perform magic effects for others” (Ashcraft et al., 2025, p. 7). Performing magic tricks provides an opportunity for students to practice social skills in an authentic setting (Spencer, 2012).

Ashcraft et al. (2025) conducted a study that involved students with ASD learning magic tricks, and after only three weeks of introducing magic tricks, they reported improved social motivation and communication. Ashcraft et al. (2025) suggested that for students with ASD, performing magic tricks may provide the tools needed to engage socially with their peers. In a similar study, Yuen et al. (2023) also worked with students with ASD and reported significant improvements in social skills as measured by the Social Skills Improvement System (SSIS). Spencer (2012) conducted a study evaluating the academic and functional benefits of using magic tricks in the classroom setting with special education students. In this study, students with ASD experienced success in learning and performing magic tricks, and the study suggested this may have been due to the students’ ability to think in patterns and sequences (Spencer, 2012). Ezell and Klein-Ezell (2003) conducted a study involving children with various disabilities who were taught simple magic tricks and reported a significant increase in self-confidence as measured by the self-confidence dimension of the self-image domain of the Student Self-Concept Scale (SSCS). In the research findings of Spencer (2011), it was noted that because of learning and performing magic tricks, a student with ASD socially interacted with peers in a manner not typically observed prior to the magic program. Learning and performing magic tricks level the playing field because all students, regardless of their disability, start at the same place (Spencer, 2012).

Students with ASD who learn magic tricks “can experience enhanced social skills and self-esteem” (Yuen et al., 2023, p. 5). Performing magic tricks requires students with ASD to have knowledge of social rules and can “move a child toward achieving self-actualization” (Spencer, 2012, p. 95). Emotional regulation fosters social–emotional reciprocity and plays an important role for students with ASD being accepted or rejected by their peers who are not on the spectrum (Feldman et al., 2022). According to Wiseman and Watt (2018), performing magic tricks may nurture emotional regulation and interpersonal skills. Wiseman and Watt (2018) also suggest that when performing magic tricks, self-esteem is increased due to the performer creating an unusual experience that the audience perceives as something they cannot do. From the audience’s perspective, not knowing the secret behind the trick adds a level of respect and appreciation for the performance. According to a study by Ezell and Klein-Ezell (2003), this admiration, when shown in an outward visible expression of laughter and surprise, could lead to increased feelings of self-esteem and confidence.

In an inclusive classroom setting, the use of magic tricks may foster positive social experiences and could lead to students with ASD feeling connected and accepted by their peers who are not on the spectrum. Ezell (2025) suggests that using magic tricks in the classroom setting can be an effective tool to create positive social experiences between students with disabilities and their peers without disabilities. Connecting students emotionally through magic tricks fosters a positive learning environment and results in feelings of joy and excitement (Ezell, 2025). Receiving positive accolades can be part of a positive social experience. Ashcraft et al. (2025) reported that after students with ASD performed magic tricks, they received positive praise from their friends. Incorporating magic tricks with students with disabilities provides an opportunity to focus on their abilities, increase positive attention, and promote an inclusive classroom culture (Crossman, 2013).

According to Fusaroli et al. (2025), “Social interaction depends on turn-taking and adapting to one’s conversational partner” (p. 1). For students with ASD, learning and performing magic tricks provide opportunities to practice turn-taking (Yuen et al., 2023), which is an integral part of social interactions. Turn-taking and practicing patience are important elements of learning and performing magic tricks in a group setting (Kovács, 2023). According to Spencer (2012), incorporating magic tricks provides opportunities to build teamwork and fosters skills needed to socially interact successfully with others. Wiseman and Watt (2018) also report that magic-based interactions create opportunities to build teamwork skills because magic provides pathways for giving and receiving constructive feedback, which can ultimately build a stronger community.

Realizing and considering others’ perspectives strengthens one’s own understanding. The use of magic tricks may be an effective strategy for students with ASD to practice perspective-taking (i.e., understanding someone else’s perspective) by observing the audience’s reaction to their magic performance. Spencer (2012) reports how magic tricks provide opportunities to talk about perspectives and how one situation can be viewed from different perspectives. According to Kovács (2023), when performing magic tricks, the student performer must be aware of their audience’s reaction while continuing to perform the steps of the magic trick. Kovács (2023) suggests this requires “divided attention” by learning to not only monitor their own actions but also monitor their audience’s reactions. A form of social referencing occurs when the magicians monitor the audience’s reactions and adjust their performance accordingly (Rissanen et al., 2014). Using magic tricks in an inclusive environment to see the world from different perspectives can broaden and strengthen students’ own understanding and enhance their conversational skills among their peers (Spencer, 2012).

Research has primarily focused on joint attention with infants; however, school-aged students with ASD have deficits in joint attention, and interventions are crucial for their long-term social functioning (L. Liu et al., 2024). Magicians use joint attention as a form of social misdirection. When performing a magic trick, “a spectator will tend to look where the magician looks” (Sokol, 2008, p. 443). Magicians use their own gaze and facial orientation to guide the audience’s attention away from the secret method behind the trick (i.e., social misdirection), creating joint attention focusing in the same direction desired by the magician (e.g., audience and magician both looking at the same coin simultaneously). Social misdirection using social cues (e.g., eye gaze) captures the audience’s attention and positively influences the deception of the magic trick (Camí et al., 2020; Kuhn & Martinez, 2012; Tachibana & Kawabata, 2014).

Students with ASD have difficulty interpreting social cues (e.g., understanding facial expressions and eye movements) (J. Liu et al., 2025). Magicians use a variety of social cues to misdirect their audience’s attention (Kuhn et al., 2016). According to Kuhn et al. (2016), magicians commonly ask a question while maintaining eye contact with the audience as a form of social misdirection (e.g., a question usually causes the audience to look at the magician’s face). For students with ASD, eye contact is particularly important for interpreting social cues (L. Liu et al., 2024). Not interpreting social cues appropriately can lead to misunderstanding and hamper social interactions (J. Liu et al., 2025), and according to Rissanen et al. (2014), during a magic performance, magicians should monitor social cues from the audience continuously.

After learning and performing magic tricks, students with ASD may be more likely to initiate and respond to social interactions and engage in conversations with others. Ashcraft et al. (2025) reported that after students with ASD learned magic tricks, they had more social motivation and were “more likely to initiate and engage in social communication with others” (p. 5). Parents of children with ASD reported that learning and performing magic tricks gave their children the “confidence to perform magic effects and engage socially with their typically developing peers” (Ashcraft et al., 2025, p. 6). In a pilot study, Spencer and Balmer (2020) found that learning and performing magic tricks can support initiating social interactions. According to Ezell (2025), after learning and performing magic tricks, “students with disabilities are more engaged, confident and possess the skill set to positively interact with their peers” (p. 21).

For students with ASD, learning and performing magic tricks could play an important role in practicing how to repair social interactions. Repairing social interactions requires one to see things from another person’s perspective, and according to Spencer (2012), magic tricks provide the possibility to discuss different perspectives and show how “two individuals may perceive the same situation differently” (p. 96). Understanding that there are different perspectives requires divergent thinking, and magic tricks have been shown to positively impact divergent thinking (Wiseman et al., 2021).

When divergent thinking is applied, it enhances problem-solving abilities because multiple solutions to a problem can be seen, instead of one “right” answer (Fauziah et al., 2020). Magicians with strong divergent thinking capabilities are more flexible, and if things go wrong during a magic performance, they use their improvisational skills (Rissanen et al., 2014). Spencer (2012) emphasizes the importance of encouraging students to take risks when performing magic tricks and to be ok to make mistakes because “through mistakes, they develop self-determination, critical thinking, observational techniques, and problem solving abilities” (p. 96). These skills are needed in repairing social interactions. When participants were taught a magic trick in a study by Wiseman et al. (2021), they reported that “learning magic tricks may provide an effective way of enhancing divergent thinking in the classroom and beyond” (p. 9), which increases the possibility of finding multiple solutions for repairing social interactions.

Magicians create memorable experiences by using good communication skills, both verbal and nonverbal. Magicians manipulate nonverbal communication with “carefully controlled body language to achieve the necessary deception for the magical effect” (Bagienski & Kuhn, 2019, p. 58). Sokol (2008) reports that magicians use nonverbal and verbal cues to guide their audiences’ attention by using “their eyes, body language, movements, voice and other subtleties to direct a spectator’s attention” (p. 443). Students with ASD can acquire social skills through learning and performing magic tricks to better help them communicate using facial expressions and gestures (Yuen et al., 2023). In a study where school-aged children with disabilities were taught to perform magic tricks, the researchers role-played their nonverbal expressions and were “encouraged to over-exaggerate their nonverbal and verbal expressions of surprise by opening their mouths and eyes widely and convincingly saying ‘OOHS’ and ‘AHHS’ at the precise moment the amazing part of the trick was performed” (Ezell & Klein-Ezell, 2003, p. 445). When performing magic tricks, the magician must read the facial expressions of the audience to see if they are engaged and respond appropriately.

