Mary: Welcome to our training session titled,
Getting Started with PEERS Curriculum:
Social Skills Training for Adolescents
with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
This is presented to you by the tri-state
autism collaborative of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska,
and I will be your presenter today.
My name is Mary Schlieder.
I've been a special education teacher for a long time,
28 years, I believe, in the classroom.
And, I teach students with all kinds of special needs,
but I have had a focus on my students
with autism spectrum disorder.
I'm also an adjunct professor at several
different universities, predominantly in teacher
education programs in the field of special education,
with an emphasis on behavioral interventions
and trauma-informed classrooms.
I'm also an educational consultant on projects
like this one, that you are watching today.
So, what are our objectives?
Ultimately, I'm going to be sharing a program
that I have used with my students,
and I wanna talk to you about it and encourage you to learn
more about it and possibly use it in your classrooms.
But, the learner objectives for today include:
identifying social skills deficits
among adolescents with ASD.
Recognizing the importance of improving friendships,
because ultimately, that's the main goal of this program.
Consider limitations of existing
social skills interventions.
Explore research findings,
related to social skills instruction.
And then, the bulk of today's training will be
on learning how to implement the PEERS
social skill curriculum for adolescents.
So, this is the work of Liz Laugeson.
She is the one who designed this program,
did the research on the program, so kudos to her.
This is her body of work that I'll be presenting today.
I'm sharing two references with you.
The first one is the actual program itself,
then the second one is a research study
on the use of the program.
I could put in multiple slides here,
with all of the research that's been done to provide you
the whole evidence base, but there are eight pages of it
in the program book, so instead of putting it in here,
I'll show you where you can find it.
If you go to their website, what you'll find is that
there is a link for research and you can see
all of these are hyperlink studies that you can
take a look at if you have an interest in it.
So, it's all there for you.
This is an evidence-based program that I'm sharing today,
and that's where you can find it.
So, just a little bit of background on PEERS.
This is an international program,
translated into dozens of languages.
It was developed at UCLA in 2004.
And, one of the first books was titled,
"The Science of Making Friends:
"Helping Socially Challenged Teens and Young Adults".
And, this curriculum is an outgrowth of that first book.
There are several different age levels
of these social skill programs.
There's a PEERS for preschoolers,
PEERS for adolescents and one for adults.
Today, our focus will be the PEERS for adolescents program.
So, what can you expect?
You can expect to be teaching
ecologically valid social skills.
When I first heard that term, I wasn't quite sure
what that meant, I kind of had to look it up,
but what it means are things that work,
things that are used by socially successful
adolescents in the social skills world.
So, what they have done is observe
and research what works for socially successful adolescents
and build the curriculum around that.
There's a focus on relationship skills,
developing and maintaining friendships,
managing conflict and handling rejection.
It also teaches the kids how
to help find sources of friends.
It addresses the core social skill deficits
in ASD populations.
In my classes, I have used it for kids
on the autism spectrum and kids who are not
on the autism spectrum, so it doesn't just have
to be used with kids with autism.
It's good for any child who is struggling
in the social arena.
Fosters independence in social relationships.
And, there is a communication piece with caregivers
to provide ongoing support and skills practice.
We want our kids to learn the skills at school,
but then we want them to practice them
at home and out in their community.
And so, we provide that piece of information
to the parents each week, so that those that choose to
are able to do that with their child.
This is a school-based, a daily school-based curriculum,
and it can be used in other settings,
but for today's training purposes,
I'm going to be talking to you about
how to use it in a school-based setting.
It's teacher-facilitated.
16-week curriculum fits nicely into a semester schedule.
There are daily lesson plans.
They also include weekly parent handouts,
so that they can help them with the homework
at home if they want to do that.
And, it is an evidence-based treatment
for middle and high school-aged students with ASD
and their classmates who also have deficits in those areas.
So, the first half of this webinar will focus
on the why of this curriculum,
and then the second half will focus on the how.
So, as we think about, why use this curriculum?
Because, I'm going to be asking you to seriously consider,
in your very busy teaching worlds,
to implement this program.
So, that's where we're going to start.
So, the first poll question for you
is to list the steps that you would use
if you were instructing a teen how to join a conversation
that was already taking place with two other people.
