Getting Started with PEERS for Adolescents: Social Skills Training for Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Mary Schlieder Author

10/05/2020 Added

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Overview of the Adolescent PEERS Social Skills Program.

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[00:00:01.830]Welcome to our training session titled,
[00:00:04.040]Getting Started with PEERS Curriculum:
[00:00:06.110]Social Skills Training for Adolescents
[00:00:08.100]with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
[00:00:11.110]This is presented to you by the tri-state
[00:00:13.480]autism collaborative of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska,
[00:00:17.870]and I will be your presenter today.
[00:00:19.450]My name is Mary Schlieder.
[00:00:21.110]I've been a special education teacher for a long time,
[00:00:23.850]28 years, I believe, in the classroom.
[00:00:26.250]And, I teach students with all kinds of special needs,
[00:00:28.930]but I have had a focus on my students
[00:00:30.980]with autism spectrum disorder.
[00:00:33.110]I'm also an adjunct professor at several
[00:00:35.060]different universities, predominantly in teacher
[00:00:38.400]education programs in the field of special education,
[00:00:41.560]with an emphasis on behavioral interventions
[00:00:43.830]and trauma-informed classrooms.
[00:00:46.220]I'm also an educational consultant on projects
[00:00:49.230]like this one, that you are watching today.
[00:00:53.290]So, what are our objectives?
[00:00:55.170]Ultimately, I'm going to be sharing a program
[00:00:58.340]that I have used with my students,
[00:01:00.240]and I wanna talk to you about it and encourage you to learn
[00:01:02.540]more about it and possibly use it in your classrooms.
[00:01:06.400]But, the learner objectives for today include:
[00:01:08.970]identifying social skills deficits
[00:01:10.990]among adolescents with ASD.
[00:01:13.400]Recognizing the importance of improving friendships,
[00:01:15.980]because ultimately, that's the main goal of this program.
[00:01:19.350]Consider limitations of existing
[00:01:21.210]social skills interventions.
[00:01:23.310]Explore research findings,
[00:01:24.780]related to social skills instruction.
[00:01:27.480]And then, the bulk of today's training will be
[00:01:30.080]on learning how to implement the PEERS
[00:01:31.680]social skill curriculum for adolescents.
[00:01:35.080]So, this is the work of Liz Laugeson.
[00:01:37.470]She is the one who designed this program,
[00:01:39.680]did the research on the program, so kudos to her.
[00:01:42.910]This is her body of work that I'll be presenting today.
[00:01:47.820]I'm sharing two references with you.
[00:01:49.460]The first one is the actual program itself,
[00:01:52.230]then the second one is a research study
[00:01:54.570]on the use of the program.
[00:01:56.230]I could put in multiple slides here,
[00:01:58.140]with all of the research that's been done to provide you
[00:02:01.090]the whole evidence base, but there are eight pages of it
[00:02:03.820]in the program book, so instead of putting it in here,
[00:02:07.480]I'll show you where you can find it.
[00:02:09.590]If you go to their website, what you'll find is that
[00:02:13.690]there is a link for research and you can see
[00:02:18.730]all of these are hyperlink studies that you can
[00:02:21.260]take a look at if you have an interest in it.
[00:02:23.560]So, it's all there for you.
[00:02:24.950]This is an evidence-based program that I'm sharing today,
[00:02:28.100]and that's where you can find it.
[00:02:30.840]So, just a little bit of background on PEERS.
[00:02:33.310]This is an international program,
[00:02:34.950]translated into dozens of languages.
[00:02:37.250]It was developed at UCLA in 2004.
[00:02:40.090]And, one of the first books was titled,
[00:02:42.077]"The Science of Making Friends:
[00:02:43.667]"Helping Socially Challenged Teens and Young Adults".
[00:02:46.493]And, this curriculum is an outgrowth of that first book.
[00:02:50.180]There are several different age levels
[00:02:51.940]of these social skill programs.
[00:02:53.620]There's a PEERS for preschoolers,
[00:02:55.650]PEERS for adolescents and one for adults.
[00:02:58.150]Today, our focus will be the PEERS for adolescents program.
[00:03:03.140]So, what can you expect?
[00:03:04.830]You can expect to be teaching
[00:03:06.250]ecologically valid social skills.
[00:03:08.420]When I first heard that term, I wasn't quite sure
[00:03:10.660]what that meant, I kind of had to look it up,
[00:03:12.830]but what it means are things that work,
[00:03:15.380]things that are used by socially successful
[00:03:17.540]adolescents in the social skills world.
[00:03:21.070]So, what they have done is observe
[00:03:23.320]and research what works for socially successful adolescents
[00:03:27.090]and build the curriculum around that.
[00:03:29.150]There's a focus on relationship skills,
[00:03:31.380]developing and maintaining friendships,
[00:03:33.500]managing conflict and handling rejection.
[00:03:37.140]It also teaches the kids how
[00:03:38.960]to help find sources of friends.
[00:03:41.350]It addresses the core social skill deficits
[00:03:43.780]in ASD populations.
[00:03:46.020]In my classes, I have used it for kids
[00:03:47.960]on the autism spectrum and kids who are not
[00:03:49.830]on the autism spectrum, so it doesn't just have
[00:03:52.100]to be used with kids with autism.
[00:03:54.280]It's good for any child who is struggling
[00:03:57.050]in the social arena.
[00:03:59.040]Fosters independence in social relationships.
[00:04:01.890]And, there is a communication piece with caregivers
[00:04:04.180]to provide ongoing support and skills practice.
[00:04:07.190]We want our kids to learn the skills at school,
[00:04:09.270]but then we want them to practice them
[00:04:10.720]at home and out in their community.
[00:04:12.340]And so, we provide that piece of information
[00:04:14.670]to the parents each week, so that those that choose to
[00:04:17.320]are able to do that with their child.
[00:04:19.850]This is a school-based, a daily school-based curriculum,
[00:04:22.760]and it can be used in other settings,
[00:04:24.930]but for today's training purposes,
[00:04:26.650]I'm going to be talking to you about
[00:04:28.050]how to use it in a school-based setting.
[00:04:30.810]It's teacher-facilitated.
[00:04:32.750]16-week curriculum fits nicely into a semester schedule.
[00:04:36.680]There are daily lesson plans.
[00:04:38.820]They also include weekly parent handouts,
[00:04:42.280]so that they can help them with the homework
[00:04:43.860]at home if they want to do that.
[00:04:45.830]And, it is an evidence-based treatment
[00:04:47.470]for middle and high school-aged students with ASD
[00:04:50.920]and their classmates who also have deficits in those areas.
[00:04:55.930]So, the first half of this webinar will focus
[00:04:58.170]on the why of this curriculum,
[00:05:00.250]and then the second half will focus on the how.
[00:05:03.730]So, as we think about, why use this curriculum?
[00:05:06.430]Because, I'm going to be asking you to seriously consider,
[00:05:09.150]in your very busy teaching worlds,
[00:05:11.670]to implement this program.
[00:05:14.090]So, that's where we're going to start.
[00:05:15.750]So, the first poll question for you
[00:05:18.050]is to list the steps that you would use
[00:05:20.420]if you were instructing a teen how to join a conversation
[00:05:23.360]that was already taking place with two other people.
[00:05:26.050]All right?
[00:05:26.883]So, what would you ask them?
[00:05:28.280]What would you instruct them to do first,
[00:05:30.270]to do second, to do third and so on?
[00:05:33.070]All right?
[00:05:33.903]And, the reason I'm having you do this is because
[00:05:35.600]I'm going to give you an introduction to this program
[00:05:38.380]and you're going to see what they have recommended.
[00:05:40.730]And, after I show you this video of the author
[00:05:43.940]of the book implementing part of it,
[00:05:46.660]then I'm gonna ask you to see how many you got right.
[00:05:49.640]So, you can pause this and either think about
[00:05:52.050]or list the steps you would use,
[00:05:53.440]if instructing a teen how to join in a conversation.
[00:05:59.900]All right, so why this curriculum?
[00:06:02.010]Why consider putting one more thing on your busy plates?
[00:06:04.970]This is the author, Liz Laugeson, of the program,
[00:06:07.380]and she's going to be having a conversation with Alex
[00:06:10.210]and instructing him on how to join a conversation.
[00:06:14.010]Let's see if what you put in your list matches up with
[00:06:17.470]the steps that she describes, that successful teens use.
[00:06:22.150]Hi, welcome to Autism Talk TV.
[00:06:24.393](upbeat piano)
[00:06:37.260]In this episode, we visit the PEERS Center in UCLA,
[00:06:40.650]run by Dr. Liz Laugeson, which focuses on social skills.
[00:06:44.690]And, in this episode, Alex is learning
[00:06:46.530]how to approach a circle of people.
[00:06:48.640]And, he will actually experiment and approach
[00:06:50.590]a real circle of people, so you get to see his progress.
[00:06:56.500]Yeah.
[00:06:57.660]People with autism generally try to make friends
[00:06:59.850]and sometimes they go about it the wrong way
[00:07:02.130]and frequently get frustrated by their lack of results.
[00:07:06.010]What are some ways that you think that people
[00:07:08.660]on the autism spectrum can sort of make new friends,
[00:07:11.500]get into conversations and really integrate in with a group?
[00:07:15.270]It's not a simple answer.
[00:07:16.650]There's lots of different elements of how you make friends.