Students with ASD “often experience peer relationship difficulties” (Feldman et al., 2022, p. 1). When performing magic tricks, students with disabilities often receive positive attention from their peers without disabilities (Ezell & Klein-Ezell, 2003). For students with ASD, performing magic tricks can lead to friendships with their peers who are not on the spectrum (Ashcraft et al., 2025). Magic-based interventions provide opportunities for students to work together. In a study by Spencer (2012), teachers observed students with disabilities interacting with their peers “that were not normally a part of their peer group” (p. 94). Including students with and without disabilities together when learning magic tricks “can create new bonds and form a positive social connection that can be used outside of the magic program” (Ezell, 2025, p. 16). According to Ezell (2025), this connection “can lead to acceptance in other social settings, such as being invited to play a game at recess” (Ezell, 2025, p. 16). When students with disabilities perform magic tricks, their peers without disabilities are usually impressed and bestow positive attributes on them. Ashcraft et al. (2025) reported that students “were often met with praise and positive feedback from the audience” (p. 7). According to Ezell and Klein-Ezell (2003), after a child with a disability performed a magic trick, a peer without a disability said, “ I wish I were smart enough to figure out how to do that!” (p. 447). In a study by Spencer (2012), a teacher stated that during the magic lesson, “I was amazed at the camaraderie between the kids and the friendship skills they showed” (p. 94). Conceptually, these positive aspects from magic-based interventions may lead to friendships, inclusion, and acceptance. Overall, the goal is to maximize inclusion opportunities for students with ASD.

Several studies reported many benefits of magic-based interventions in educational settings, with some studies specifically addressing students with ASD (see

Table 1. Study Characteristics and Key Findings. 