All right?
So, what would you ask them?
What would you instruct them to do first,
to do second, to do third and so on?
All right?
And, the reason I'm having you do this is because
I'm going to give you an introduction to this program
and you're going to see what they have recommended.
And, after I show you this video of the author
of the book implementing part of it,
then I'm gonna ask you to see how many you got right.
So, you can pause this and either think about
or list the steps you would use,
if instructing a teen how to join in a conversation.
All right, so why this curriculum?
Why consider putting one more thing on your busy plates?
This is the author, Liz Laugeson, of the program,
and she's going to be having a conversation with Alex
and instructing him on how to join a conversation.
Let's see if what you put in your list matches up with
the steps that she describes, that successful teens use.
-: Hi, welcome to Autism Talk TV.
(upbeat piano)
In this episode, we visit the PEERS Center in UCLA,
run by Dr. Liz Laugeson, which focuses on social skills.
And, in this episode, Alex is learning
how to approach a circle of people.
And, he will actually experiment and approach
a real circle of people, so you get to see his progress.
Yeah.
-: People with autism generally try to make friends
and sometimes they go about it the wrong way
and frequently get frustrated by their lack of results.
What are some ways that you think that people
on the autism spectrum can sort of make new friends,
get into conversations and really integrate in with a group?
-: It's not a simple answer.
There's lots of different elements of how you make friends.
But, one way that we meet new people
and make potentially new friends is by
entering conversations and not butting into conversations.
The reality is, a lotta times, as adults,
we give kids and even young adults
the wrong advice, essentially, in these situations.
So, what I wanna do is kinda share with you
what we call an ecologically valid skill.
-: Okay. -: An ecologically valid skill
is kind of a fancy term for what people
who are socially accepted naturally
do in these social situations.
And so, that's what we wanna teach, right?
Not what we think that they should do,
but what actually works.
So, this is what people do when
they're trying to meet new people.
They'll first sort of listen to a conversation,
kind of watch it from a distance,
and try to figure out what they're talking about, right?
-: Hey, Shan!
-: Hey, Mary, how's it going?
-: It's good, how are you doing?
-: Good, thanks.
-: Is that your new laptop?
-: Yeah, it's the new MacBook Air, I just got it.
-: Oh, my God, I love it.
-: I know, I love it.
-: What do you think that most teens
with autism do when they enter conversations?
-: I would imagine most teens with autism,
when they enter a conversation, will say something
completely unrelated to the topic that's currently
being discussed and probably is somewhat
related to their special interests.
-: Exactly, you're absolutely right.
And, that's what our research is showing,
is that they tend to be rather intrusive with conversations,
kind of butt in and are off topic
and they're talking about something
that's not related to what the people are talking about.
How do you think they're gonna be received
when they do that?
-: Usually, I would think that kids who enter
into a conversation, saying something unrelated,
would not be received in a good way.
Usually, with other kids either being puzzled or annoyed,
depending on how many times they've done it.
-: So, we don't wanna do that.
Instead, we wanna use these ecologically valid skills
where we first listen to the conversation,
we figure out what they're talking about.
Once we've identified the topic,
we also want to make sure that we know something
about the topic before we join this conversation.
And, why would that be important?
-: It would be important 'cause if they're having
a discussion, you don't wanna get into a situation
where you don't even know what they're talking about
and they get confused why you're even in the conversation.
-: Exactly.
Important thing though, while you're listening to
this conversation, essentially you're eavesdropping, right?
But, do you wanna look like you're eavesdropping?
No. -: No, you don't wanna come off
in a way that makes it seem like you've been eavesdropping.
And, I've seen situations where kids
do get called out for eavesdropping.
-: Exactly, well, what do you think
they were doing with their eye contact
when they got called out for eavesdropping?
-: I assume they were looking at the people.
-: Mm-hmm, they were probably staring at them, right?
That's what gives us away when we're eavesdropping.
So, instead of doing that, we're just gonna
make kind of casual periodic eye contact.
We're gonna look over occasionally,
to sort of show interest, but we're not gonna stare at them.
So, a lotta people will use a prop,
like they'll use maybe their iPhone or their Blackberry
or something like that, or kinda be looking through,
you know, a book or whatever is around.