[00:07:18.970]But, one way that we meet new people
[00:07:22.380]and make potentially new friends is by
[00:07:24.730]entering conversations and not butting into conversations.
[00:07:27.220]The reality is, a lotta times, as adults,
[00:07:29.010]we give kids and even young adults
[00:07:33.100]the wrong advice, essentially, in these situations.
[00:07:35.640]So, what I wanna do is kinda share with you
[00:07:37.460]what we call an ecologically valid skill.
[00:07:40.240]Okay. An ecologically valid skill
[00:07:42.200]is kind of a fancy term for what people
[00:07:44.720]who are socially accepted naturally
[00:07:47.390]do in these social situations.
[00:07:49.430]And so, that's what we wanna teach, right?
[00:07:51.040]Not what we think that they should do,
[00:07:52.360]but what actually works.
[00:07:53.880]So, this is what people do when
[00:07:55.110]they're trying to meet new people.
[00:07:57.050]They'll first sort of listen to a conversation,
[00:08:00.010]kind of watch it from a distance,
[00:08:02.170]and try to figure out what they're talking about, right?
[00:08:05.730]Hey, Shan!
[00:08:06.563]Hey, Mary, how's it going?
[00:08:07.610]It's good, how are you doing?
[00:08:08.680]Good, thanks.
[00:08:09.890]Is that your new laptop?
[00:08:11.130]Yeah, it's the new MacBook Air, I just got it.
[00:08:13.310]Oh, my God, I love it.
[00:08:14.880]I know, I love it.
[00:08:16.006]What do you think that most teens
[00:08:17.230]with autism do when they enter conversations?
[00:08:20.130]I would imagine most teens with autism,
[00:08:22.180]when they enter a conversation, will say something
[00:08:24.970]completely unrelated to the topic that's currently
[00:08:28.220]being discussed and probably is somewhat
[00:08:30.280]related to their special interests.
[00:08:31.870]Exactly, you're absolutely right.
[00:08:33.200]And, that's what our research is showing,
[00:08:34.470]is that they tend to be rather intrusive with conversations,
[00:08:37.560]kind of butt in and are off topic
[00:08:40.240]and they're talking about something
[00:08:41.290]that's not related to what the people are talking about.
[00:08:43.760]How do you think they're gonna be received
[00:08:45.200]when they do that?
[00:08:46.880]Usually, I would think that kids who enter
[00:08:50.160]into a conversation, saying something unrelated,
[00:08:52.690]would not be received in a good way.
[00:08:55.450]Usually, with other kids either being puzzled or annoyed,
[00:09:01.430]depending on how many times they've done it.
[00:09:03.680]So, we don't wanna do that.
[00:09:05.010]Instead, we wanna use these ecologically valid skills
[00:09:07.190]where we first listen to the conversation,
[00:09:09.640]we figure out what they're talking about.
[00:09:12.260]Once we've identified the topic,
[00:09:13.940]we also want to make sure that we know something
[00:09:16.570]about the topic before we join this conversation.
[00:09:18.840]And, why would that be important?
[00:09:20.480]It would be important 'cause if they're having
[00:09:21.900]a discussion, you don't wanna get into a situation
[00:09:25.160]where you don't even know what they're talking about
[00:09:26.650]and they get confused why you're even in the conversation.
[00:09:30.230]Exactly.
[00:09:31.063]Important thing though, while you're listening to
[00:09:32.270]this conversation, essentially you're eavesdropping, right?
[00:09:36.270]But, do you wanna look like you're eavesdropping?
[00:09:37.940]No. No, you don't wanna come off
[00:09:39.610]in a way that makes it seem like you've been eavesdropping.
[00:09:43.260]And, I've seen situations where kids
[00:09:45.990]do get called out for eavesdropping.
[00:09:48.670]Exactly, well, what do you think
[00:09:49.840]they were doing with their eye contact
[00:09:51.480]when they got called out for eavesdropping?
[00:09:54.480]I assume they were looking at the people.
[00:09:56.357]Mm-hmm, they were probably staring at them, right?
[00:09:58.020]That's what gives us away when we're eavesdropping.
[00:10:00.410]So, instead of doing that, we're just gonna
[00:10:02.630]make kind of casual periodic eye contact.
[00:10:05.550]We're gonna look over occasionally,
[00:10:07.580]to sort of show interest, but we're not gonna stare at them.
[00:10:10.750]So, a lotta people will use a prop,
[00:10:12.280]like they'll use maybe their iPhone or their Blackberry
[00:10:14.630]or something like that, or kinda be looking through,
[00:10:16.257]you know, a book or whatever is around.
[00:10:18.760]Before you join, you're actually gonna wait for something.
[00:10:22.840]What do you think that you're waiting for?
[00:10:25.000]I would think that you would wait
[00:10:26.240]for a pause in the conversation.
[00:10:28.640]Yeah, exactly.
[00:10:29.560]So, why would you not wanna just barge in
[00:10:31.760]when they're in the middle of talking?
[00:10:33.290]People don't like to get interrupted.
[00:10:35.290]Mm-hmm, exactly. So, you don't wanna give
[00:10:36.720]a bad impression to the person that was talking.
[00:10:39.080]Right, so we wanna wait for just a little brief pause
[00:10:42.040]in the conversation before we actually join.
[00:10:44.570]But, one of the things I actually have to remind
[00:10:46.630]the teens and the young adults that I work with is that
[00:10:49.090]there's never a perfect pause, because a lotta people
[00:10:52.380]will be waiting forever, you know,
[00:10:54.390]waiting for this perfect pause.
[00:10:55.950]But, what you do is you actually,
[00:10:57.980]as you're waiting for that pause, when you can
[00:10:59.920]kinda find the pause, you're gonna move a little bit closer.
[00:11:03.120]They'll probably at least look over at you.
[00:11:04.930]They'll notice you.
[00:11:06.020]And then, that's your kind of,
[00:11:07.190]that's your moment to join the conversation.
[00:11:09.490]Now, when we join the conversation, we're moved
[00:11:12.420]a little bit closer, there's hopefully a little pause.
[00:11:14.820]What do you think we're gonna wanna say?
[00:11:16.290]Like, how do we join that conversation?
[00:11:19.360]Well, usually, I would think that you would wanna talk
[00:11:22.843]about whatever they're talking about,
[00:11:24.855]and have something insightful that actually
[00:11:26.410]adds value to their conversation.
[00:11:28.210]Exactly! Because, you could give
[00:11:29.310]an opinion, but unless your opinion is something
[00:11:31.860]that is worthwhile for them to listen to,
[00:11:34.520]they're not really gonna care that much.
[00:11:36.270]Exactly, so I mean, it doesn't have
[00:11:37.790]to be a brilliant comment or anything like that,
[00:11:40.021]but it does have to be on topic.
[00:11:41.030]You're right about that.
[00:11:41.880]So, you're gonna either make a comment
[00:11:44.150]or ask a question that's on topic.
[00:11:47.700]Is that the new MacBook Air?
[00:11:48.770]It is! Yeah, I just got it.
[00:11:50.390]Oh, cool.
[00:11:51.450]And so, what you do from there is you
[00:11:53.740]actually need to start assessing whether or not
[00:11:56.260]you're accepted into the conversation, right?
[00:11:58.040]Those are the steps for joining the conversation,
[00:11:59.830]you're watching and listening from a distance,
[00:12:02.300]you're sort of making periodic eye contact,
[00:12:04.570]you wait for a little pause and you join
[00:12:06.710]by making a comment and/or asking questions on topic.
[00:12:09.540]Right.
[00:12:10.373]Yeah, are you a Mac person?
[00:12:11.206]Oh, yeah, definitely.
[00:12:12.039]Me too.
[00:12:12.872]Me too.
[00:12:13.981]Yeah, I have the, just got the new iPad.
[00:12:16.635]Oh, nice! I want that one.
[00:12:17.520]I heard it's so great.
[00:12:18.510]It is, I really like it.
[00:12:19.700]So, Liz, how do you know if you've been
[00:12:21.491]accepted into the group?
[00:12:22.720]We know from the research that about half the time
[00:12:25.510]that we try to join a conversation,
[00:12:27.660]we're not necessarily gonna be accepted.
[00:12:29.870]And, it's not a big deal, actually, it happens to everyone.
[00:12:33.020]But, we need to be paying attention
[00:12:34.370]to whether or not we're accepted.
[00:12:35.890]So, there's very specific ways that we can tell.
[00:12:39.380]For example, when you join a conversation,
[00:12:42.840]what are people doing that's giving you the sense
[00:12:45.620]that they're interested in you?
[00:12:47.770]Perhaps they're talking to you, looking at you,
[00:12:50.980]looking you in the eye, leaning in towards you
[00:12:52.860]when you're talking, pointing their bodies towards you.
[00:12:55.630]That's exactly right!
[00:12:56.660]The reverse is true though,
[00:12:58.040]when they're not interested in talking to us.
[00:13:00.610]So, if they're not interested,
[00:13:02.380]they're not engaging you in conversation,
[00:13:05.150]they're not looking at you, or if they are looking at you,
[00:13:07.440]they're making a face or something like that.
[00:13:09.093]And, they do this interesting thing
[00:13:10.470]with their body where they kinda turn away from you.
[00:13:12.810]And, the interesting thing about the body language
[00:13:16.000]is that if you've ever, I don't know if you've ever noticed,
[00:13:17.700]but when people talk in conversations,
[00:13:20.690]like, with groups, they talk in circles.