No.	Codes	Authors and Years	Study Purpose	Key Research Findings	Research Approach	Research Participants
1	ASD-ISC	(Abdulghafor et al., 2022)	To show the potential use of analyzing body language in health care	Bodily language encompasses all nonverbal forms of communication	Qualitative Research Surveys/Literature Review	Research studies on analyzing body language
2	ASD-ISC	(Ahlers et al., 2017)	To explore existing research on challenging areas of social–emotional development experienced by individuals with ASD	Caregivers, educators, mental health professionals, and peers can provide needed support as individuals with ASD learn strategies	Literature Review	Research studies on social–emotional development in individuals with ASD
3	ASD-SR	(Apicella et al., 2013)	To describe the phenomenon of reciprocity in infant–caregiver interaction	Infants with early-onset ASD may display both motor and vocal impairments	Quantitative Analysis	10 children with ASD and 9 typically developing children in Pisa, Italy
4	M-ASD M-PSE M-RSI M-DMUR M-I M-ISI M-ISC M-SRef M-IWD	(Ashcraft et al., 2025)	To measure whether social skills would be enhanced for students with ASD after learning and performing magic tricks	Social skills among children with ASD improved after participating in the magic program	Qualitative with Thematic Analysis	N = 15 children ages 8–17 with ASD
5	ASD-NVC ASD-I ASD-DMUR	(Ayasrah et al., 2022)	To determine the significance of interpersonal interaction between instructors and children with autism in the process of gaining social skills	Students with autism benefited from practicing greeting new people and others	Qualitative Research	N = 2 teachers of students with ASD
6	ASD-I ASD-PSE ASD-DMUR ASD-NVC	(Badiah, 2018)	To identify the importance of social skills and procedures that are useful for teaching social skills to autistic children for inclusion in community life	Students with autism need social skills interventions to help them participate in the community	Literature Review	Literature studies on social skills interventions for students with autism
7	ME M-IWD M-NVC M-PSE M-DMUR M-I	(Bagienski & Kuhn, 2019)	To review wellbeing-focused magic programs, empirical studies, and conceivable theories	Magic has been used to improve wellbeing in physical, affective, cognitive, and social domains	Literature Review	Ages 3 to adulthood (including individuals with disabilities) across various settings
8	ASD-RepSI	(Barstein et al., 2018)	To examine the ability to repair breakdowns in communication in students with genetically based neurodevelopmental disabilities	Males who were typically developing and males who had Fragile X syndrome and ASD used fewer effective strategies than females	Quantitative Research	N = 225 Children and adolescents
9	ASD-DMUR ASD-I	(Bauminger & Shulman, 2003)	To investigate mothers’ perceptions of friendship in high-functioning children with autism and in typically developing children	Both groups tended to have same-gender and same-age friendships Friendships of children with autism differ compared with typical children’s friendships in terms of the number of friends, friendship duration, frequency of meetings, and type of activities	Quantitative Research	Mothers of 28 children: 14 highfunctioning children with autism and 14 children with typical development
10	ASD-ISC	(Bean Ellawadi & McGregor, 2016)	To determine whether children with ASD use gaze in learning words when given multiple trials with highly reliable eye-gaze cues	The only significant difference found was that compared with the TD group, a lower proportion of the ASD group shifted and followed the examiner on eye gaze	Quantitative Research	N = 15 children with ASD, with a mean age of 59 months, and N = 15 typically developing (TD) peers with a mean age of 37 months
11	ASD-DMUR ASD-I	(Black et al., 2024)	To understand the perspectives of friendships with children with autism	Creating inclusive environments that foster sharing interests and reducing anxiety may help to improve friendship outcomes for children with autism	Literature Research	N = 22 studies exploring autistic perspectives of friendship
12	ASD-DMUR ASD-I	(Calder et al., 2013)	To investigate the extent and nature of children with autism’s friendships from their perspectives, as well as those of their mothers, teachers, and classroom peers	The social motivation of children with autism emerged as a key factor in parents’ and teachers’ reports in determining both the nature and extent of their friendships	Quantitative Research/ Qualitative Research/Social Network Methods	N = 12 families of 12 children with autism from 9 London-based mainstream primary schools
13	M-C/M; M-JA; M-ISC	(Camí et al., 2020)	To explore pre-sensory and cognitive phenomena that lead to the illusion of impossibility in magic	Social cues are used to strengthen the effectiveness of magic effects	Literature Review	Research focused on a wide variety of literature relating to cognitive processes and magic
14	ASD-JA	(Charman, 1998)	To examine concurrent and longitudinal associations between joint attention and other social communication abilities in infants	Joint attention ability was positively connected to language gains Social and communication symptoms and imitation ability were also positively associated with later language	Qualitative Research	N = 18 infants with autism and related pervasive developmental disorders at age 20 months, and language and symptom severity at age 42 months
15	ASD-ISI&RSI	(Chen et al., 2024)	To explore the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies to assist children with ASD who have problems with social–emotional reciprocity	The system effectively identified learning challenges via the AI module and significantly improved the participants’ social–emotional abilities, and has the potential of combining intelligent tutoring with AR to foster personalized, engaging learning experiences for individuals with ASD	Quantitative Research	N = 5 children with ASD aged 6–13
16	ASD-ISC	(Cohen et al., 2022)	To examine the efficacy of self-management with textual cues to teach adults with ASD to recognize and respond to targeted nonverbal cues	There were substantial gains across all participants in their recognition and responsiveness to the targeted nonverbal cues	Quantitative Research and Case Studies	N = 3 adult males with ASD and N = 12 conversation partners
17	ASD-PSE	(Cummins & Lau, 2003)	To review the issue of community integration of individuals with intellectual disabilities	For individuals with intellectual disabilities, the “sense of community” is more likely to be found within families or groups of people who have an intellectual disability	Literature Review	Research studies on the integration of people with intellectual disabilities
18	ASD-JA	(Delgado et al., 2023)	To highlight the psychological and neural mechanisms that enable us to connect with others to address stress and isolation	Three neural and psychological processes common in social connections were identified	Literature Review	Research studies on social connectedness
19	ASD-SRef	(DeQuinzio et al., 2016)	To present a conceptualization of social referencing and the implications for improving social referencing deficits in children with autism	Interventions that addressed social referencing deficits could prove beneficial for long-term social and language gains in children with autism	Literature Review	Research studies on social referencing in children with autism
20	ASD-PSE	(Locke et al., 2017)	To examine the characteristics of socially successful children with ASD	A number of factors significantly predicted playground peer engagement and social networking	Quantitative Research	N = 148 elementary-aged children with ASD in 130 classrooms
21	ASD-PSE	(El-Daw & Hammoud, 2015)	To analyze the effect of the “Building Up Self-Esteem Program” on academic and social skills	The integration of students with special needs helped in decreasing behavior problems	Qualitative Research	N = 116 general and special needs students in Lebanon
22	ME M-IWD M-I M-DMUR M-PSE	(Ezell, 2025)	To explore if learning and performing magic tricks could nurture joy and play	There are overlapping elements between learning and performing magic and nurturing joy and play	Systematic Narrative Review	Research focused on students with disabilities
23	ME M-IWD M-I M-DMUR M-PSE	(Ezell & Klein-Ezell, 2003)	To investigate whether the use of magic tricks can increase self-esteem and self-confidence	Pre- and post-test, there was a statistical increase in the self-image domain from the self-confidence dimension on the Student Self-Concept Scale	Quantitative Analysis	N = 26 children with various disabilities (both elementary and secondary school students)
24	ASD-I ASD-DMUR	(Fidosieva, 2025)	To explore in depth the meaning of educational support, focusing on the real interactions, processes, and experiences that occur within the classroom	Structured, consistent, and individualized support strategies significantly improve adaptive, communicative, and cognitive functioning in students with ASD	Quantitative Research	58 children and students with ASD, aged between 4 and 18 years
25	ASD-SR ASD-TT	(Fusaroli et al., 2025)	To determine the typical and atypical development of turn-taking and adapting to one’s conversational partner	Latencies in autism might be faster than in typical development and turn-taking in fine-grained developmental and interpersonal contexts	Qualitative Research	N = 64 parents, 32 typically developing children, and 32 children with autism
26	ASD-TT	(Gantman et al., 2012)	To test the effectiveness of an evidence-based, caregiver-assisted social skills intervention known as PEERS for Young Adults	Loneliness significantly decreased and social skills knowledge improved in high-functioning young adults, while caregivers reported improvements in young adults’ overall social skills, social responsiveness, empathy, and get-together frequencies	Quantitative Research	High-functioning young adults with ASD (ages 18–23) and their caregivers
27	ASD-RepSI	(Gates et al., 2023)	To identify the current status and future directions of the literature on social knowledge and performance deficits in interventions for individuals with autism	Social knowledge is rarely sufficient to understand and define autism, nor to achieve the intended social outcome	Literature Review	Research on social knowledge and interventions for individuals with autism
28	ASD-JA	(Gernsbacher et al., 2008)	To determine why children with autism are less likely to initiate joint attention and why they are less likely to respond to bids for their joint attention	Children with autism’s atypical resistance to distraction, atypical skill at parallel perception, and atypical execution of volitional actions underlie their atypical manifestations of joint attention	Literature Review	N = 50 studies in child development literature
29	ASD-JA	(Gillespie-Lynch et al., 2012)	To determine if responsiveness to joint attention predicts adult outcomes	Adaptive behaviors changed with development, but not the symptoms of autism	Quantitative Research	N = 20 participants with ASD from the ages of 3.9–26.6
30	ASD-SER	(Grice et al., 2023)	To contribute to the current knowledge of prosodic competence in individuals with ASD over the life span	Rule-based aspects of prosody are more developed than others that require more flexibility in communication	Narrative Review	Research on prosodic competence in individuals with ASD
31	ASD-PSE	(Gur & Bina, 2022)	To synthesize the available literature regarding factors that facilitate a sense of belonging in people with intellectual and developmental disabilities	Sense of belonging is enhanced by feeling respected and valued in a familiar and safe environment with access to platforms for social interactions	Systematic Literature Review	Research on the sense of belonging in people with intellectual and developmental disabilities
32	ASD-NVC	(Harms et al., 2010)	To review behavioral and neuroimaging studies on decoding the facial expressions of individuals with ASD	Individuals with ASD decode facial expressions differently than typically developing individuals	Literature Review	Research on decoding the facial expressions of individuals with ASD
33	ASD-PT	(Heasman & Gillespie, 2018)	To map out misunderstandings within 22 dyads consisting of people with Asperger’s syndrome and their family members	People with Asperger’s are able to predict lower scores from family members, despite disagreeing with their views	Qualitative Research	N = 22 people with autism and their chosen family members
34	ASD-PSE	(Heinsch et al., 2020)	To better understand the relationship between school connectedness and youth mental health	Positive peer relationships appeared to increase happiness and feelings of safety, offer support during difficult periods, and facilitate secondary school adjustment	Longitudinal Study/Focus Groups	N = 99 students, 9 months after their transition to secondary school
