PEERS Social Skills Training for Children and Adolescents

PEERS is a children and youth social skills training program designed to improve social skills and enhance social relationships. PEERS was developed by Dr. Elizabeth Laugeson and her team at UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles). The program is designed to increase the social skills of children and adolescents, improve their friendship relationships, and help them cope with difficulties in social interactions. The PEERS program can be used for children and adolescents. It was particularly developed for young people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), but it can be beneficial for anyone experiencing social skills deficits.

PEERS Program Steps:

A. Social Skills Training: Young people are taught basic social skills and provided with modeling. These include skills such as making eye contact, reading body language, conversation skills, listening skills, and friendship-building strategies.

B. Role-Playing and Practical Application: Young people are given the opportunity to practice social skills and apply them in real-life scenarios. Role-playing is used to simulate social interactions and allows young people to try out new skills.

C. Friendship Groups: Young people engage in social interactions with other peers participating in the PEERS program. These groups enable young people to interact with one another, form friendships, and develop social support systems.

D. Home Practice and Support: As part of the program, young people are taught social skills they can apply at home, and support is also provided to their parents. Guidance and support are offered to parents to help them assist their children in integrating what they have learned in the PEERS program into their daily lives.

PEERS is designed to develop young people’s social skills and enable them to be more successful in their social interactions. The program contributes to young people having positive social experiences by increasing their social skills, improving their friendship relationships, and helping them cope with difficulties such as social anxiety.