[00:13:23.710]Have you ever seen that? Yeah, I've seen everyone
[00:13:24.680]standing in a circle usually or sitting around in a circle.
[00:13:28.210]Yeah, they kind of, they're all facing each other
[00:13:29.830]and maybe in kind of a circle.
[00:13:31.460]What do you think they do with that circle
[00:13:33.330]when they want to talk to you?
[00:13:34.700]What do they do with it?
[00:13:35.680]They make it wider.
[00:13:36.730]Yeah, they open the circle, essentially.
[00:13:39.150]What do they do with the circle
[00:13:40.260]when they don't wanna talk to you?
[00:13:43.590]Maybe the people closest to you move
[00:13:47.790]sort of away from you or--
[00:13:49.980]Yeah, they close the circle, essentially.
[00:13:52.260]They kinda give you that cold shoulder.
[00:13:54.080]Right. So, those are some
[00:13:54.970]very concrete behavioral signs
[00:13:57.820]that we can use to assess whether
[00:14:00.150]or not we're accepted into the conversation.
[00:14:01.790]Are they looking at us?
[00:14:02.623]Are they talking to us?
[00:14:03.770]And, are they facing us?
[00:14:05.480]Why is it important to know if you're accepted or not?
[00:14:08.010]Well, because do you wanna force someone to talk to you?
[00:14:10.400]Let's imagine we join a conversation.
[00:14:12.810]They're not really interested in talking to us
[00:14:14.267]and we know that happens about half the time.
[00:14:16.780]Do we wanna continue to force them
[00:14:18.820]to try to, you know, talk to us?
[00:14:21.780]Guess not.
[00:14:22.710]Probably not, what do you think they might think of us
[00:14:24.610]if we continue to try to engage them
[00:14:26.790]when they've shown us that they're not interested?
[00:14:29.060]I think they might find us annoying.
[00:14:31.370]Yeah, they might find us annoying.
[00:14:32.620]So, in those cases, we have to exit these conversations.
[00:14:35.381]Sure.
[00:14:36.214]And, what's the best way to exit,
[00:14:37.047]just to generally just walk away?
[00:14:38.900]That's a really good question.
[00:14:40.220]So, the typical advice is that you just walk away,
[00:14:43.520]but the problem with just walking away
[00:14:45.560]is that a lot of the kids that we work with,
[00:14:48.520]they look like they're storming off.
[00:14:50.080]It's sort of very obvious. I can see that.
[00:14:53.040]You could see that, right?
[00:14:53.873]So, we actually teach them to slow it down a bit
[00:14:56.640]and they should begin by sort of looking away.
[00:14:59.800]Now, what does it tell the people you're trying to talk to,
[00:15:02.260]when you start to look away from them?
[00:15:04.080]That you're not as interested in the conversation.
[00:15:06.517]That's right, so you're kind of disengaged
[00:15:08.380]from the conversation, your attention is focused elsewhere.
[00:15:10.950]Then, while you're kind of looking away,
[00:15:12.270]you're gonna kinda turn your body away
[00:15:14.120]in that same direction that you're looking.
[00:15:16.050]What does that tell them that you're about to do?
[00:15:19.722]It tells them that you're about to leave.
[00:15:21.200]Yeah, you're about to walk away and that's the third step.
[00:15:23.170]So, we start by looking away, kinda turning away
[00:15:25.900]and casually walking away.
[00:15:27.140]It slows down the process.
[00:15:28.690]And, if we've done this right,
[00:15:30.540]the people that we've been trying to engage
[00:15:32.692]are not even gonna notice when we walk off.
[00:15:35.040]I've noticed some neuro-typical guys that I,
[00:15:37.450]you know, hang out with who are,
[00:15:39.468]you know, really good at social skills.
[00:15:40.830]They'll go into a conversation, they won't even
[00:15:43.360]move their body into the conversation,
[00:15:45.130]they'll, like, look over their shoulder
[00:15:46.850]and start talking to the other group.
[00:15:48.270]And, it seems like there's way less rejection from that.
[00:15:50.610]Is that wrong?
[00:15:51.490]That's absolutely a strategy you can use.
[00:15:53.700]We actually teach a lot of our kids in our program,
[00:15:55.970]the idea of what we call gaze aversion.
[00:15:58.400]We don't necessarily do that with our bodies,
[00:15:59.990]but that's what you're talking about,
[00:16:01.560]which is a very protective way of entering a conversation
[00:16:05.450]before you've really known if you've been accepted.
[00:16:07.970]Right, right.
[00:16:08.803]'Cause you're not 100% invested yet.
[00:16:10.880]We've kind of identified what the steps are, right?
[00:16:13.670]The first step for--
[00:16:16.310]Okay, so I will do the recap here,
[00:16:21.430]on the steps, and let's see how many
[00:16:23.180]you got right when you did your poll question.
[00:16:25.610]These are the steps, according to this program,
[00:16:27.560]that you should use.
[00:16:28.850]Listen to the conversation.
[00:16:30.490]Figure out what they're talking about.
[00:16:32.040]Look over occasionally.
[00:16:33.730]Use a prop, like a phone.
[00:16:36.000]Wait for a pause in the conversation,
[00:16:37.790]and remember, there's not always a perfect pause.
[00:16:40.360]Move your body, pull a bit closer.
[00:16:42.380]Make a comment or ask a question that is on topic.
[00:16:45.460]Determine whether or not you're being accepted.
[00:16:47.810]And, as you could tell, they went into a lot of steps
[00:16:49.760]to determine that, ways to figure it out.
[00:16:52.360]If you're not accepted, look away,
[00:16:54.490]turn your body away and walk slowly away.
[00:16:57.400]So, did you get them all? (laughs)
[00:16:59.180]If you're like me, you probably didn't,
[00:17:01.130]because I was teaching a conversation model to my students
[00:17:04.470]for lots of years and I only had four steps.
[00:17:07.150]It was, pick a greeting.
[00:17:08.930]Hi, how you doing?
[00:17:10.510]Then, number two, think about a topic to talk about.
[00:17:13.590]Number three, ask a few questions.
[00:17:15.670]And, number four wrap it up with, okay, see you later.
[00:17:18.740]And, my students were not being
[00:17:20.070]very successful with those conversations.
[00:17:22.220]They weren't having the deep conversations
[00:17:24.220]that I was looking for, because I hadn't known
[00:17:27.140]all of the nuances, all of the things that are involved
[00:17:31.090]in having a successful conversation,
[00:17:33.040]because most of us, we just do it naturally,
[00:17:36.140]but these kids need more help and more training.
[00:17:38.860]So, this program is different in that way.
[00:17:42.130]So, why this curriculum?
[00:17:43.640]There's a lot of social skills programs out there.
[00:17:46.000]As you saw in the video, it is nuanced.
[00:17:48.750]It is ecologically valid, they've done the research.
[00:17:51.290]They've studied what works with other teens
[00:17:53.560]who are not on the autism spectrum.
[00:17:55.840]One thing that I love about this program
[00:17:57.590]is that it requires little planning.
[00:17:59.220]It is a scripted curriculum, and so you read the script.
[00:18:02.750]I wasn't sure if I would like that at first,
[00:18:05.170]but I've come to find out I really do.
[00:18:07.140]Teachers are so busy during the school day.
[00:18:09.610]What I found that I was doing is I was picking
[00:18:11.710]and choosing pieces of different social skill programs,
[00:18:14.700]as needs would come up, you know, things that my students
[00:18:17.770]were struggling with, but it wasn't systematic instruction.
[00:18:21.290]It wasn't scaffolded instruction,
[00:18:23.150]where one skill built upon the previous taught skill.
[00:18:26.980]This one provided everything for me.
[00:18:29.120]The organization of it, and I will show you some
[00:18:31.320]page examples in just a few minutes, is very easy to follow.
[00:18:35.430]It took my guilt away.
[00:18:36.860]You know, when you teach in a high school,
[00:18:38.460]you're always thinking about academics and getting them
[00:18:41.070]through and helping them get their high school diploma.
[00:18:43.320]And, all those things are important,
[00:18:44.940]but in the back of my mind everyday,
[00:18:46.690]I had this nagging feeling that
[00:18:48.200]I'm not addressing their social skill needs.
[00:18:50.560]I'm not devoting enough time and attention to that.
[00:18:53.240]I knew that my students, when they graduated,
[00:18:55.380]that was the area they struggled in,
[00:18:57.530]it wasn't the Pythagorean theorem in mathematics,
[00:19:00.640]it was, you know, how do I interact
[00:19:02.970]with other people successfully,
[00:19:04.380]so that I can make it in college
[00:19:06.330]and I can make it in the world of work and,
[00:19:08.270]you know, in the relationships that I have
[00:19:09.930]with people and in my community?
[00:19:12.120]And, I have to say that in my experience with
[00:19:14.120]the classes that I've used this curriculum in, it works.
[00:19:17.160]My students have been very motivated to learn these skills,
[00:19:20.150]they know they don't have them, and they just blossomed.
[00:19:24.380]And, it was pretty exciting to see.
[00:19:27.630]So, poll question number two
[00:19:28.873]And, this is also part of the why.
[00:19:30.930]Why use this curriculum?
[00:19:32.860]What I'd like you to do is to list social skills deficits
[00:19:35.800]that teens with ASD experience.