Before you join, you're actually gonna wait for something.
What do you think that you're waiting for?
-: I would think that you would wait
for a pause in the conversation.
-: Yeah, exactly.
So, why would you not wanna just barge in
when they're in the middle of talking?
-: People don't like to get interrupted.
-: Mm-hmm, exactly. -: So, you don't wanna give
a bad impression to the person that was talking.
-: Right, so we wanna wait for just a little brief pause
in the conversation before we actually join.
But, one of the things I actually have to remind
the teens and the young adults that I work with is that
there's never a perfect pause, because a lotta people
will be waiting forever, you know,
waiting for this perfect pause.
But, what you do is you actually,
as you're waiting for that pause, when you can
kinda find the pause, you're gonna move a little bit closer.
They'll probably at least look over at you.
They'll notice you.
And then, that's your kind of,
that's your moment to join the conversation.
Now, when we join the conversation, we're moved
a little bit closer, there's hopefully a little pause.
What do you think we're gonna wanna say?
Like, how do we join that conversation?
-: Well, usually, I would think that you would wanna talk
about whatever they're talking about,
and have something insightful that actually
adds value to their conversation.
-: Exactly! -: Because, you could give
an opinion, but unless your opinion is something
that is worthwhile for them to listen to,
they're not really gonna care that much.
-: Exactly, so I mean, it doesn't have
to be a brilliant comment or anything like that,
but it does have to be on topic.
You're right about that.
So, you're gonna either make a comment
or ask a question that's on topic.
-: Is that the new MacBook Air?
-: It is! -: Yeah, I just got it.
-: Oh, cool.
-: And so, what you do from there is you
actually need to start assessing whether or not
you're accepted into the conversation, right?
Those are the steps for joining the conversation,
you're watching and listening from a distance,
you're sort of making periodic eye contact,
you wait for a little pause and you join
by making a comment and/or asking questions on topic.
Alex: Right.
-: Yeah, are you a Mac person?
-: Oh, yeah, definitely.
-: Me too.
Me too.
-: Yeah, I have the, just got the new iPad.
-: Oh, nice! -: I want that one.
I heard it's so great.
-: It is, I really like it.
-: So, Liz, how do you know if you've been
accepted into the group?
-: We know from the research that about half the time
that we try to join a conversation,
we're not necessarily gonna be accepted.
And, it's not a big deal, actually, it happens to everyone.
But, we need to be paying attention
to whether or not we're accepted.
So, there's very specific ways that we can tell.
For example, when you join a conversation,
what are people doing that's giving you the sense
that they're interested in you?
-: Perhaps they're talking to you, looking at you,
looking you in the eye, leaning in towards you
when you're talking, pointing their bodies towards you.
-: That's exactly right!
The reverse is true though,
when they're not interested in talking to us.
So, if they're not interested,
they're not engaging you in conversation,
they're not looking at you, or if they are looking at you,
they're making a face or something like that.
And, they do this interesting thing
with their body where they kinda turn away from you.
And, the interesting thing about the body language
is that if you've ever, I don't know if you've ever noticed,
but when people talk in conversations,
like, with groups, they talk in circles.
Have you ever seen that? -: Yeah, I've seen everyone
standing in a circle usually or sitting around in a circle.
-: Yeah, they kind of, they're all facing each other
and maybe in kind of a circle.
What do you think they do with that circle
when they want to talk to you?
What do they do with it?
-: They make it wider.
-: Yeah, they open the circle, essentially.
What do they do with the circle
when they don't wanna talk to you?
-: Maybe the people closest to you move
sort of away from you or--
-: Yeah, they close the circle, essentially.
They kinda give you that cold shoulder.
-: Right. -: So, those are some
very concrete behavioral signs
that we can use to assess whether
or not we're accepted into the conversation.
Are they looking at us?
Are they talking to us?
And, are they facing us?
-: Why is it important to know if you're accepted or not?
-: Well, because do you wanna force someone to talk to you?
Let's imagine we join a conversation.
They're not really interested in talking to us
and we know that happens about half the time.
Do we wanna continue to force them
to try to, you know, talk to us?
-: Guess not.