35	ASD-TT	(Hood et al., 2017)	To teach skills that are important during an initial interaction with an unfamiliar person	Participants demonstrated generalization and maintenance, and all parents reported high overall satisfaction with their child’s greeting/conversation skills post-teaching	Qualitative Research/Case Studies	N = 3 (2 teenagers and 1 child), all of whom have ASD, referred for treatment for social skills deficits
36	ASD-PT	(Hughes et al., 2016)	To research whether the children in this study show an increase in emotional discrimination, engagement, and observable behavior	Children with ASD are able to understand basic emotions and facial expressions in avatars more easily than in real-world interactions	Quantitative Research	N = 10 similarly functioning elementary-aged children with ASD
37	ASD-TT	(Kamps et al., 1992)	To investigate the use of social skills groups to facilitate increased social interactions for students with autism and their non-disabled peers in an integrated first-grade classroom	The frequency of engagements, the duration of social interactions, and the responsivity of students and peers to each other all increased	Quantitative Research	N = 3 male students with autism
38	ASD-RepSI	(Keen, 2003)	To examine possible links between the occurrence of prosodic changes to vocalizations and gestures and the use of problem behaviors by children with autism when attempting to repair communication breakdowns	Children attempted to repair breakdowns in communication that occurred while interacting with their mothers Most children used both non-problematic and problematic behaviors	Quantitative Research	N = 6 children with autism aged 2–5 years and with fewer than 10 words or signs
39	ASD-TT ASD-NVC	(Kendrick et al., 2023)	To test the extent to which the vocal–auditory channel alone can predict turn transitions and may contribute to observable turn-taking	The coordination of transitions involves not only linguistic resources but also visual gestural ones	Qualitative Research and Quantitative Research	N = 20, divided into 10 dyads of conversational pairs of individuals aged 19–68 years
40	ASD-PSE	(Klonowska & Chen, 2024)	To examine if Kristianstad University (HKR) can improve the reception of students during their first time at the university by implementing Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in two courses	HKR revised its education by adapting the principles of UDL into course curricula and ensuring they align with HKR regulations	Qualitative Research	HRK sampling of the university’s staff and students in two courses in the Software Development program
41	ASD-ISI&RSI ASD-RepSI	(L. K. Koegel et al., 2014)	To examine the effectiveness of a self-management intervention	Reciprocal social conversation improved through elaborated responses and on-topic question-asking	Quantitative Research	N = 3 (2 children and 1 adolescent with autism)
42	ASD-DMUR ASD-I	(R. Koegel et al., 2013)	To determine if incorporating preferred interests could improve adolescents with ASD’s engagement with typical peers, initiations made to typical peers, and their overall affect during social activities in an inclusive high school setting	Both the level of engagement and the rate of initiations made to typical peers increased	Quantitative Research	Seven high school students with a diagnosis of ASD
43	ASD-ISI&RSI	(L. K. Koegel et al., 2012)	To assess whether socialization would improve if more general interests of children on the autism spectrum that would also be of interest to their typical peers were incorporated into activities	All three children demonstrated large increases in the amount of time engaged with peers as a result of the activities	Quantitative Research	N = 3 children with autism, who were included in regular education
44	43. ASD-DMUR; ASD-I	(Koster et al., 2009)	To evaluate children with autism and their interactions and friendships with their peers	The assumption that the social dimension of inclusion is described in numerous ways was confirmed	Literature Review	N = 62 articles on autism and interactions and friendships with peers
45	ME M-TT M-SRef	(Kovács, 2023)	To explore skill development through the Hungarian Mini Magic Program	Integrating magic tricks in a kindergarten setting can be a versatile tool for the development of various skills	Qualitative Analysis and Anecdotal Observations	Kindergarten classrooms in Budapest, Hungary
46	M-C/M	(Kuhn et al., 2016)	To explore the relationship between eye movements and change detection while watching tricks	Eye movements are used to prioritize relevant information and play an important role in nonverbal communication	Quantitative Analysis	N = 112 college students
47	M-C/M M-JA	(Kuhn & Martinez, 2012)	To explore the scientific findings of the elements of misdirection used in magic tricks	Misdirection in magic generally relies on manipulating covert over overt Individuals with autism had difficulty allocating attention fast enough, resulting in higher levels of deception	Literature Review	Focused on a wide variety of studies (some with ASD) with a broad spectrum of settings
48	ASD-JA	(Lai et al., 2020)	To examine the cognitive correlations of reciprocity in children with ASD	Children with ASD who are goal-directed and future-oriented may have a better capacity for reciprocity	Quantitative Research	N = 59 children with autism
49	M-C/M	(Lamont, 2017)	To explore the experience of wonder as it relates to magic tricks	Wonder is where the audience suspends their disbelief based on shared assumptions within a socio-historical context	Literature Review	Focused on a wide variety of literature related to the experience of wonder
50	ASD-TT ASD-JA	(Lee & Schertz, 2020)	To determine the relationship between turn-taking and joint attention	A positive relationship between the two forms of social communication was found	Quantitative Research	N = 61 toddlers with autism and their caregivers
51	ASD-TT	(Lee & Staggs, 2021)	To investigate how turn-taking is operationally defined in research on interventions for young children with autism	Turn-taking has been promoted through different intervention approaches that incorporate diverse agents, settings, and methodologies	Literature Review	Research on turn-taking interventions for young children with autism
52	ASD-ISC ASD-JA	(L. Liu et al., 2024)	To compare and analyze the eye-tracking data of children with ASD and their typically developing peers during virtual games	Different cue types significantly impacted the game scores of children with ASD, but had no significant effect on typically developing children	Qualitative Research	N = 71 age-matched children aged between 6 and 9 years (40 with ASD and 31 typically developing children)
53	ASD-DMUR ASD-I	(Y. Liu et al., 2024)	To construct a knowledge map to dissect the academic hotspots in research related to pragmatic impairment in children with autism	Research has evolved from initial descriptions and interpretations of autism to exploring the theory of mind in high-functioning, school-aged children	Literature Research	Research on pragmatic impairment in children with autism
54	ASD-SR ASD-SER	(Llorent et al., 2024)	To analyze the relationship between the inclusive education by teachers and the social and emotional competencies of their students	A positive relation was found between inclusive education by teachers and their students’ social and emotional competencies in the three levels	Quantitative Analysis	N = 294 teachers and N = 3550 of their students from 40 schools and 174 classrooms of Spanish compulsory secondary education
55	ASD-PSE	(Locke et al., 2017)	To examine the characteristics of socially successful children with ASD	Age was the only stable factor that significantly predicted social network salience	Quantitative Research	N = 148 elementary-aged children with ASD in 130 classrooms in 47 public schools
56	ME M-DMUR M-NVC M-I M-PSE M-IWD	(Luis et al., 2023)	To investigate magic tricks on the development of communication skills in education	Communicative impact was reported to be positive and generated interest, curiosity, and increased emotional bonding	Systematic Review	Focused on a wide variety of studies with a broad spectrum of settings
57	ASD-PSE	(Mahar et al., 2012)	To develop a transdisciplinary conceptualization of social belonging that could be used to guide measurement approaches aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of community-based programs for people with disabilities	Five intersecting themes were identified: subjectivity; groundedness to an external referent; reciprocity; dynamism; and self-determination	Literature Review	Research in the field of social belongingness
58	ASD-SR	(Majoko, 2016)	To establish the social barriers and enablers of inclusion of children with ASD	Social rejection, communication impairments, and behavioral challenges of children with ASD interfered with inclusion in mainstream classrooms	Quantitative Analysis	21 regular primary school teachers in Zimbabwe
59	ASD-PSE	(Mamas et al., 2021)	To examine how the inclusion of students with ASD in general K-12 settings shapes their social participation status	Students with ASD were found to maintain a lower social participation status within their schools At the secondary school level, students with ASD were found to face more challenges than their peers in social interactions	Systematic Review	24 studies in relation to the four key aspects of social participation for students with ASD
60	ASD-RepSI	(Martin et al., 2020)	To follow up on a longitudinal research study examining the important pragmatic skill of communication repair	With age, male groups performed more comparably, decreasing their use of inappropriate responses, in spite of relatively little change observed in general cognitive or structural language abilities in the clinical groups	Longitudinal Quantitative Research Study	N = 60 young individuals with Fragile X and ADS; N = 38 with Fragile X; N = 38 with ASD; N = 42 with Down Syndrome; and N = 41 with typical development
61	ASD-TT	(Mlakar et al., 2021)	To explore nonverbal behavior that manages turns in naturally occurring conversations	Dialog acts and nonverbal communicative intent share the same underlying nature, implying a duality of the two concepts	Quantitative Research/Case Studies	Video recordings of nonverbal students with ASD
62	ASD-JA	(Montagut-Asunción et al., 2022)	To evaluate joint attention skills	Early joint attention skills had a pivotal role in defining early manifestations of ASD and showed that the variables of initiating joint attention at 8 months and responding to joint attention at 12 months were linked to the risk of ASD at 18 months of age	Longitudinal Study/Quantitative Research	N = 32 infants at two developmental moments (8 and 12 months)
63	ASD-ISI&RSI	(Morrison et al., 2001)	To teach how to use and monitor social skills while playing games	Adult teaching and peer mediation of skills, paired with reinforcement for skill use and student monitoring, increased initiations and social interaction time with peers	Quantitative Research	N = 4 students with autism and a group of non-disabled peers
64	ASD-ISC	(Müller et al., 2008)	To describe the perspectives of individuals with ASD regarding social challenges and support	A number of common experiences were identified, including a profound sense of isolation, difficulty initiating social interactions, and other challenges	Qualitative Analysis of Interview Transcripts	N = 18 adults with ASD
65	ASD-JA	(Mundy et al., 1990)	To examine the degree to which individual differences in gestural joint attention skills predict language development among children with autism	Children with autism displayed deficits in gestural joint attention skills 13 months apart, and the measure of gestural nonverbal joint attention was a significant predictor of language development in the autistic sample	Quantitative Research	N = 15 autistic children matched with one group of children with intellectual disabilities
66	ASD-ISI&RSI	(Paul, 2008)	To explore differences in conversational difficulties among speakers with ASD in comparison to those with typical development	Detailed information regarding the deficits seen in the conversational skills of speakers with ASD when compared with age-mates with typical development was provided	Quantitative Research/Transcript Interviews	N = 29 youth with ASD and N = 26 with typical development between 12 and 18 years of age
67	ASD-SRef	(Paul et al., 2009)	To examine differences in reciprocity, intonation, and gaze management between youth with ASD and typically developing peers	Significant differences were found among groups in terms of reciprocity, intonation, and gaze management	Qualitative Research/ Structured Interviews	N = 29 youth with autism spectrum disorders and N = 26 with typical development
68	ASD-DMUR ASD-I	(Petrina et al., 2016)	To explore the similarity of perception of friendship quality between children with ASD and their friends	Students with ASD reported substantial differences in perceptions of their friendship quality as compared to their nominated friends	Quantitative Research	N = 45 children with ASD (37 boys and 8 girls, between the ages of 6.4 and 10.4 years old) and their friends