[00:19:38.300]You can pause this, you can write it,
[00:19:39.960]you can think about it in your head if you'd prefer
[00:19:43.020]not to write it down, but list as many
[00:19:45.160]social skills deficits that teens with ASD experience.
[00:19:51.810]All right, I'm going to go through this list.
[00:19:53.640]And, what I want to know, have you think about,
[00:19:56.360]match them up with the ones that you came up
[00:19:58.190]with in that poll question, but also understand
[00:20:01.440]that this curriculum was designed to specifically address
[00:20:05.040]these social skill deficits and teach these lagging skills.
[00:20:09.080]Poor social communication.
[00:20:10.700]What does that mean?
[00:20:11.920]Problems with topic initiation, one-sided conversations
[00:20:15.860]that elicit fewer extended responses, give fewer
[00:20:19.240]reciprocal responses and fail to identify common interests.
[00:20:23.680]These are the missing skills, so these are the things
[00:20:26.060]that they are teaching in the curriculum.
[00:20:28.940]Repetitive themes, perseverate on restricted interests,
[00:20:31.950]disregard the other person's interests.
[00:20:35.730]Difficulty providing relevant information.
[00:20:38.210]So, we teach them how to do that.
[00:20:40.080]They make unexpected leaps in topics
[00:20:42.070]and have a pedantic style in speaking.
[00:20:45.540]They have a difficult time interpreting verbal
[00:20:47.430]and nonverbal communication, including voice tone,
[00:20:50.460]sarcasm, gestures and social touch.
[00:20:53.670]So, there is extensive instruction on how to interpret
[00:20:56.450]and deal with each of these different things.
[00:20:59.530]There is poor social awareness, including difficulty
[00:21:02.080]making eye contact, difficulty understanding social cues.
[00:21:06.090]By the time I got my students in high school,
[00:21:07.850]many of them had poor social motivation,
[00:21:10.230]I think in part, because they had been so unsuccessful
[00:21:12.910]in their attempts to integrate socially on their own,
[00:21:16.030]without this needed instruction.
[00:21:18.100]There was less involvement in social skill activities.
[00:21:20.430]I had a hard time getting them involved
[00:21:22.040]in extracurricular activities.
[00:21:24.620]They tended to have more online friends
[00:21:26.650]than in-person friends.
[00:21:28.660]They tended to go home after school
[00:21:30.180]and stay in their bedrooms and play online video games.
[00:21:32.990]And, you know, their parents were worried about them,
[00:21:34.940]that they weren't interacting with the world
[00:21:37.100]and getting the social skill practice that they needed.
[00:21:39.830]And, there was just, in general,
[00:21:41.013]a lack of peer entry attempts.
[00:21:42.850]There were fewer social initiations.
[00:21:45.280]It would really amaze me that some of my students could
[00:21:47.930]go through the whole school day and barely talk to anybody.
[00:21:52.850]There is also poor social cognition, which means difficulty
[00:21:56.320]understanding the perspectives of others.
[00:21:58.810]This program is developed, there is a piece embedded
[00:22:01.430]in every single lesson, that asks them,
[00:22:03.640]what does the other person think if you behave this way?
[00:22:07.090]Will the other person wanna talk to you?
[00:22:09.290]Will they want to initiate contact with you the next time?
[00:22:12.860]This is a result of poor theory of mind
[00:22:14.850]and lack of cognitive empathy.
[00:22:16.360]So, because this is a skill deficit in this population,
[00:22:19.700]it has been hyper-focused on in this curriculum,
[00:22:22.880]one of the reasons why I think it's so good for our kids.
[00:22:26.380]Poll question number three.
[00:22:28.250]List three consequences for teens with ASD,
[00:22:31.070]due to these social skill deficits.
[00:22:33.890]You know, I'm going to be asking you to seriously consider
[00:22:36.950]implementing this program in your classroom, in your school.
[00:22:40.430]And, our plates are full, I know this.
[00:22:42.900]So, you know, I think what I'm hoping for is buy-in,
[00:22:46.550]as we consider the consequences for kids,
[00:22:49.260]if these social skills aren't taught to them.
[00:22:51.750]So, take a minute.
[00:22:52.830]You can pause this, either write it down or think
[00:22:55.120]about three consequences for teens.
[00:23:01.740]All right, these kids have less companionship.
[00:23:05.920]They have less help from friends.
[00:23:07.610]Think about when, you know, life is full of trials.
[00:23:10.020]We all experience them.
[00:23:11.700]What do we do when we're going through a rough time?
[00:23:14.040]We seek out our friends, we seek out those that are close
[00:23:16.500]to us, who know us, who will listen to us,
[00:23:18.360]who will help us process, sometimes just be with us.
[00:23:21.790]If you're isolated and you don't have
[00:23:23.390]these networks, you are all alone.
[00:23:25.230]And, I can't even imagine what that would be like.
[00:23:28.400]There's less security within friendships.
[00:23:30.840]Some of our kids are able to build
[00:23:32.800]an initial friendship and then it collapses,
[00:23:35.140]because they don't have the skills to maintain it.
[00:23:38.110]Greater social isolation, greater peer conflict,
[00:23:41.690]greater loneliness and greater peer rejection.
[00:23:45.460]There are consequences to this peer rejection
[00:23:47.710]and they're pretty serious.
[00:23:49.020]It's one of the strongest predictors
[00:23:50.730]of mental health issues, substance abuse,
[00:23:53.690]suicidal ideation and suicide attempts.
[00:23:56.910]So, in light of this, I think it's worth our time
[00:23:59.620]to consider learning and implementing
[00:24:01.240]a program that helps them build
[00:24:03.460]those social networks and those friendships that
[00:24:05.430]are critical to all of our mental health.
[00:24:08.250]The good news is, having one or two close friends
[00:24:11.030]predicts later adjustment in life.
[00:24:13.310]It can buffer the impact of successful life events,
[00:24:16.640]correlates positively with self esteem and independence,
[00:24:19.970]and friendships prevent victimization.
[00:24:22.680]I know that we're all working on
[00:24:24.020]bully prevention in our schools.
[00:24:26.000]And, when someone isn't alone, just having one
[00:24:28.050]or two friends, they're less likely
[00:24:30.100]to be bullied by other kids in school.
[00:24:33.200]So, how is PEERS different?
[00:24:35.010]Well, many programs are geared
[00:24:36.900]for younger children with ASD.
[00:24:38.650]This one is for teens, middle and high school students.
[00:24:42.250]Other programs don't always use evidence-based curricula.
[00:24:45.620]They're not necessarily tailored to the needs,
[00:24:47.950]the unique needs of the ASD populations that we work with.
[00:24:51.870]Now, you don't have to use it only
[00:24:53.330]with children on the autism spectrum,
[00:24:55.450]but you can use it, you know, with others,
[00:24:57.730]but just know that it is designed for their needs.
[00:25:00.540]Many other programs don't include homework.
[00:25:02.640]This is fun homework, that's what we tell the kids.
[00:25:04.750]This isn't tedious worksheet homework.
[00:25:07.100]These are, this is what we're going to learn,
[00:25:09.100]you know, how to have a video chat with somebody,
[00:25:11.120]how to exchange contact information,
[00:25:13.700]how to have a conversation, and you go and practice it.
[00:25:16.410]We tell the kids this is fun homework, and it is.
[00:25:18.830]It's hands-on.
[00:25:20.290]And, our kids need more practice than,
[00:25:22.550]you know, other people do.
[00:25:24.170]And so, the homework provides that.
[00:25:26.550]Other programs don't involve parents.
[00:25:28.580]There is a homework sheet that goes home
[00:25:30.710]and videos that can go home, so that parents can see
[00:25:33.550]what the kids are learning, and then they can coach them,
[00:25:35.900]help them, provide feedback on the skills
[00:25:38.690]that they're practicing when they go home.
[00:25:41.530]Many other social skill programs
[00:25:43.120]also don't involve teachers in treatment.
[00:25:45.700]If a student is getting their social skill instruction,
[00:25:49.230]let's say, in a therapist office,
[00:25:51.140]that can be very helpful, but often,
[00:25:53.400]the teachers have no idea what they're learning there.
[00:25:55.950]And, wouldn't it be helpful if the teachers
[00:25:57.820]could know those things and then have the child practice
[00:26:00.300]them at school, provide feedback and so on?
[00:26:03.300]This curriculum involves parents and teachers.
[00:26:07.930]Many others do not generalize to other settings
[00:26:10.660]and they lack durability gains over time.
[00:26:14.500]So, now let's get into the how.
[00:26:16.000]Those are the whys, why it's important to implement
[00:26:18.920]a curriculum like this one, but now let's get into the how.
[00:26:22.180]How do you do it and what does it look like?
[00:26:24.730]I'd like to start with letting
[00:26:25.960]you know what all of the topics are.
[00:26:27.690]So, there are 16 weeks and 16 topics.
[00:26:30.500]Week one is the introduction of
[00:26:31.820]the program and trading information.
[00:26:33.880]Trading information is having a conversation.
[00:26:36.380]What does that mean?
[00:26:37.630]It means you go back and forth and trade information
[00:26:40.600]with the end goal of finding an area
[00:26:42.640]of common interest, something you have in common.
[00:26:45.760]Why would you determine to have something in common?
[00:26:48.130]Because, that will help guide your get-together,
[00:26:50.220]that several weeks down the road, you're going to be doing.