-: Probably not, what do you think they might think of us
if we continue to try to engage them
when they've shown us that they're not interested?
-: I think they might find us annoying.
-: Yeah, they might find us annoying.
So, in those cases, we have to exit these conversations.
-: Sure.
And, what's the best way to exit,
just to generally just walk away?
-: That's a really good question.
So, the typical advice is that you just walk away,
but the problem with just walking away
is that a lot of the kids that we work with,
they look like they're storming off.
It's sort of very obvious. -: I can see that.
-: You could see that, right?
So, we actually teach them to slow it down a bit
and they should begin by sort of looking away.
Now, what does it tell the people you're trying to talk to,
when you start to look away from them?
-: That you're not as interested in the conversation.
-: That's right, so you're kind of disengaged
from the conversation, your attention is focused elsewhere.
Then, while you're kind of looking away,
you're gonna kinda turn your body away
in that same direction that you're looking.
What does that tell them that you're about to do?
-: It tells them that you're about to leave.
-: Yeah, you're about to walk away and that's the third step.
So, we start by looking away, kinda turning away
and casually walking away.
It slows down the process.
And, if we've done this right,
the people that we've been trying to engage
are not even gonna notice when we walk off.
-: I've noticed some neuro-typical guys that I,
you know, hang out with who are,
you know, really good at social skills.
They'll go into a conversation, they won't even
move their body into the conversation,
they'll, like, look over their shoulder
and start talking to the other group.
And, it seems like there's way less rejection from that.
Is that wrong?
-: That's absolutely a strategy you can use.
We actually teach a lot of our kids in our program,
the idea of what we call gaze aversion.
We don't necessarily do that with our bodies,
but that's what you're talking about,
which is a very protective way of entering a conversation
before you've really known if you've been accepted.
-: Right, right.
-: 'Cause you're not 100% invested yet.
We've kind of identified what the steps are, right?
The first step for--
Mary: Okay, so I will do the recap here,
on the steps, and let's see how many
you got right when you did your poll question.
These are the steps, according to this program,
that you should use.
Listen to the conversation.
Figure out what they're talking about.
Look over occasionally.
Use a prop, like a phone.
Wait for a pause in the conversation,
and remember, there's not always a perfect pause.
Move your body, pull a bit closer.
Make a comment or ask a question that is on topic.
Determine whether or not you're being accepted.
And, as you could tell, they went into a lot of steps
to determine that, ways to figure it out.
If you're not accepted, look away,
turn your body away and walk slowly away.
So, did you get them all? (laughs)
If you're like me, you probably didn't,
because I was teaching a conversation model to my students
for lots of years and I only had four steps.
It was, pick a greeting.
Hi, how you doing?
Then, number two, think about a topic to talk about.
Number three, ask a few questions.
And, number four wrap it up with, okay, see you later.
And, my students were not being
very successful with those conversations.
They weren't having the deep conversations
that I was looking for, because I hadn't known
all of the nuances, all of the things that are involved
in having a successful conversation,
because most of us, we just do it naturally,
but these kids need more help and more training.
So, this program is different in that way.
So, why this curriculum?
There's a lot of social skills programs out there.
As you saw in the video, it is nuanced.
It is ecologically valid, they've done the research.
They've studied what works with other teens
who are not on the autism spectrum.
One thing that I love about this program
is that it requires little planning.
It is a scripted curriculum, and so you read the script.
I wasn't sure if I would like that at first,
but I've come to find out I really do.
Teachers are so busy during the school day.
What I found that I was doing is I was picking
and choosing pieces of different social skill programs,
as needs would come up, you know, things that my students
were struggling with, but it wasn't systematic instruction.
It wasn't scaffolded instruction,
where one skill built upon the previous taught skill.
This one provided everything for me.
The organization of it, and I will show you some
page examples in just a few minutes, is very easy to follow.
It took my guilt away.
You know, when you teach in a high school,
you're always thinking about academics and getting them
through and helping them get their high school diploma.
And, all those things are important,
but in the back of my mind everyday,
I had this nagging feeling that
I'm not addressing their social skill needs.
I'm not devoting enough time and attention to that.