69	M-C/M	(Phelps & Woolley, 1994)	To explore how young children use magic to explain events	Young children use magic to explain events that violate their expectations	Quantitative Analysis	N = 48 children ages 4–8
70	ASD-PSE	(Pollak et al., 2024)	To assess effects on social–emotional skills, peer connectedness, happiness, and the student and teacher classroom climate	Relationships between social–emotional skills, connectedness, and happiness do exist, and universal school-based social–emotional-leaning programs are effective approaches	Quantitative Research	N = 19 intervention classrooms (N = 399) and N = 16 waitlist-control classrooms (N = 281)
71	ASD-SR	(Pozas et al., 2021)	To investigate the effects of differentiated instruction (DI) on students’ wellbeing, social inclusion, and academic self-concept	Students’ ratings of their teachers’ DI practice are positively associated with their school wellbeing, social inclusion, and academic self-concept	Quantitative Analysis	N = 379 students from 23 inclusive and regular classes in secondary schools in Austria
72	ASD-PSE	(Praveen et al., 2024)	To provide insight into Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and how it functions within a complete learning environment classroom	Compared to their peers, students who took UDL-based courses indicated greater levels of fulfilment, optimism, and commitment	Literature Review	Research studies on Universal Design for Learning
73	ASD-PT	(Pronin et al., 2002)	To determine how cognitive and motivational biases fuel interpersonal and intergroup conflicts	Participants rated themselves higher than their peers in terms of self-knowledge	Quantitative Research—Questionnaire	Stanford students
74	ASD-NVC	(Radford et al., 2025)	To understand the experiences of adults with autism using nonverbal communication in interactions	New insight into internal and external factors that impact nonverbal communication experiences of adults with autism was provided, mainly in terms of the cognitive processes involved	Qualitative Research	Research on nonverbal communication in adults with autism
75	M-C/M M-PT M-ISC M-RepSI M-SRef M-NVC	(Rissanen et al., 2014)	To explore the central domains of professional magicians	Magicians’ professional activities involve three core areas: magic tricks, performance, and audience	Quantitative Research and Qualitative Analysis	N = 16 professional magicians from Finland
76	ASD-DMUR ASD-I	(Rodda & Estes, 2018)	To build an understanding of peer relationships and friendships in school-aged children with ASD, and how to best support them by identifying characteristics of peer relationships and friendships	Social skills groups, interventions implemented by peers, and interventions implemented by paraeducators in schools appear to be promising for increasing peer interactions	Literature Review	N = 24 studies on social skills group interventions
77	ASD-SR	(Sally & Hill, 2006)	To examine the relationship between mentalizing and three types of strategic games—Prisoners’ Dilemma, Dictator, and Ultimatum	Young children were more cautious about initiating cooperation than their older peers	Quantitative Research	N = 60 children with and without ASD
78	ASD-ISI&RSI ASD-JA ASD-SR ASD-SER ASD-TT	(Schwartz et al., 2021)	To determine in what ways teachers of students with ASD perceive social–emotional reciprocity	Some preliminary insights into social–emotional reciprocity from a teacher’s perspective were provided	Quantitative Analysis	N = 3 experienced teachers at an Australian autism-specific school
79	ASD-PT ASD-SR	(Silveira-Zaldivar et al., 2021)	To explain the constructs of social competence, social skills, and adaptive skills in a manner accessible and relatable to educators	There are more than 24 evidence-based methods, practices, strategies, and procedures for improving the social and adaptive skills of children with ASD	Literature Review	Research on social competence methods and strategies
80	ASD-SRef	(Sivaraman et al., 2020)	To conduct a systematic review to highlight the existing conceptualizations of social referencing, and study the social referencing repertoire in children with ASD	Of the 54 studies, deficits in social referencing were reported in 7 studies, and data from all studies indicated atypical attention shifts between social and non-social stimuli in children with ASD	Systematic Narrative Review	Research on social referencing in children with ASD
81	ASD-SRef	(Sivaraman et al., 2022)	To evaluate the effectiveness of multiple-exemplar training, prompting, and social reinforcement to teach social referencing	Participants in the treatment group showed significantly higher social referencing scores	Quantitative Research	N = 25 children with ASD
82	M-C/M	(Sokol, 2008)	To explore what medical doctors can learn from magicians	Medical doctors can improve patient care by using techniques from magicians	Literature Review	Literature relating to magic and medical fields
83	ASD-PSE ASD-I ASD-DMUR	(Soresi et al., 2011)	To examine changes and innovations in inclusion and recommend ways to facilitate the involvement of community members in promoting inclusion, participation, and self-determination	Inclusion at school, at work, and in the community, as well as the self-determination of people with disabilities, is essential to improve participation and enhance the quality of life of people with disabilities	Literature Review	Research on the inclusion and self-determination of people with disabilities
84	ME M-ASD M-DMUR M-I M-IWD M-PT M-ISI M-NVC M-PSE	(Spencer, 2011)	To examine the benefits of magic trick programs for students with disabilities	After the magic-based interventions, there were several benefits	Qualitative Research and Quantitative Research	N = 76 students with various disabilities, including ASD
85	ME M-ASD M-DMUR M-I M-IWD M-PT M-ISI M-NVC M-PSE	(Spencer, 2012)	To determine if using a magic trick program would have academic and functional benefits for students with disabilities	After the magic-based interventions, there were improvements in on-task behaviors, socialization, fine motor skills, and meaningful conversations	Qualitative Research and Quantitative Research	N = 76 students ages 12–21 with various disabilities, including ASD
86	ME M-ISI M-DMUR M-I M-PSE	(Spencer & Balmer, 2020)	To explore the use of magic tricks in the classroom as a way to increase verbal communication and self-efficacy for English Language Learners (ELLs)	The implementation of magic tricks can improve communication, self-confidence, and social skills for ELLs as measured by the Self-Efficacy Scale Condensed Version, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and the Duckworth 8-Item Grit Scale	Qualitative Research and Quantitative Research	N = 21 students from 7th to 9th grade identified as ELLs
87	M-C/M	(Subbotsky, 2010)	To explore the curiosity of possible (scientific explanation) and impossible (magical explanation) events	Perceived impossible, unusual events (magic tricks) elicit stronger curiosity than possible events	Quantitative Research	4 experiments: ages 4–9 year olds and adults
88	M-C/M M-JA	(Tachibana & Kawabata, 2014)	To explore social misdirection used with magic tricks	Social misdirection captures attention and influences the deception of magic tricks	Quantitative Research	N = 20 adults
89	ASD-DMUR ASD-I	(Trimmer et al., 2017)	To explore the psychological and physiological effects of ostracism	Individuals with ASD experienced heightened physiological arousal	Quantitative Research	N = 26 individuals with a diagnosis of high-functioning ASD and N = 26 nonclinical control individuals
90	ASD-RepSI	(Tsou et al., 2024)	To systematically review school-based interventions for socially including students with autism in mainstream schools	The accessibility of school activities to students with autism increased, but the reciprocity was not necessarily improved	Systematic Narrative Review	N = 56 studies on school-based interventions
91	ASD-TT	(Vincent et al., 2018)	To systematically evaluate whether the FRIEND Playground Program yields increased social engagement and initiations with peers during recess	The FRIEND Playground Program produced meaningful increases in social engagement and social initiations	Quantitative Research	N = 7 participants with ASD or other social challenges
92	ASD-RepSI	(Volden, 2004)	To determine whether school-aged, high-functioning children with ASD responded to a stacked series of Requests for Clarification (RQCLs) in a way similar to children matched for language age	Children with ASD responded similarly to language age-matched control children to RQCLs and employed a variety of repair strategies	Quantitative and Qualitative Research	N = 9 school-aged, high-functioning children with ASD and N = 9 control group children matched based on language level
93	ASD-SER	(Weiss & Harris, 2001)	To examine a range of useful procedures for teaching social skills to people with autism, including skills that are adult-, peer-, and child-with-autism-mediated	Class-wide interventions and the use of scripts have been determined as useful for teaching social skills	Literature Review	Research studies on ASD
94	ASD-SR ASD-SER	(Whitcomb et al., 2013)	To provide an overview of specific deficits in social–emotional reciprocity and effective interventions	Adaptive skills in social–emotional reciprocity are critical and will ultimately generate more positive outcomes for this population	Literature Review and Case Studies	Children with ASD
95	ASD-SER	(Wiley & Siperstein, 2015)	To present critical issues and knowledge related to improving the social–emotional competence of students with disabilities	Multi-tiered interventions that promote positive peer interactions are an essential part of increasing the social inclusion of students with disabilities	Literature Review	Research on students with disabilities
96	ME M-IWD M-DMUR M-I M-PSE	(Wiseman & Watt, 2018)	To review magic-based interventions and their effects on wellbeing	Magic-based interventions revealed physical and psychological benefits	Literature Review	Children with varying age ranges, adults, and individuals with disabilities
97	ME M-NVC	(Wiseman & Watt, 2020)	To review educational magic-based interventions	Magic-based interventions in educational contexts are beneficial but more empirical evidence with control groups is needed to confirm this finding	Literature Review	Focused on a wide variety of studies with a broad spectrum of settings
98	M-C/M M-RepSI	(Wiseman et al., 2021)	To examine the impact of learning and performing magic tricks on divergent thinking	According to Guilford’s Alternate Uses Test (AUT), magic tricks may enhance divergent thinking in the classroom	Quantitative Analysis	Two groups of ages 10 and 11: N = 31 received magic-based interventions and N = 31 received art-based interventions
99	ASD-SER ASD-TT ASD-PT ASD-JA ASD-ISI&RSI ASD-RepSI ASD-SR ASD-DMUR ASD-I ASD-NVC	(Yavuz et al., 2017)	To investigate associations of social competence with cognitive representation and communication skills in children with ASD	Improvements in nonverbal communication skills in children with ASD might increase their positive social relations	Quantitative Analysis	N = 45 Turkish children with a diagnosis of ASD, their mothers, and their teachers
100	ASD-SRef	(Yeo & Teng, 2015)	To identify the most frequently occurring social skills deficits among students with ASD in inclusion settings	Most observed social skills deficits fall under behavioral and affective areas	Quantitative Research	N = 34 teachers in three schools with inclusive classrooms in Malaysia
101	ASD-ISI&RSI	(Yizengaw, 2021)	To see the effect of social skills training on the interpersonal interactions of children with autism	Children in both groups demonstrated positive changes in their overall social skills	Qualitative Research	N = 8 children using the Autism Social Skills Profile Rating Scale
102	ASD-SER ASD-SR ASD-TT ASD-PT ASD-JA ASD-ISI&RSI ASD-RepSI	(Yuan et al., 2025)	To examine how researchers in ASD studies have measured social reciprocity and assessed its current understanding in the field	The overall inconsistency in results reveals varied interpretations of reciprocity, and cultural considerations were not specific to social reciprocity	Systematic Review	Research on ASD
103	ME M-TT M-NVC M-DMUR M-I M-SER M-ASD M-IWD M-PSE	(Yuen et al., 2023)	To explore the efficacy of a magic trick program designed to improve social skills and self-esteem in adolescents with ASD	Adolescents with ASD who participated in the magic program had enhanced social skills and self-esteem as measured by the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and the Social Skills Improvement System	Quantitative Analysis	N = 17 adolescents with ASD
104	ASD-SRef ASD-NVC	(Zampella et al., 2020)	To rate children with ASD’s conversations for movement synchrony and verbal synchrony	Children with ASD exhibited less interactional synchrony with familiar and unfamiliar partners than their peers	Quantitative Research	N = 20 children with ASD and N = 17 typically developing children