[00:26:53.380]So, let's say that you find an area
[00:26:55.370]of common interest is that you both like to draw.
[00:26:58.440]Well, then what could you do with that information
[00:27:00.810]when you have a get-together in a few weeks?
[00:27:03.370]You could have some art supplies available
[00:27:05.120]and you could draw.
[00:27:06.340]If you find an area of common interest
[00:27:08.130]is a particular video game, what could you do
[00:27:10.440]with that information when you do
[00:27:11.780]your get-together in a few weeks?
[00:27:13.770]You could arrange to play that video game
[00:27:15.530]when someone comes over to your house, and so forth.
[00:27:18.760]Week two is two-way conversations, more practice.
[00:27:22.230]Week three is electronic communication,
[00:27:24.550]because our kids don't just live
[00:27:26.040]in a person-to-person world, electronic communication
[00:27:28.770]is a big part of all of our worlds.
[00:27:30.750]And, they can mess up there just as much as they can mess up
[00:27:33.430]in real life, face-to-face conversations.
[00:27:36.860]Week four is choosing appropriate friends.
[00:27:39.910]Week five is using appropriate humor.
[00:27:42.440]Just because someone is laughing
[00:27:43.980]doesn't mean they're necessarily enjoying your jokes.
[00:27:47.100]Week six, starting and joining conversations.
[00:27:50.370]Week seven, exiting conversations.
[00:27:53.220]Week eight, good sportsmanship.
[00:27:55.530]And, they have plenty of opportunity to practice that.
[00:27:58.530]And, all of those weeks, one through eight,
[00:28:00.750]led up to providing the skills,
[00:28:02.500]so that they could have a successful get-together.
[00:28:05.200]And, on week nine, we practice everything
[00:28:07.330]that's involved in a get-together,
[00:28:08.610]from opening the door when your friend comes over
[00:28:10.910]to your house, introducing them to your family members,
[00:28:14.420]offering them a snack, having some activities
[00:28:17.340]that they can choose from, and so on.
[00:28:19.830]So, just like you saw all of the nuanced instruction
[00:28:23.270]that was involved when we watched that video
[00:28:25.260]of Liz Laugeson teaching Alex how to enter
[00:28:27.980]that conversation, every single one of these lessons
[00:28:30.970]is designed with that amount of nuance.
[00:28:33.370]Week 10 is handling arguments.
[00:28:35.910]Week 11, changing reputations.
[00:28:38.290]And, reputations doesn't mean what
[00:28:39.730]we normally think reputations mean.
[00:28:42.190]Our kids, if they haven't been taught these lagging skills,
[00:28:45.940]they have a reputation for being rude, weird, annoying,
[00:28:50.850]and so week 11 focuses on helping kids who may have
[00:28:54.370]a bad reputation in those areas, how to change it.
[00:28:58.010]Week 12, handling teasing and embarrassing feedback.
[00:29:01.810]Week 13 is handling physical bullying.
[00:29:04.880]Week 14, handling cyber bullying.
[00:29:07.750]Week 15, minimizing rumors and gossip.
[00:29:10.890]And, week 16 is the final review,
[00:29:12.960]the post assessment and the graduation.
[00:29:17.570]The book is laid out to make your life as a teacher so easy.
[00:29:21.550]So, in the very front, they have this chart,
[00:29:23.730]it's kind of a quick go-to, so that you can look at all
[00:29:26.920]the weeks and what you have to do, the materials you need.
[00:29:29.510]So, as you can see in the first column,
[00:29:32.330]they list the different weeks.
[00:29:33.940]Week one, week two, week three and so on.
[00:29:36.200]The next column is what you're going to be teaching
[00:29:38.890]in the didactic lesson, and that just means
[00:29:41.200]the topic of new instruction for the week.
[00:29:43.720]The homework review, what you're going to be reviewing.
[00:29:46.670]What the behavioral rehearsal activity
[00:29:48.750]will be for that week.
[00:29:50.050]There's one each week.
[00:29:51.290]What materials you'll need and what the homework assignments
[00:29:54.220]for that following weekend will be.
[00:29:56.390]So, it's all laid out to make your life pretty darn easy.
[00:30:00.610]They use specific teaching methods.
[00:30:02.420]So, in the didactic lesson each week,
[00:30:04.670]the new direct instruction of the new content,
[00:30:07.100]they use the Socratic method.
[00:30:09.310]There's a lot of questions that you will pose
[00:30:11.400]to your students that they will be answering together,
[00:30:14.850]you know, and building off of each other's answers.
[00:30:17.890]It really results in high engagement level.
[00:30:21.080]I noticed that with my students.
[00:30:23.000]There are role-plays built in every week.
[00:30:25.160]There's role-plays that they watch the adults do,
[00:30:27.840]so that they can learn the skills, and then they practice.
[00:30:31.370]There is perspective-taking questions.
[00:30:33.440]I'll show you exactly what that looks like in a little bit,
[00:30:35.940]because remember, that's a skill that our kids don't have
[00:30:38.800]and we have to teach them to understand,
[00:30:41.160]if I do this, this is how it makes the other person feel.
[00:30:44.970]We use buzzwords.
[00:30:46.150]What are buzzwords?
[00:30:47.090]It's really just common vocabulary.
[00:30:49.250]So, some of the buzzwords I've referenced
[00:30:51.130]are trading information, finding an area
[00:30:54.130]of common interest, having a hangout.
[00:30:56.780]The kids know what those words mean.
[00:30:58.340]And, by the way, the parents will know too,
[00:31:00.010]because we use the same buzzwords
[00:31:02.190]in the homework assignments, in the handout
[00:31:04.260]that goes home to the parents.
[00:31:06.520]Then, there is the coaching with performance feedback.
[00:31:09.760]So, once you've demonstrated the skills,
[00:31:12.380]there are activities for the students
[00:31:14.020]to practice them themselves, and you are very
[00:31:16.460]actively involved in giving them feedback.
[00:31:18.590]If they get stuck, you're there to help them move on
[00:31:20.780]to the next thing, you know, provide critique,
[00:31:23.400]positive critique and help them get better.
[00:31:26.030]And then, of course, there's the extra practice
[00:31:27.780]through the homework assignments each week.
[00:31:30.480]The program organization.
[00:31:32.500]You have to go in lesson order,
[00:31:34.500]and I learned this the hard way.
[00:31:36.040]I was so excited after going to the training, three days
[00:31:39.090]after I got back, I started to implement right away.
[00:31:42.140]Well, there was a skill, I think it might've been
[00:31:43.820]a week nine skill, I can't remember,
[00:31:46.060]that a couple of my students were really struggling with,
[00:31:48.410]so I thought, I'm just gonna jump right into that one.
[00:31:50.910]No, don't do it, big mistake.
[00:31:53.450]Because, anything you're doing in week nine
[00:31:56.110]was started in week one.
[00:31:57.510]You have to learn the week one skills,
[00:31:59.560]because the week two are scaffolded on that,
[00:32:02.100]and the week three are scaffolded on that.
[00:32:04.570]You can't have a successful get-together
[00:32:06.470]in week eight until you've learned all
[00:32:08.260]of the skills in weeks one through seven.
[00:32:10.660]So, go in lesson order.
[00:32:12.430]Don't skip a thing.
[00:32:13.850]Just read the script.
[00:32:15.490]It's really easy to do.
[00:32:17.450]There's daily lessons for 50 to 60 minutes each, everyday.
[00:32:21.810]Weekly homework assignments, one a week.
[00:32:24.140]And, for 16 weeks, the program lasts.
[00:32:26.990]So, let's say day one is a Monday.
[00:32:28.750]That would start with homework review.
[00:32:30.530]Day two, Tuesday, would be the didactic lesson,
[00:32:33.950]which is the new instruction.
[00:32:35.950]Day three is the review and the behavioral rehearsal,
[00:32:39.420]where the adults show them what the skills look like,
[00:32:42.930]what to do and what not to do.
[00:32:45.330]Days four and five are the practice
[00:32:47.560]and reinforcement for the students.
[00:32:49.280]That's when they start to do the role-plays,
[00:32:51.660]the game-based learning and all
[00:32:53.240]the reinforcement activities.
[00:32:54.700]And, there's plenty of practice provided for them.
[00:32:57.530]And then, you send home the homework and the parent
[00:33:00.400]and teen can, the parent can help support the teen
[00:33:03.000]in doing that, if the parent is available to do that.
[00:33:06.090]If a parent can't help, that's fine.
[00:33:08.170]I've had kids do the homework assignments in school.
[00:33:10.460]I'll say, okay, you need to exchange information
[00:33:12.920]and get someone's homework, go do that at lunch
[00:33:15.160]and then come back and tell me how it went.
[00:33:16.910]So, there are ways around it,
[00:33:18.200]if a parent is not available to help.
[00:33:21.010]So, what does that homework review look like on day one?
[00:33:24.500]This is a page, I took a picture of a page from my book.
[00:33:27.163]And, as you can see, what I've done is I highlight
[00:33:29.770]all of the things that it tells me to say.
[00:33:32.450]Everything that's italicized here is the script
[00:33:34.840]that I'm going to use, everything else are the instructions.
[00:33:37.870]I've pulled a little bit of it out in the next slide here.
[00:33:40.350]So, it's telling me the instructions say,
[00:33:43.770]go over the following homework assignments
[00:33:45.720]and troubleshoot any problems.