I knew that my students, when they graduated,
that was the area they struggled in,
it wasn't the Pythagorean theorem in mathematics,
it was, you know, how do I interact
with other people successfully,
so that I can make it in college
and I can make it in the world of work and,
you know, in the relationships that I have
with people and in my community?
And, I have to say that in my experience with
the classes that I've used this curriculum in, it works.
My students have been very motivated to learn these skills,
they know they don't have them, and they just blossomed.
And, it was pretty exciting to see.
So, poll question number two
And, this is also part of the why.
Why use this curriculum?
What I'd like you to do is to list social skills deficits
that teens with ASD experience.
You can pause this, you can write it,
you can think about it in your head if you'd prefer
not to write it down, but list as many
social skills deficits that teens with ASD experience.
All right, I'm going to go through this list.
And, what I want to know, have you think about,
match them up with the ones that you came up
with in that poll question, but also understand
that this curriculum was designed to specifically address
these social skill deficits and teach these lagging skills.
Poor social communication.
What does that mean?
Problems with topic initiation, one-sided conversations
that elicit fewer extended responses, give fewer
reciprocal responses and fail to identify common interests.
These are the missing skills, so these are the things
that they are teaching in the curriculum.
Repetitive themes, perseverate on restricted interests,
disregard the other person's interests.
Difficulty providing relevant information.
So, we teach them how to do that.
They make unexpected leaps in topics
and have a pedantic style in speaking.
They have a difficult time interpreting verbal
and nonverbal communication, including voice tone,
sarcasm, gestures and social touch.
So, there is extensive instruction on how to interpret
and deal with each of these different things.
There is poor social awareness, including difficulty
making eye contact, difficulty understanding social cues.
By the time I got my students in high school,
many of them had poor social motivation,
I think in part, because they had been so unsuccessful
in their attempts to integrate socially on their own,
without this needed instruction.
There was less involvement in social skill activities.
I had a hard time getting them involved
in extracurricular activities.
They tended to have more online friends
than in-person friends.
They tended to go home after school
and stay in their bedrooms and play online video games.
And, you know, their parents were worried about them,
that they weren't interacting with the world
and getting the social skill practice that they needed.
And, there was just, in general,
a lack of peer entry attempts.
There were fewer social initiations.
It would really amaze me that some of my students could
go through the whole school day and barely talk to anybody.
There is also poor social cognition, which means difficulty
understanding the perspectives of others.
This program is developed, there is a piece embedded
in every single lesson, that asks them,
what does the other person think if you behave this way?
Will the other person wanna talk to you?
Will they want to initiate contact with you the next time?
This is a result of poor theory of mind
and lack of cognitive empathy.
So, because this is a skill deficit in this population,
it has been hyper-focused on in this curriculum,
one of the reasons why I think it's so good for our kids.
Poll question number three.
List three consequences for teens with ASD,
due to these social skill deficits.
You know, I'm going to be asking you to seriously consider
implementing this program in your classroom, in your school.
And, our plates are full, I know this.
So, you know, I think what I'm hoping for is buy-in,
as we consider the consequences for kids,
if these social skills aren't taught to them.
So, take a minute.
You can pause this, either write it down or think
about three consequences for teens.
All right, these kids have less companionship.
They have less help from friends.
Think about when, you know, life is full of trials.
We all experience them.
What do we do when we're going through a rough time?
We seek out our friends, we seek out those that are close
to us, who know us, who will listen to us,
who will help us process, sometimes just be with us.
If you're isolated and you don't have
these networks, you are all alone.
And, I can't even imagine what that would be like.
There's less security within friendships.
Some of our kids are able to build
an initial friendship and then it collapses,
because they don't have the skills to maintain it.
Greater social isolation, greater peer conflict,
greater loneliness and greater peer rejection.
There are consequences to this peer rejection
and they're pretty serious.
It's one of the strongest predictors
of mental health issues, substance abuse,
suicidal ideation and suicide attempts.
So, in light of this, I think it's worth our time
to consider learning and implementing
a program that helps them build
those social networks and those friendships that
are critical to all of our mental health.
The good news is, having one or two close friends
predicts later adjustment in life.
It can buffer the impact of successful life events,
correlates positively with self esteem and independence,
and friendships prevent victimization.