). Table 1 also outlines the collection of resources that were used to make educational inferences of how learning and performing magic tricks can positively impact the components of social–emotional reciprocity for students with ASD. Overall, the goal is to maximize inclusion opportunities for students with ASD.

Several studies reported many benefits of magic-based interventions in educational settings, with some studies specifically addressing students with ASD. To facilitate cross-study comparisons, Table 1 presents the characteristics and key findings of studies that are included in this review. In addition, each study is accompanied by codes that correspond to the themes that emerged during the synthesis process. A legend describing the codes is provided in Appendix B. The collection of resources that were used to make educational inferences of how learning and performing magic tricks may make a positive impact on the components of social–emotional reciprocity for students with ASD can be found in Table 1.

4. Discussion

To maximize inclusion opportunities, social skills deficits, as described by DSM-5, for students with ASD need to be improved. There are many commonality elements (see

Table 2. Common Elements Between Social Skills Deficits and the Skills Involved in Learning and Performing Magic Tricks. 

Characteristics Associated with ASD	Social Skills Deficits	Skills for Learning and Performing Magic Tricks	Elements of Commonality Yes ✔ OR No X
Social–emotional reciprocity	(American Psychiatric Association, 2013) (Grice et al., 2023)	(Yuen et al., 2023) (Wiseman & Watt, 2018)	✔
Positive social experiences	(Locke et al., 2017) (Mamas et al., 2021)	(Ezell, 2025) (Ashcraft et al., 2025)	✔
Turn-taking	(Lee & Staggs, 2021) (Gantman et al., 2012)	(Yuen et al., 2023) (Kovács, 2023)	✔
Perspective-taking	(Blackwell & Stockall, 2021) (Heasman & Gillespie, 2018)	(Spencer, 2012) (Kovács, 2023)	✔
Joint attention	(Charman, 1998) (Schwartz et al., 2021)	(Sokol, 2008, p. 443) (Camí et al., 2020)	✔
Interpreting social cues	(American Psychiatric Association, 2013) (Grenier & Yeaton, 2019)	(Kuhn et al., 2016) (Rissanen et al., 2014)	✔
Initiating social interactions	(American Psychiatric Association, 2013) (Chen et al., 2024)	(Ashcraft et al., 2025) (Ezell, 2025)	✔
Responding to social initiation	(American Psychiatric Association, 2013) (L. K. Koegel et al., 2014)	(Wiseman et al., 2021) (Rissanen et al., 2014)	✔
Repairing social interactions	(Keen, 2003) (Sigman & Kasari, 1995)	(Wiseman & Watt, 2018) (Rissanen et al., 2014)	✔
Social referencing	(Paul et al., 2009) (Zampella et al., 2020)	(Kovács, 2023) (Rissanen et al., 2014)	✔
Nonverbal communication used for social interaction Body language Understanding gestures Facial expressions	(American Psychiatric Association, 2013) (Harms et al., 2010)	(Sokol, 2008, p. 443) (Yuen et al., 2023)	✔
Developing, maintaining, and understanding relationships to facilitate meaningful friendships	(American Psychiatric Association, 2013) (Petrina et al., 2016)	(Ashcraft et al., 2025) (Spencer, 2012, p. 94)	✔

) in both learning and performing magic tricks and the skills needed to improve social skills (e.g., interpreting social cues, initiating social responses, and social referencing). Nonverbal communication skills used for social interactions also share commonalities with the skills needed to learn and perform magic tricks (see Table 2). In addition, skills gained when learning and performing magic tricks share overlapping elements (see Table 2) needed to develop, maintain, and understand relationships (e.g., fostering friendships). Therefore, educators may consider including magic tricks in the classroom setting to improve social skills deficits of students with ASD.

When discussing the pedagogical implications for teachers, Spencer (2012) evaluated the benefits of using magic tricks in the classroom for various students with disabilities, including ASD. Spencer (2012) emphasized that we should never “lose sight of the concept that learning can be fun” (p. 97). According to Ezell (2025), implementing magic tricks in the classroom has many educational benefits, including creating positive social experiences for students with disabilities, which promotes acceptance in inclusive environments. Ezell (2025) also discovered that the elements needed to nurture joy and play align with the elements of learning and performing magic tricks.

There is a magic myth that most magic tricks are difficult to learn, and most involve sleight of hand and should only be performed by professional magicians. The truth is that many simple magic tricks can be learned and performed with merely a few minutes of practice and have zero sleight-of-hand requirements. Ezell (2025) states that “Teachers should not feel they need to be professional magicians to perform magic tricks for their students” (p. 27). Magic can be enjoyed at any skill level (Ezell, 2025). Finding the right magic trick with the appropriate skill level is the key (Ezell, 2025). Ezell (2025) emphasized the importance of not putting too much pressure on the magic performance. While it is important not to reveal the secret behind the magic tricks, focusing on the enjoyment aspect is most important. Learning social skills through creating positive social experiences and having fun while learning and performing magic tricks should be the main focus. There are many magic tricks for everyone to enjoy, with some only requiring minimal skills and only taking 30 s to perform (Ezell, 2025).

Developing social skills in context is crucial to the success of any social skills program (Niu et al., 2025). It is conceptually compelling that learning and performing magic tricks provide an authentic context in which to learn social skills. Building self-esteem and confidence by learning and performing magic tricks are added bonuses (Ezell & Klein-Ezell, 2003). Having high self-esteem and confidence positively contributes to effective social skills development (El-Daw & Hammoud, 2015).

4.1. Magic and Inclusion

Inclusion and acceptance are critically important for students with ASD. The implementation of magic tricks could be a catalyst for learning social skills, which are essential for successful inclusion. When students with ASD are accepted by their peers, it improves the overall tone of an inclusive environment. For students with ASD, learning and performing magic tricks encourages social interactions with their peers who are not on the spectrum and provides a chance for them to shine in a unique way. Ezell (2025) suggests that “the use of magic tricks is an effective tool to connect students with disabilities in a positive way with their peers without disabilities in the classroom setting” (p. 22). A magic trick performance naturally draws attention and curiosity and opens the door for social engagement, which could lead to meaningful connections. It is so important for educators to move beyond merely including students with ASD physically in the general education classroom to an environment where everyone is socially accepted and valued. Performing magic tricks could be the key to navigating the pathway for social inclusion for students with ASD. In an inclusive environment, magic tricks could be the tool that leads to meaningful connections by creating positive social experiences.

4.2. Magic and Social–Emotional Reciprocity

When comparing the skills needed to learn and perform magic tricks, they overlap with skills of social–emotional reciprocity (see Table 2). Performing magic tricks provides the context for practicing social skills and allows educators to teach joint attention, perspective-taking, turn-taking, and other communication skills that are essential elements of social–emotional reciprocity. Learning and performing magic tricks may offer a fun and effective strategy to teach social–emotional reciprocity to students with ASD. Recognizing and responding appropriately to others’ emotions and understanding how to share emotional experiences (e.g., laughing together during a magic performance) are important elements of social–emotional reciprocity. Conceptually, through learning and performing magic tricks, social–emotional reciprocity skills are practiced in an authentic context.

4.3. Magic and Positive Social Experiences

Using magic tricks to connect students with ASD to their peers who are not on the spectrum can successfully create positive social experiences, which is crucial for inclusive environments (Ezell, 2025). When students with ASD perform magic tricks for their peers who are not on the spectrum, it can create positive social experiences, which may be due to the positive feedback and praise they receive (Ashcraft et al., 2025). Educators who create activities that encourage social–emotional reciprocity increase positive social experiences and nurture UDL’s consideration of joy and play (Niu et al., 2025). Learning and performing magic tricks have many overlapping elements with nurturing joy and play, and the implementation of magic tricks encourages social interactions in a joyful and playful manner, which ultimately leads to students with disabilities feeling connected and accepted (Ezell, 2025). In an inclusive setting, a sense of belonging can be created, all while sharing a smile and the enjoyment of a magic trick performance, resulting in everyone involved having a positive social experience. Since students with ASD experience more social isolation and have fewer positive social experiences, having this extra magic experience might be just what is needed for successful social inclusion. Creating positive social experiences (e.g., feeling good about social exchanges) may be the key to an inclusive environment.

4.4. Magic and Turn-Taking

Magic tricks naturally foster turn-taking skills and provide a fun setting to practice them. The turn-taking part of social–emotional reciprocity is essential to the success of social inclusion of students with ASD (Fusaroli et al., 2025). Magic trick performances have structured interactions with clear performer and audience roles. Many magic tricks involve an audience member examining or inspecting an item before or after the trick is performed. In addition, many magic tricks require audience participation by asking questions or giving specific directions. Knowing when it is the magician’s turn versus the audience’s turn is vital to a successful magic trick performance. The student magician learns when to wait for their turn to speak or act and when it is appropriate to engage or respond. The performance of magic also requires patience and timing. The performer must wait for the right moment to reveal something or pause for dramatic effect and let the audience react before continuing. All of these elements help the students regulate impulses, which is an essential part of turn-taking. Performing magic tricks naturally models turn-taking and provides a fun, interactive way for students with ASD to learn in a real, genuine hands-on context (Kovács, 2023; Yuen et al., 2023).