[00:33:47.500]Remember to use buzzwords.
[00:33:50.080]And then, the manual says, say,
[00:33:52.690]one of your homework assignments this week was
[00:33:54.840]to have a phone call or video chat with someone
[00:33:57.110]in the group, in order to practice trading information.
[00:34:00.170]Raise your hand if you did the call or video chat.
[00:34:02.900]They raise their hands, you call on them
[00:34:05.010]and you discuss how that went.
[00:34:06.790]And then, they give you questions to ask.
[00:34:08.410]And, you don't skip any of this, you just read the script.
[00:34:11.120]It tells you everything to do.
[00:34:12.760]So, you're going to ask, who did you talk
[00:34:14.650]to and who called whom?
[00:34:16.300]Have that discussion with your group.
[00:34:18.140]Did you trade information?
[00:34:19.540]What was the common interest that you discovered?
[00:34:21.820]What could you do with that information
[00:34:23.510]if you were going to hang out?
[00:34:25.060]So, this is what the script for
[00:34:26.450]the homework review day looks like.
[00:34:28.230]And, it will take you the whole first day
[00:34:30.340]to go over that homework review.
[00:34:31.920]You think it won't, but it will.
[00:34:33.910]Then, on day two of the week's lesson,
[00:34:36.080]you do the didactic lesson, the new direct instruction.
[00:34:39.890]So, as you can see, once again,
[00:34:41.910]I have highlighted what I'm going to be saying,
[00:34:44.320]and when I teach the lesson, especially the first
[00:34:46.820]few times around, I have that book,
[00:34:48.810]I'm looking down at the book and then I'm looking up,
[00:34:50.780]I'm looking down at the book and I'm looking up.
[00:34:53.240]So, that's how the program works.
[00:34:54.970]It's as simple as that.
[00:34:56.640]This one is from week 12, and this lesson
[00:34:58.650]was on handling teasing and embarrassing feedback.
[00:35:01.900]I've pulled out a little piece of it.
[00:35:03.350]It says, explain: one important way to make it
[00:35:06.790]less likely that we'll be teased relates
[00:35:08.930]to how we react when someone is teasing us.
[00:35:11.610]In order for us to know how to react,
[00:35:13.540]it's helpful to think about why people tease.
[00:35:16.340]And, you ask, why do people tease?
[00:35:18.210]And, that generates discussion.
[00:35:20.300]And then, you continue and ask these questions.
[00:35:22.950]When you get upset, are you doing what the teaser wants?
[00:35:25.590]Are you putting on a show?
[00:35:26.800]Are you making teasing fun for the teaser?
[00:35:29.210]Are you more or less likely to get teased again?
[00:35:33.090]So, that's what it looks like.
[00:35:34.220]I'd like to pause here for a minute
[00:35:35.810]to talk about the points system embedded
[00:35:37.870]in this program, because it's a very critical element.
[00:35:41.930]So, what you do every single day of the lesson,
[00:35:45.150]whether it's day one or day five,
[00:35:46.750]is you have all the students' names written
[00:35:48.560]on a whiteboard, and then you make tally marks.
[00:35:51.190]They get points.
[00:35:52.430]They get points for completing homework,
[00:35:54.550]for class participation, for following the rules.
[00:35:58.160]So, at the first day of class, you tell them,
[00:36:00.850]we are going to have a party at the end of the class.
[00:36:03.560]And, there are going to be prizes that you get to earn.
[00:36:06.300]How do you earn prizes?
[00:36:07.540]Well, you get points every time you answer a question.
[00:36:09.950]And, you are giving points throughout the whole class.
[00:36:12.450]You're asking questions, following the script,
[00:36:14.560]then you're putting a tally mark on a board
[00:36:16.330]in front of the students, for them to see.
[00:36:17.930]It's a very powerful visual.
[00:36:20.060]And then, I tell them, everybody in this class
[00:36:22.010]will get a prize, but the person at the end
[00:36:24.130]of the semester who has the most points,
[00:36:26.100]I'll add them all up at the end,
[00:36:28.050]they get to choose the prize they want first,
[00:36:30.540]the person with the next number of points gets
[00:36:32.690]to choose the prize they want second, and so on.
[00:36:35.950]The other thing about these points is that
[00:36:37.620]we're going to have a party at the end of the class.
[00:36:40.240]At the end of the semester, I'm going
[00:36:41.560]to add everybody's all together.
[00:36:43.913]And, if the group, as a whole, has a large number of points,
[00:36:47.940]we're going to have a large, large party
[00:36:50.300]and it's going to be fun.
[00:36:51.930]So, the kids buy in and they work to get those points.
[00:36:55.570]It also helps me, because I can see if someone
[00:36:58.210]hasn't been participating very much,
[00:36:59.950]I can call on them if they don't have too many tally marks,
[00:37:02.620]and it does prove to be a big motivator.
[00:37:05.470]Now, I don't get into everyday, who's got the most points?
[00:37:08.060]Oh, John has the most points, oh, Sally has the least.
[00:37:10.670]We never talk about it.
[00:37:12.090]I'm adding them and keeping track.
[00:37:13.900]They never even see that.
[00:37:15.480]So, at the end, I'll just add up at the end of the semester
[00:37:18.140]and see who's got the most and they get to pick first.
[00:37:20.630]But, you know, I don't give that point feedback
[00:37:22.980]to the kids throughout the semester.
[00:37:24.890]And, it works.
[00:37:27.450]So, back to day two, didactic lesson.
[00:37:29.500]So, they're asking you to present the rules
[00:37:31.450]for handling teasing and embarrassing feedback,
[00:37:34.000]by writing these buzzwords on the board.
[00:37:36.440]Just a little background information.
[00:37:38.040]What do we normally tell kids who are being teased?
[00:37:41.740]Don't we say to them, something like,
[00:37:43.520]well, just ignore it, walk away, tell an adult?
[00:37:47.530]Well, guess what?
[00:37:48.363]None of those tactics are proven by the evidence base
[00:37:51.450]to work, and they actually can make the teasing worse.
[00:37:54.990]All of that advice is not good advice, but because
[00:37:58.270]the author of this program has done the research,
[00:38:01.340]she knows what socially successful teens do, that does work.
[00:38:05.490]And, what that is is, don't ignore the teasing,
[00:38:08.730]don't walk away, don't tell an adult right away,
[00:38:11.930]don't tease them back and don't banter.
[00:38:14.570]So, this is what you don't do.
[00:38:15.730]And, while you're teaching them these rules,
[00:38:18.010]you are writing them on the whiteboard, okay?
[00:38:20.210]And, you teach them, act like it didn't bother you.
[00:38:23.180]Act like what they said was lame or stupid.
[00:38:25.610]Have an attitude and give a comeback.
[00:38:27.840]A comeback is another one of those buzzwords.
[00:38:30.540]So then, you teach them what comebacks are
[00:38:32.397]and you teach them to have two or three of these
[00:38:35.210]right on the tip of their tongue, that they can use.
[00:38:37.590]And, you say things like, whatever.
[00:38:40.300]And, your point is?
[00:38:41.970]Is that supposed to be funny?
[00:38:44.000]Big deal!
[00:38:45.160]Who cares?
[00:38:46.370]Tell me when you get to the funny part.
[00:38:48.280]And, we teach them to say those things with attitude,
[00:38:51.020]with eye rolls, with shrugs and all that,
[00:38:54.160]because these are the things that are proven to work.
[00:38:56.610]We role-play that, they love watching the adults
[00:38:59.010]ham it up and get into it and so on.
[00:39:01.215]And, that's the next step, which is the lesson review
[00:39:03.430]on day three and the behavioral rehearsal.
[00:39:06.040]So, if you've taught that skill on day three,
[00:39:08.190]the adults are going to role-play,
[00:39:10.630]over and over and over again, what that looks like.
[00:39:13.500]Everything you say on day three is, once again,
[00:39:16.560]in the manual, you just follow it.
[00:39:19.920]They will have an appropriate role-play
[00:39:22.359]and an inappropriate role-play, what to do, what not to do,
[00:39:26.297]and you just read and role-play this with another adult.
[00:39:30.090]So, here's an example.
[00:39:31.850]Begin by saying, we're going to do a role-play.
[00:39:34.200]Watch this and tell me what I'm doing
[00:39:36.130]right in handling this teasing.
[00:39:38.570]And, here's the example in the gray box, in the manual.
[00:39:41.570]They use the terms coach and instructor,
[00:39:43.330]it just means the two adults.
[00:39:45.190]Coach: Your shoes are ugly.
[00:39:47.120]Rolls eyes, yeah, and?
[00:39:49.030]Giving an attitude.
[00:39:50.340]Seriously, those are some ugly shoes.
[00:39:52.460]Am I supposed to care?
[00:39:54.090]Said with indifference, looks away.
[00:39:56.390]Coach looks defeated.
[00:39:57.570]Kids love it when you ham it up for these.
[00:40:01.210]You also have, at your fingertips,
[00:40:03.250]free access on the PEERS website, role-play videos.
[00:40:06.690]So, I do the in-person rehearsal,
[00:40:09.330]show and tell that way, and then I show them a video
[00:40:12.880]that's been put out by the PEERS program.
[00:40:15.350]So, here's your fourth poll question.
[00:40:17.120]I'm gonna show you one of these videos,
[00:40:18.750]and poor Elena is gonna be doing things wrong, okay?