I know that we're all working on
bully prevention in our schools.
And, when someone isn't alone, just having one
or two friends, they're less likely
to be bullied by other kids in school.
So, how is PEERS different?
Well, many programs are geared
for younger children with ASD.
This one is for teens, middle and high school students.
Other programs don't always use evidence-based curricula.
They're not necessarily tailored to the needs,
the unique needs of the ASD populations that we work with.
Now, you don't have to use it only
with children on the autism spectrum,
but you can use it, you know, with others,
but just know that it is designed for their needs.
Many other programs don't include homework.
This is fun homework, that's what we tell the kids.
This isn't tedious worksheet homework.
These are, this is what we're going to learn,
you know, how to have a video chat with somebody,
how to exchange contact information,
how to have a conversation, and you go and practice it.
We tell the kids this is fun homework, and it is.
It's hands-on.
And, our kids need more practice than,
you know, other people do.
And so, the homework provides that.
Other programs don't involve parents.
There is a homework sheet that goes home
and videos that can go home, so that parents can see
what the kids are learning, and then they can coach them,
help them, provide feedback on the skills
that they're practicing when they go home.
Many other social skill programs
also don't involve teachers in treatment.
If a student is getting their social skill instruction,
let's say, in a therapist office,
that can be very helpful, but often,
the teachers have no idea what they're learning there.
And, wouldn't it be helpful if the teachers
could know those things and then have the child practice
them at school, provide feedback and so on?
This curriculum involves parents and teachers.
Many others do not generalize to other settings
and they lack durability gains over time.
So, now let's get into the how.
Those are the whys, why it's important to implement
a curriculum like this one, but now let's get into the how.
How do you do it and what does it look like?
I'd like to start with letting
you know what all of the topics are.
So, there are 16 weeks and 16 topics.
Week one is the introduction of
the program and trading information.
Trading information is having a conversation.
What does that mean?
It means you go back and forth and trade information
with the end goal of finding an area
of common interest, something you have in common.
Why would you determine to have something in common?
Because, that will help guide your get-together,
that several weeks down the road, you're going to be doing.
So, let's say that you find an area
of common interest is that you both like to draw.
Well, then what could you do with that information
when you have a get-together in a few weeks?
You could have some art supplies available
and you could draw.
If you find an area of common interest
is a particular video game, what could you do
with that information when you do
your get-together in a few weeks?
You could arrange to play that video game
when someone comes over to your house, and so forth.
Week two is two-way conversations, more practice.
Week three is electronic communication,
because our kids don't just live
in a person-to-person world, electronic communication
is a big part of all of our worlds.
And, they can mess up there just as much as they can mess up
in real life, face-to-face conversations.
Week four is choosing appropriate friends.
Week five is using appropriate humor.
Just because someone is laughing
doesn't mean they're necessarily enjoying your jokes.
Week six, starting and joining conversations.
Week seven, exiting conversations.
Week eight, good sportsmanship.
And, they have plenty of opportunity to practice that.
And, all of those weeks, one through eight,
led up to providing the skills,
so that they could have a successful get-together.
And, on week nine, we practice everything
that's involved in a get-together,
from opening the door when your friend comes over
to your house, introducing them to your family members,
offering them a snack, having some activities
that they can choose from, and so on.
So, just like you saw all of the nuanced instruction
that was involved when we watched that video
of Liz Laugeson teaching Alex how to enter
that conversation, every single one of these lessons
is designed with that amount of nuance.
Week 10 is handling arguments.
Week 11, changing reputations.
And, reputations doesn't mean what
we normally think reputations mean.
Our kids, if they haven't been taught these lagging skills,
they have a reputation for being rude, weird, annoying,
and so week 11 focuses on helping kids who may have
a bad reputation in those areas, how to change it.
Week 12, handling teasing and embarrassing feedback.
Week 13 is handling physical bullying.
Week 14, handling cyber bullying.
Week 15, minimizing rumors and gossip.
And, week 16 is the final review,
the post assessment and the graduation.
The book is laid out to make your life as a teacher so easy.
So, in the very front, they have this chart,
it's kind of a quick go-to, so that you can look at all
the weeks and what you have to do, the materials you need.