4.5. Magic and Perspective-Taking

Learning and performing magic tricks provides an authentic way for students with ASD to practice and understand perspective-taking, which is the ability to understand how others think, feel, or perceive a situation. Different people see things differently, and magic tricks provide opportunities to understand that people can interpret the same event in different ways (Spencer, 2012), which can lead to an understanding of how different perspectives enrich a better understanding of differences. Understanding what the audience sees and perhaps feels is an essential element of performing a magic trick (Rissanen et al., 2014). The performer must put themselves in the shoes of the audience and ask, “What will they notice when I do this?” or “What will they expect to happen if I do this?” Basically, the magician guesses how the audience will perceive the performance based on their actions.

Misdirection, which is getting the audience to look away from a magic secret, is a key element of many magic tricks. To use misdirection effectively, the magician must think like the audience and predict where they will be looking at various points of the performance. The magician must predict what they think the audience believes is happening and use their performance to direct the audience’s attention where it is needed so the trick will be presented in the most deceptive manner. Misdirection requires the magician to think about what others are perceiving, so they can guide the attention appropriately. When performing, the magician sometimes adjusts the performance based on how the audience reacts (Rissanen et al., 2014), which requires the magician to be attuned to what they think the audience is feeling. Magicians step outside their own point of view and consider what others think, feel, and see, and they anticipate the audience’s reactions, which are all elements of perceptive taking. In an interview study by Rissanen et al. (2014), a magician reported, “I try to watch all the time my audience to know their feelings” (p. 7). Learning perspective-taking skills helps students with ASD have meaningful conversations, which may enhance friendships in an inclusive classroom.

4.6. Magic and Joint Attention

Social misdirection directly parallels the components of joint attention (e.g., following the magician’s lead). Social misdirection enhances the deception and reduces the likelihood of the audience detecting the secret method of the trick (Camí et al., 2020; Kuhn & Martinez, 2012; Tachibana & Kawabata, 2014). Developing joint attention skills, which are a fundamental social skill, can be nurtured by learning and performing magic tricks. Joint attention is the shared focus of two or more people on the same object, event, or activity, which often requires eye contact and appropriate gesturing. When performing magic tricks, both the magician and the audience are focused on the same objects and actions. Magicians rely on joint attention when using misdirection during their performance. Following the audience’s gaze to see if they are looking where they need to be looking is an important part of the magic performance. Many magic tricks require the magician to look at or point to specific objects in order to direct the audience’s attention. Magicians can use gestures or language to direct attention to specific moments or objects (e.g., “Watch closely and never take your eyes off the deck of cards!”) to create joint attention. Magicians respond to the audience’s attention or lack of it, which can strengthen both expressive and receptive features of joint attention. Noticing an audience member not paying attention and taking action to gain their attention is an important skill in a magic performance. Conceptually, performing magic tricks helps students develop joint attention skills by encouraging eye contact, pointing and gesturing, and using descriptive language to direct attention to a shared fun magical experience.

4.7. Magic and Interpreting Social Cues

Magicians use social cues (e.g., gestures and eye gaze) to direct the audience’s attention and to enhance the magic effect (Camí et al., 2020). Interpreting social cues is often a core social skills deficit for students with ASD. Learning and performing magic tricks creates a social situation filled with opportunities to practice how to read and respond to others. Audiences will naturally react with excitement, surprise, and curiosity, and the student performer will need to look at the faces and body language to monitor how the magic trick is perceived. Interpreting social cues is essential when determining if the audience is paying attention and enjoying the magic trick performance. This helps the magician to know if they should do another trick or stop. Rissanen et al. (2014) reported, during a magic performance, that “It is essential, in real-time, to be able to heed the audience’s behavior and react to it continuously” (p. 8). When learning magic tricks, teachers can review possible audience responses (e.g., various facial expressions of surprise, gasps, laughter, cheering, or clapping) and practice how to read and respond to these social cues. Role-playing possible scenarios may increase the success of the performance later on.

4.8. Magic and Initiating Social Interactions

Within a social situation, greeting others appropriately is an important skill when initiating social interactions. A magic trick gives students with ASD an easy, structured way to start a conversation and removes the pressure of figuring out a social icebreaker. In a social situation, initiating a conversation is often a major challenge for students with ASD. Spencer and Balmer (2020) reported that initiating social interactions is a benefit of learning and performing magic tricks. Performing simple magic tricks captures attention and interest and naturally draws curiosity and engagement from peers. It creates a shared moment of excitement that can lead to social bonding and positive connections. Performing magic tricks helps the student with ASD feel competent and recognized by their peers in a positive manner (Spencer, 2012). Having a positive social experience when initiating social interactions may lead to confidence in future social interactions.

4.9. Magic and Responding to Social Initiations

It is important for students with ASD to appropriately respond to social initiations. Ashcraft et al. (2025) reported that after students with ASD learned magic tricks, they were more engaged in social interactions. Showing that you heard and understood a response, verbal or nonverbal, is part of effective communication in a social situation. During and after a magic trick is performed, peers may ask questions (e.g., “How did you do that?”). The magician can recognize this social initiation verbally (e.g., “Magician’s secret!”) or nonverbally (e.g., playful grimace with a shrug of the shoulders). Peers may clap, cheer, and say, “Do it again!” These are all situations that give the student with ASD an opportunity to recognize and respond to a social initiation. Performing magic tricks provides structured practice in responding to their peers, and responses can be prepared in advance when learning the magic tricks. Responses such as “I am sorry, I can’t reveal the magic secret” or “Thank you! Would you like to see another trick?” can be rehearsed when learning the magic tricks. Thinking ahead as to how the audience might react can be an important opportunity to reinforce appropriate social responses to various social initiations.

4.10. Magic and Repairing Social Interactions (With Illustrative Examples)

Repairing social interactions (e.g., correcting miscommunication) starts with identifying when there is a problem (e.g., noticing someone is upset), moves to coming up with several possible solutions and choosing a repair strategy (e.g., offering clarification and an apology), and finally progresses to the evaluation stage where one checks if the interaction has been successfully repaired or if more action is needed to repair the social interaction. Students with ASD have difficulty in repairing social interactions and need opportunities to practice these skills. Noticing when there is a communication breakdown and clarifying and repeating when something is misunderstood are essential elements of social–emotional reciprocity. In social situations, when something goes wrong or does not go as planned, it is important to know how to repair the social interaction, and this may require divergent thinking and the capacity to produce various solutions to a problem (e.g., finding multiple pathways to respond to a person who is offended).

Divergent thinking is an important element of problem-solving and has been linked to magic (Wiseman et al., 2021). Repairing a social interaction may come in the form of reframing a misunderstanding and figuring out how to move forward without confusion. Magicians often give certain steps for an audience member to follow; sometimes they can be misunderstood by the audience, and reframing is necessary (e.g., an audience member places the third card behind his back, but the steps were “Count down three cards from the top and put the next card behind your back”). When this happens, it is important that the magician notices the mistake and repairs the situation. Performing magic tricks naturally creates unpredictable social situations, giving the performer many opportunities to repair the interactions. Possible scenarios can be practiced when learning magic tricks. Teachers can review what to do if things go wrong or do not go as planned. Teachers can demonstrate how to identify communication breakdowns and if someone looks confused or disinterested.

Responding to facial expressions, tone of voice, and body language are all key elements to recognize when repairing social interactions. Knowing when to repeat the magic directions, slow down, clarify instructions, or repeat a certain part of the trick (e.g., “I will show that part again. Watch closely!”) are important social cues to notice to be able to repair social interactions. Sometimes a trick does not work because the magician forgot a step or simply makes a mistake with the presentation. This provides an opportunity for students to respond to mistakes with flexibility and perhaps redirect attention to a new trick or say, “Let’s try that again.” Repairing a failed interaction without giving up is an important skill to learn. Even though students can practice possible scenarios ahead of time, things can still go wrong during a performance. Unforeseen things can happen during a magic performance, and having improvisation skills is critically important (Rissanen et al., 2014). Students may be encouraged to use humor or lightheartedness to reconnect and ease any tension (e.g., “Oops, I may need a little more woofle dust to make this work. Let me try this again.”). Plausibly, performing magic tricks provides students with ASD opportunities to think on their feet and problem-solve in real time and can build self-awareness and adaptability, which are crucial when repairing social interactions.