[00:40:22.590]And, these are these perspective-taking questions.
[00:40:25.480]What I want you to think about is,
[00:40:27.470]what was that like for the other person?
[00:40:29.740]What did she think of Elena?
[00:40:31.500]And, would she want to talk to Elena again?
[00:40:34.640]So, this particular skill in this video,
[00:40:36.920]and there's a video for all the skills that are taught
[00:40:38.930]in the program, is starting an individual conversation.
[00:40:42.300]This is the bad example, and I'll play it for you.
[00:40:45.835](clicking)
[00:40:53.490]Hey, do you ever go roller skating?
[00:40:55.330]What?
[00:40:56.163]Do you go roller skating?
[00:40:57.590]No.
[00:40:58.490]Why not?
[00:40:59.323]You should go.
[00:41:00.490]Okay.
[00:41:01.330]It's really fun.
[00:41:02.163]I go, like, every weekend.
[00:41:03.740]Sweet.
[00:41:05.100]There's this new skate park that just opened up.
[00:41:07.770]I'm trying to watch something right now, so.
[00:41:10.020]Oh, well, I'm just saying, it's really fun.
[00:41:13.330]They have, like, a student night every Thursday.
[00:41:16.110]Cool.
[00:41:17.070]You should definitely go.
[00:41:18.620]Okay.
[00:41:21.920]All right, and at the end of each video,
[00:41:23.800]what they have are these three
[00:41:24.900]perspective-taking questions that you ask your students.
[00:41:28.470]And, here they are.
[00:41:29.820]So, you'll ask your student,
[00:41:31.260]what was that like for the other person?
[00:41:33.300]And, you generate the answers from them
[00:41:34.990]and they'll say things like uncomfortable, confusing.
[00:41:38.100]You give them a point every time they give an answer.
[00:41:40.820]What did she think of Elena, the other girl?
[00:41:43.570]Well, kids will generate these answers.
[00:41:45.610]They thought she was annoying or weird.
[00:41:47.560]Would she wanna talk to Elena again?
[00:41:49.760]Probably not, okay?
[00:41:51.800]So, these are those perspective-taking questions,
[00:41:54.260]the thing that is so difficult for our students
[00:41:56.330]on the spectrum to be able to do, and this is how
[00:41:58.760]you teach them at the end of these role-plays.
[00:42:00.640]They ask these questions every single time.
[00:42:03.170]There's a lot of practice and review in the manual.
[00:42:07.160]So, now let's look at what Elena is doing right.
[00:42:10.090]We're going to think about the three
[00:42:11.450]same perspective-taking questions.
[00:42:13.710]What was that like for the other person?
[00:42:15.450]What did she think of Elena?
[00:42:16.970]Would she want to talk to Elena again?
[00:42:19.740]Let's take a look at that one.
[00:42:30.510]Oh, my god, I love that song.
[00:42:32.240]Yeah, me too, this is the new video
[00:42:33.800]that just came out today.
[00:42:34.970]No way!
[00:42:35.803]I'm dying to see that.
[00:42:36.740]Yeah, it's so good.
[00:42:38.130]That's awesome, have you ever seen her in concert?
[00:42:40.310]I have, I actually have tickets for her upcoming concert.
[00:42:43.030]No way, the one that's coming up in two weeks?
[00:42:44.940]Yeah, it's gonna be so great.
[00:42:46.410]That's so cool.
[00:42:47.243]Have you ever seen her perform?
[00:42:48.260]No, I wish, I really want to.
[00:42:50.070]Oh, my god, she's amazing in concert.
[00:42:51.890]You need to see her.
[00:42:52.810]Yeah, that's what I've heard.
[00:42:54.580]By the way, I'm Elina.
[00:42:55.790]I'm Jordan.
[00:42:56.623]Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you.
[00:42:58.197]And then, once again,
[00:42:59.370]there are the three perspective-taking questions.
[00:43:05.800]What was that like for the other person?
[00:43:07.423]And, you gently ask the question,
[00:43:09.010]pose it to your students and they'll generate answers like,
[00:43:11.580]she was on topic, she traded information
[00:43:13.980]and listened, she asked questions.
[00:43:15.530]What did she think of Elena, the other girl?
[00:43:17.870]Maybe she thought Elena was a cool girl.
[00:43:19.810]Would she want to talk to Elena again?
[00:43:21.760]Yes, she probably would.
[00:43:23.240]So, this is how the manual guides you after the videos.
[00:43:26.660]So, here's one more, this is the handling teasing,
[00:43:29.570]you know, doing those comebacks.
[00:43:30.840]Here's another example.
[00:43:39.360]Hey, dweeb, reading again?
[00:43:41.020]Whatever.
[00:43:41.940]You're such a loser, you're always reading.
[00:43:44.490]Am I supposed to care?
[00:43:46.000]Yeah, because everyone thinks you're a loser.
[00:43:48.660]Anyway.
[00:43:50.920]And then, once again,
[00:43:51.900]the perspective-taking questions.
[00:43:54.550]So, where are these role-play videos?
[00:43:56.790]If you go to the PEERS website,
[00:43:59.700]you will find that they have all,
[00:44:01.210]everything is on YouTube, they give good examples,
[00:44:03.930]bad examples, what to do, what not to do,
[00:44:06.030]on all of the topics that are taught in the manual.
[00:44:09.810]So, you can see conversation skills,
[00:44:13.020]and then they just do the deep dive into all of that.
[00:44:16.040]Appropriate use of humor.
[00:44:20.060]Good sportsmanship, get-togethers, handling arguments.
[00:44:23.200]So, this reinforces everything
[00:44:24.870]that you're teaching in class.
[00:44:26.670]So, on the third day, you can go ahead and,
[00:44:30.480]you know, do the behavioral rehearsals,
[00:44:31.980]reading from the book, and then I always
[00:44:33.520]follow up with these videos as well.
[00:44:35.560]The students just watch them very, very carefully.
[00:44:39.200]That's how they learn.
[00:44:41.310]On days four and five, then you're going
[00:44:43.010]to do the practice activities.
[00:44:44.280]Now, it's time for the kids to practice.
[00:44:46.280]Some of it will be role-play.
[00:44:47.970]Some of it will be game-based learning.
[00:44:49.730]So, for example, the first three weeks,
[00:44:51.710]you're going to be playing a Jeopardy game.
[00:44:53.730]The kids practice the conversation skills
[00:44:56.000]that they're learning, and then we play Jeopardy,
[00:44:59.190]we encourage them to remember as much
[00:45:01.020]as they can from what they learned in the conversation
[00:45:03.180]about the other person, about their interests.
[00:45:05.830]And then, in game-based learning, they get points and so on.
[00:45:09.120]In other weeks, they share information using personal items.
[00:45:12.480]So, we tell them, bring a personal item from home
[00:45:14.520]or something that you have in your backpack,
[00:45:16.550]and our practice conversations will be around that item.
[00:45:20.330]In other weeks, we do board, card, video games.
[00:45:23.780]When we do the good sportsmanship,
[00:45:25.050]we play in the gym or outdoor games.
[00:45:27.350]So, there's a variety and they're quite engaging
[00:45:30.080]for the students.
[00:45:30.913]I know that my kids did not complain
[00:45:32.560]about doing any of this curriculum.
[00:45:35.620]Okay, so that's what it looks like.
[00:45:37.440]There's other things in the books to help you too.
[00:45:39.530]So, one section is on behavior management techniques.
[00:45:43.210]Many of us teachers, we know a lot of these things,
[00:45:45.370]but there's some other good ideas too,
[00:45:46.700]that we might not think of.
[00:45:48.230]They recommend verbal praise.
[00:45:49.990]You guys are doing a great job listening.
[00:45:52.090]I've already talked about the reinforcement using points.
[00:45:55.310]If one of them is not paying attention,
[00:45:57.690]you can say, so Jake, just call on them,
[00:45:59.840]the rules for trading information are?
[00:46:02.480]And then, if they're still not following,
[00:46:04.470]you know, protocol and proper behavior
[00:46:06.550]in classroom, you can use peer pressure.
[00:46:08.900]They recommend using general statements
[00:46:11.070]that are not directed towards individuals.
[00:46:13.720]So, for example, if someone's blurting and not raising
[00:46:16.380]their hand, you would say, we need to raise our hands.
[00:46:19.180]What could be the problem with not raising our hands?
[00:46:21.990]And, you pose that question to the whole group,
[00:46:24.330]who generate the responses.
[00:46:26.340]We need to be respectful.
[00:46:27.820]What can be the problem with laughing at people?
[00:46:29.740]If kids are making fun of each other in class.
[00:46:32.310]And, you generate the solutions or the answers
[00:46:34.960]to those questions from the group,
[00:46:37.100]and then that peer pressure is, you know,
[00:46:39.410]hopefully going to help get them in line.
[00:46:42.840]State your expectations.
[00:46:44.550]We need to be serious now.
[00:46:46.260]And, we use the word we, not I.
[00:46:48.730]And then, you can give warnings if the behavior persists.
[00:46:51.280]Addy, this is a warning.
[00:46:52.520]If you continue to make jokes,
[00:46:53.920]I'm gonna have to send you out of class.
[00:46:55.770]We need you to be serious.
[00:46:57.260]And then, later in private, you can explain
[00:46:58.960]and problem-solve with that individual student.