So, as you can see in the first column,
they list the different weeks.
Week one, week two, week three and so on.
The next column is what you're going to be teaching
in the didactic lesson, and that just means
the topic of new instruction for the week.
The homework review, what you're going to be reviewing.
What the behavioral rehearsal activity
will be for that week.
There's one each week.
What materials you'll need and what the homework assignments
for that following weekend will be.
So, it's all laid out to make your life pretty darn easy.
They use specific teaching methods.
So, in the didactic lesson each week,
the new direct instruction of the new content,
they use the Socratic method.
There's a lot of questions that you will pose
to your students that they will be answering together,
you know, and building off of each other's answers.
It really results in high engagement level.
I noticed that with my students.
There are role-plays built in every week.
There's role-plays that they watch the adults do,
so that they can learn the skills, and then they practice.
There is perspective-taking questions.
I'll show you exactly what that looks like in a little bit,
because remember, that's a skill that our kids don't have
and we have to teach them to understand,
if I do this, this is how it makes the other person feel.
We use buzzwords.
What are buzzwords?
It's really just common vocabulary.
So, some of the buzzwords I've referenced
are trading information, finding an area
of common interest, having a hangout.
The kids know what those words mean.
And, by the way, the parents will know too,
because we use the same buzzwords
in the homework assignments, in the handout
that goes home to the parents.
Then, there is the coaching with performance feedback.
So, once you've demonstrated the skills,
there are activities for the students
to practice them themselves, and you are very
actively involved in giving them feedback.
If they get stuck, you're there to help them move on
to the next thing, you know, provide critique,
positive critique and help them get better.
And then, of course, there's the extra practice
through the homework assignments each week.
The program organization.
You have to go in lesson order,
and I learned this the hard way.
I was so excited after going to the training, three days
after I got back, I started to implement right away.
Well, there was a skill, I think it might've been
a week nine skill, I can't remember,
that a couple of my students were really struggling with,
so I thought, I'm just gonna jump right into that one.
No, don't do it, big mistake.
Because, anything you're doing in week nine
was started in week one.
You have to learn the week one skills,
because the week two are scaffolded on that,
and the week three are scaffolded on that.
You can't have a successful get-together
in week eight until you've learned all
of the skills in weeks one through seven.
So, go in lesson order.
Don't skip a thing.
Just read the script.
It's really easy to do.
There's daily lessons for 50 to 60 minutes each, everyday.
Weekly homework assignments, one a week.
And, for 16 weeks, the program lasts.
So, let's say day one is a Monday.
That would start with homework review.
Day two, Tuesday, would be the didactic lesson,
which is the new instruction.
Day three is the review and the behavioral rehearsal,
where the adults show them what the skills look like,
what to do and what not to do.
Days four and five are the practice
and reinforcement for the students.
That's when they start to do the role-plays,
the game-based learning and all
the reinforcement activities.
And, there's plenty of practice provided for them.
And then, you send home the homework and the parent
and teen can, the parent can help support the teen
in doing that, if the parent is available to do that.
If a parent can't help, that's fine.
I've had kids do the homework assignments in school.
I'll say, okay, you need to exchange information
and get someone's homework, go do that at lunch
and then come back and tell me how it went.
So, there are ways around it,
if a parent is not available to help.
So, what does that homework review look like on day one?
This is a page, I took a picture of a page from my book.
And, as you can see, what I've done is I highlight
all of the things that it tells me to say.
Everything that's italicized here is the script
that I'm going to use, everything else are the instructions.
I've pulled a little bit of it out in the next slide here.
So, it's telling me the instructions say,
go over the following homework assignments
and troubleshoot any problems.
Remember to use buzzwords.
And then, the manual says, say,
one of your homework assignments this week was
to have a phone call or video chat with someone
in the group, in order to practice trading information.
Raise your hand if you did the call or video chat.
They raise their hands, you call on them
and you discuss how that went.
And then, they give you questions to ask.
And, you don't skip any of this, you just read the script.
It tells you everything to do.
So, you're going to ask, who did you talk
to and who called whom?
Have that discussion with your group.
Did you trade information?
What was the common interest that you discovered?
What could you do with that information
if you were going to hang out?