4.11. Magic and Social Referencing

Social referencing is looking at someone else for social cues (e.g., facial expressions) to understand how to react in a social situation (e.g., interpreting an ambiguous social situation). Students with ASD may have difficulty noticing or interpreting social cues of others, which is essential for social referencing. Performing magic requires the magician to pay attention to others’ reactions (Kovács, 2023). Interactions between the magician and the audience are continuous and are used as a guide for the performance (Rissanen et al., 2014). Monitoring the reactions of others during the magic performance provides an authentic activity to practice social referencing (e.g., “Did the audience have facial expressions of joy, surprise, amusement, curiosity, or confusion?”).

Theoretically, performing magic in a social setting offers a natural way to practice social referencing by watching the faces of the audience. Teachers can also video the student performance from the magician’s point of view. This allows an opportunity for students and teachers to review the reactions of the audience. Teachers can point out the attributes of various facial expressions and invite the students to reflect on the reactions of the audience. This reflection allows students with ASD to link facial expressions with the performance events and understand how their actions affected someone (e.g., facial expression of surprise when a coin disappears). Observing the emotional expressions of others during a magic performance reinforces how to recognize and interpret nonverbal cues. Usually, audiences’ reactions are exaggerated, which makes it easier for students with ASD to notice and interpret. Using social referencing is essential to developing social understanding. Performing magic tricks offers a natural way to practice the skills needed for social referencing.

4.12. Magic and Verbal/Nonverbal Communication Used for Social Interaction

In general, social communication skills, both verbal and nonverbal, can be strengthened for students with ASD through learning and performing magic tricks (Yuen et al., 2023). To successfully perform a magic trick, good social communication skills are needed and often require the magician to give clear and specific directions (e.g., “Pick a card, remember it, and then show it to the audience. Finally, turn the card face down and put it back in the deck.”) (Wiseman & Watt, 2020). Magicians use concise, sequenced language that guides the audience through each phase of the performance. Storytelling makes a magic trick more entertaining and engages the audience (e.g., “I found this magic genie bottle while walking on the beach!”). Often magicians create a script of what they will say, which requires them to organize their thoughts ahead of time; however, improvisation skills are also needed. Rissanen et al. (2014) stated, “A successful performance involves moment-to-moment improvisation combined with well-scripted elements” (p. 11).

During the performance, the magician needs to speak clearly and use appropriate descriptive language that supports the deceptive objective of the magic trick. Magicians also use an expressive tone and project their voice to the size of their audience. Performing magic tricks also strengthens nonverbal social communication. Magicians use body language to enhance the deception of a magic trick (Bagienski & Kuhn, 2019). Facial expressions, eye contact, and body language are all crucial components of creating suspense for a magic performance.

Some tricks are performed to music, which rely heavily on nonverbal communication skills such as hand gestures and facial expressions. Sometimes magicians adjust their performance based on the reactions of the audience, requiring them to pay attention and actively listen (Rissanen et al., 2014), which are essential elements of social communication. Conceptually, social communication elements practiced when performing magic tricks are valuable real-world communication skills needed to be an effective communicator.

4.13. Magic and Developing, Maintaining, and Understanding Relationships

Developing, maintaining, and understanding relationships is an important part of the DSM-5 criteria for ASD diagnosis (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). In an inclusive classroom, learning and performing magic tricks can be used as a tool to foster friendships for students with ASD (Ashcraft et al., 2025). Attaining successful skills in social–emotional reciprocity is the foundation of any strong relationship because it leads to feelings of fairness and mutual respect, which are key to long-lasting friendships. When using magic-based interventions in Spencer’s (2012) study, friendship skills were observed between children with and without disabilities. Having balanced conversations where friends take turns listening and talking is a key factor that leads to strong friendship connections, and Yuen et al. (2023) reported that magic-based interventions allow students with ASD to practice turn-taking. Without this balance, joint attention and shared enjoyment will be lacking, and conversations can become one-sided without a positive emotional connection. Recognizing each other’s responses appropriately allows each person to feel heard and understood, which can lead to positive friendship bonds being formed. Without social reciprocity, developing true and meaningful friendships becomes more challenging, especially for students with ASD. Because social–emotional reciprocity (e.g., joint attention, perspective-taking, turn-taking, and interpreting social cues) skills are embedded in learning and performing magic tricks, theoretically, they can be a powerful tool to help to facilitate friendships.

Conceptually, although empirical validation remains limited, magic-based interventions align with the skills needed to develop social–emotional reciprocity. Therefore, learning and performing magic tricks is theorized to support the development of skills required for social–emotional reciprocity.

5. Conclusions

This review suggests a strong conceptual rationale for using magic-based interventions as a strategy to support social–emotional reciprocity for students with ASD. The value of magic-based interventions lies in their theoretical alignment with the elements of social–emotional reciprocity. While empirical studies that specifically included the use of magic tricks in educational settings are limited, conceptual support for magic-based interventions is consistent across all sources, with all reporting beneficial outcomes.

In this review, there were several studies that specifically included the use of magic with students with ASD, and they all reported positive outcomes (Ashcraft et al., 2025; Spencer, 2012; Yuen et al., 2023). There were no studies using magic-based interventions that reported negative impacts. The magic-based studies in this review did not specifically address the term “social–emotional reciprocity” as a benefit for students with ASD, but they did report positive outcomes that specifically related to the documented components of social–emotional reciprocity. For this reason, this review made the educational inference that magic-based interventions could potentially positively impact social–emotional reciprocity skills for students with ASD.

For students with ASD, learning magic tricks to perform for others provides opportunities to gain experience and practice social skills explicitly and implicitly. Research supports the idea that when learning social skills, students with ASD need to be explicitly taught (Weiss & Harris, 2001). Learning magic tricks offers a pathway to explicitly teach social skills (e.g., writing a script for each magic trick and including social skills prompts). Planning for magic performances also provides an opportunity to review social skills previously taught in non-magic social skills lessons. When videoing the magic performances, it offers the opportunity to review with the students the social skills used during the performance and discuss what went well and what might need to be included to improve the next performance. An added bonus is that learning and performing magic tricks may also offer a pathway to learn social skills implicitly. Ashcraft et al. (2025) found in their study that students with ASD “implicitly learned various social skills, such as listening and following directions” (p. 7). Magic-based interventions provide both explicit and implicit opportunities to learn and practice social skills. In conclusion, for students with ASD, learning and performing magic tricks may theoretically have the potential to positively influence their social experiences and meet the needs of their social skills deficits, particularly with regard to social–emotional reciprocity and facilitating meaningful friendships with their peers who are not on the spectrum.

The review of the literature clearly revealed commonality elements with the skills needed for learning and performing magic tricks and the skills needed to improve social skills deficits (see Table 2) as described in the American Psychiatric Association (2013) DSM-5 (i.e., deficits in social–emotional reciprocity, nonverbal communication used for social interaction, and developing, maintaining, and understanding relationships). Conceptually, learning and performing magic tricks has the potential to create a motivating environment and foster fun for both teachers and students.

Although there are some empirical studies exploring the use of magic-based interventions in educational settings, predominantly, the conceptual literature exceeds empirical confirmation. Even with the absence of robust empirical testing, the benefits of using magic tricks in the classroom have a strong theoretical foundation, given the many proposed benefits of using magic-based interventions that are reported in the literature.

Magic-based interventions can be easily added to any social skills program already in place or any future curriculum considered for adoption. With the goal of creating social competence for students with ASD, the art of magic may be a consideration for classroom teachers to use to teach and practice social skills in a natural setting. For students with ASD, creating social competence maximizes opportunities for inclusion. Therefore, the findings of this review conceptually support the use of magic tricks to promote social–emotional reciprocity and peer relationships for students with ASD in inclusive settings.

• Recommendation 1: More empirical research is needed to examine the impact of magic-based interventions for students with ASD. Using randomized control research designs to compare the use of magic-based interventions and well-established social skills interventions (e.g., social stories, peer-mediated instruction) may strengthen the correlation between learning and performing magic tricks and social skills development, which could greatly enhance the research base on school-based interventions with students with ASD.
• Recommendation 2: Professional development is needed for teachers to understand how to appropriately use magic tricks with students with ASD. Professional development could include such topics as selecting developmentally appropriate magic tricks that match the student’s cognitive, language, and motor abilities; coaching on how to scaffold the teachable steps using visual supports and other resources; learning how to intentionally target social skills (e.g., eye contact, taking turns, interpreting social cues); and using a reliable method to assess and monitor magic-based activities.
• Limitation 1: The author is a professional magician and an educator and has used magic in educational settings with students with ASD for many years. The author acknowledges having a preconceived bias that the use of magic tricks with students with ASD positively impacts their social skills development. Because of this bias, the author asked a professor familiar with systematic narrative reviews to assess articles for contradictory evidence. This was incorporated as an additional check to determine if the literature selected was appropriate for this review and had a relevant connection to the research questions. All sources were determined to be relevant and appropriate for this review.
• Limitation 2: For this review, a PRISMA protocol was not registered. While this limits transparency regarding pre-specified methods, all review steps were reported following PRISMA 2020 guidelines.