[00:47:01.420]But, there's all kinds of ideas in the manual
[00:47:03.400]for behavior management techniques.
[00:47:05.980]I wanted to say a word about including parents
[00:47:08.340]as social coaches.
[00:47:09.770]Some parents won't have time or want
[00:47:12.170]to do this, and other parents will do
[00:47:14.100]every single thing that's recommended.
[00:47:16.810]So, I send it home.
[00:47:18.020]There is a weekly handout for parents
[00:47:19.900]and it goes through the buzzwords, the skills,
[00:47:22.760]the rules that the kids are learning in school.
[00:47:25.130]And then, it lets them know what the homework assignment is,
[00:47:28.380]and then who need to interact to do
[00:47:30.210]that homework assignment.
[00:47:31.300]So, say for example, the homework assignment
[00:47:33.880]is to have a video chat with another member of the class,
[00:47:37.120]the phone numbers of the other member will be in there,
[00:47:39.770]the time that they've arranged
[00:47:41.020]to do the video chat and so on.
[00:47:43.290]I also send home links to the role-play videos
[00:47:46.390]that I just showed you, because the parents can see,
[00:47:49.110]oh, that's what that's supposed to look like.
[00:47:51.920]There, you can, you know, print off paper copies,
[00:47:54.820]if you want, of the parent handouts with the instructions,
[00:47:57.890]or you can send out an electronic version in an email.
[00:48:00.850]I tended to like that, I'm not a big fan of paper,
[00:48:03.160]but you can do whatever works best for you.
[00:48:07.200]So, how many kids?
[00:48:08.390]Who's in these classes?
[00:48:09.520]Well, they recommend six to 10 is ideal.
[00:48:12.100]I've had as many as 12 in a class.
[00:48:14.630]This is appropriate for middle
[00:48:15.960]and high school-aged children.
[00:48:18.150]Boys and girls, I've always done mixed level classes.
[00:48:21.500]What the trainers recommended was that
[00:48:23.690]if there's only one girl in the class,
[00:48:25.520]because sometimes the ASD population
[00:48:27.450]is heavily skewed towards boys,
[00:48:29.780]that you would tell the girl, you're the only girl
[00:48:31.840]in the class, do you still wanna be in it?
[00:48:33.900]And, sometimes they will, sometimes they won't.
[00:48:38.240]You can include students without ASD.
[00:48:40.470]And, I don't think I've ever had a class
[00:48:42.680]that was all students on the spectrum,
[00:48:44.830]because as a special education teacher,
[00:48:46.640]I have a mixture of kids, but we handpick students,
[00:48:50.080]no matter what their verification was,
[00:48:52.480]and many of them were on the autism spectrum,
[00:48:54.470]but any student who struggled to make friends
[00:48:57.020]and who had poor social skills,
[00:48:58.440]we chose for the class and we did handpick those.
[00:49:02.240]You can include peer mentors, so I do Circle of Friends,
[00:49:05.500]a program where we train neuro-typical peers
[00:49:08.670]to understand autism and then to help support our kids
[00:49:11.570]on the spectrum with their behaviors and social skills.
[00:49:14.880]And so, I've taught classes where I include them,
[00:49:17.160]and that's really fun and very helpful,
[00:49:19.240]because on the adult role-play days,
[00:49:21.460]it's nice to have those peer mentors.
[00:49:23.280]So, if you have that, use it.
[00:49:24.820]If not, don't worry about it.
[00:49:29.062]And, you can also include students
[00:49:30.080]with cognitive impairments, even though the curriculum
[00:49:32.500]isn't specifically designed that way.
[00:49:35.260]In the training, they did show a student
[00:49:37.560]that was included in the class,
[00:49:38.900]who did have cognitive impairments,
[00:49:40.690]and they just, you know, would ask the questions
[00:49:43.060]more simply for him, give a little more clarification,
[00:49:46.390]a little more prompting and feedback
[00:49:48.260]and help, but it did work.
[00:49:49.890]And, I have used this curriculum,
[00:49:51.640]not only with kids on the spectrum, but also kids
[00:49:54.090]who have cognitive impairments, quite successfully.
[00:49:58.110]So, how many people do you need to teach this?
[00:50:00.520]If you can possibly get two adults, I would recommend it.
[00:50:04.170]These instructors can be teachers, speech pathologists
[00:50:07.280]counselors, school nurses, paraprofessionals.
[00:50:10.710]I taught one class with a paraprofessional.
[00:50:13.310]I taught one class with another co-teacher,
[00:50:15.420]another special education teacher.
[00:50:17.610]And, I taught a third class when I didn't have
[00:50:19.590]another adult to help me, I used peer mentors
[00:50:22.690]in the class, kids who were neuro-typical
[00:50:25.500]and who did have good social skills.
[00:50:28.010]You will need two people, they call them behavioral coaches.
[00:50:31.030]Those are the adults or the, you know, neuro-typical peers.
[00:50:34.520]You need them to do the role-play demos for the students,
[00:50:37.680]to help coach the students during their role-plays.
[00:50:40.430]These kids need feedback.
[00:50:41.670]You can't really just say, okay, now you go practice.
[00:50:44.260]You have to be there and watch them.
[00:50:45.660]If you don't have two adults, you can do it, you know,
[00:50:47.780]two at a time, you could take turns in front of the class.
[00:50:50.420]There's ways around it.
[00:50:51.420]So, if you don't have two adults,
[00:50:53.420]I don't want you to think that you can't use this program.
[00:50:56.290]The videos are available.
[00:50:57.900]If you don't have that extra coach, you can just use those.
[00:51:02.690]What kind of facilities are required?
[00:51:04.500]Well, we need a whiteboard and whiteboard markers.
[00:51:07.160]Basically, you just need a classroom with chairs
[00:51:09.390]and desks and then a room to do role-plays.
[00:51:12.350]During weeks 12 through 15, when you focus
[00:51:14.690]on good sportsmanship, an outside space
[00:51:17.920]or gym space works well.
[00:51:20.300]This program may be adapted for virtual instruction.
[00:51:23.280]I'm not going to get into that
[00:51:24.670]in this particular training, but more to come on that.
[00:51:28.240]The folks who have designed the PEERS curriculum
[00:51:31.870]are doing some work with virtual classrooms
[00:51:34.730]and we're doing it too, so you can check back
[00:51:37.170]with the ASD Network of Nebraska for more on that.
[00:51:41.210]The other thing that's provided
[00:51:42.430]in the manual are lots of forms.
[00:51:44.660]I'm not showing them to you.
[00:51:46.000]I didn't take pictures of them.
[00:51:47.320]It would just make this webinar longer than I want it to be.
[00:51:50.290]But, in the back, there are pre
[00:51:51.630]and post skills assessments that you can use.
[00:51:54.510]One is the test of adolescent social skills knowledge,
[00:51:57.440]and I give that before I start teaching the class,
[00:52:00.280]and then again after, to see how much they have learned.
[00:52:03.360]There's also a quality of socialization questionnaire,
[00:52:06.600]another pre-post.
[00:52:08.320]They ask questions like, how many get-togethers
[00:52:11.410]have you had in the last month?
[00:52:13.290]If you had any get-togethers,
[00:52:14.600]did you argue or did you get along?
[00:52:16.910]How many invitations did you get in the last month?
[00:52:19.500]And so on, and you can compare those, pre and post-course.
[00:52:24.070]There's a phone roster, because kids will be
[00:52:26.240]exchanging phone numbers for texting and video chatting.
[00:52:29.700]There's an in-group call or video chat assignment log,
[00:52:33.040]so you can keep track of that.
[00:52:34.800]There's a good sportsmanship point log, a daily point log,
[00:52:38.550]homework compliance sheets and certification of completion.
[00:52:43.350]All of those are very helpful to have.
[00:52:45.600]They help keep you on track.
[00:52:47.580]So, for in conclusion, what are your next steps?
[00:52:51.270]I would say that after watching this webinar,
[00:52:53.570]you are ready to get your hands on one of these manuals
[00:52:56.550]and start using it with students,
[00:52:58.300]whether it's with a handful of students,
[00:53:00.170]a whole class of students, you're ready.
[00:53:03.330]I was not perfect when I started using the curriculum.
[00:53:06.370]I had to practice, I had to jump in.
[00:53:08.710]I missed a few things, you know, the first time around,
[00:53:11.280]but that's okay, we get better, the more that we practice.
[00:53:14.020]Don't be intimidated, don't be afraid.
[00:53:16.400]You're gonna follow the book in order.
[00:53:18.190]And, you're gonna read from the script.
[00:53:19.720]All the work's really been done for you.
[00:53:22.280]You can also check back with
[00:53:23.780]the Nebraska Autism Spectrum Disorders Network.
[00:53:26.860]We are going to continue doing work with rolling out
[00:53:29.370]this PEERS curriculum across to our state and we'd be happy
[00:53:32.550]to share everything that we've learned with you.
[00:53:35.840]So, I'm also happy to help.
[00:53:37.800]Here's my contact information.
[00:53:39.600]You can get a hold of me anytime.
[00:53:41.810]Happy to give you feedback, answer your questions,
[00:53:44.440]anything you need help with.
[00:53:46.550]So, thank you so much for listening today
[00:53:49.040]and I wish you all the best of luck,
[00:53:51.280]as you embark on your PEERS journey.
[00:53:53.670]Take care.

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Getting Started with PEERS for Adolescents: Social Skills Training for Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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