So, this is what the script for
the homework review day looks like.
And, it will take you the whole first day
to go over that homework review.
You think it won't, but it will.
Then, on day two of the week's lesson,
you do the didactic lesson, the new direct instruction.
So, as you can see, once again,
I have highlighted what I'm going to be saying,
and when I teach the lesson, especially the first
few times around, I have that book,
I'm looking down at the book and then I'm looking up,
I'm looking down at the book and I'm looking up.
So, that's how the program works.
It's as simple as that.
This one is from week 12, and this lesson
was on handling teasing and embarrassing feedback.
I've pulled out a little piece of it.
It says, explain: one important way to make it
less likely that we'll be teased relates
to how we react when someone is teasing us.
In order for us to know how to react,
it's helpful to think about why people tease.
And, you ask, why do people tease?
And, that generates discussion.
And then, you continue and ask these questions.
When you get upset, are you doing what the teaser wants?
Are you putting on a show?
Are you making teasing fun for the teaser?
Are you more or less likely to get teased again?
So, that's what it looks like.
I'd like to pause here for a minute
to talk about the points system embedded
in this program, because it's a very critical element.
So, what you do every single day of the lesson,
whether it's day one or day five,
is you have all the students' names written
on a whiteboard, and then you make tally marks.
They get points.
They get points for completing homework,
for class participation, for following the rules.
So, at the first day of class, you tell them,
we are going to have a party at the end of the class.
And, there are going to be prizes that you get to earn.
How do you earn prizes?
Well, you get points every time you answer a question.
And, you are giving points throughout the whole class.
You're asking questions, following the script,
then you're putting a tally mark on a board
in front of the students, for them to see.
It's a very powerful visual.
And then, I tell them, everybody in this class
will get a prize, but the person at the end
of the semester who has the most points,
I'll add them all up at the end,
they get to choose the prize they want first,
the person with the next number of points gets
to choose the prize they want second, and so on.
The other thing about these points is that
we're going to have a party at the end of the class.
At the end of the semester, I'm going
to add everybody's all together.
And, if the group, as a whole, has a large number of points,
we're going to have a large, large party
and it's going to be fun.
So, the kids buy in and they work to get those points.
It also helps me, because I can see if someone
hasn't been participating very much,
I can call on them if they don't have too many tally marks,
and it does prove to be a big motivator.
Now, I don't get into everyday, who's got the most points?
Oh, John has the most points, oh, Sally has the least.
We never talk about it.
I'm adding them and keeping track.
They never even see that.
So, at the end, I'll just add up at the end of the semester
and see who's got the most and they get to pick first.
But, you know, I don't give that point feedback
to the kids throughout the semester.
And, it works.
So, back to day two, didactic lesson.
So, they're asking you to present the rules
for handling teasing and embarrassing feedback,
by writing these buzzwords on the board.
Just a little background information.
What do we normally tell kids who are being teased?
Don't we say to them, something like,
well, just ignore it, walk away, tell an adult?
Well, guess what?
None of those tactics are proven by the evidence base
to work, and they actually can make the teasing worse.
All of that advice is not good advice, but because
the author of this program has done the research,
she knows what socially successful teens do, that does work.
And, what that is is, don't ignore the teasing,
don't walk away, don't tell an adult right away,
don't tease them back and don't banter.
So, this is what you don't do.
And, while you're teaching them these rules,
you are writing them on the whiteboard, okay?
And, you teach them, act like it didn't bother you.
Act like what they said was lame or stupid.
Have an attitude and give a comeback.
A comeback is another one of those buzzwords.
So then, you teach them what comebacks are
and you teach them to have two or three of these
right on the tip of their tongue, that they can use.
And, you say things like, whatever.
And, your point is?
Is that supposed to be funny?
Big deal!
Who cares?
Tell me when you get to the funny part.
And, we teach them to say those things with attitude,
with eye rolls, with shrugs and all that,
because these are the things that are proven to work.
We role-play that, they love watching the adults
ham it up and get into it and so on.
And, that's the next step, which is the lesson review
on day three and the behavioral rehearsal.
So, if you've taught that skill on day three,
the adults are going to role-play,
over and over and over again, what that looks like.
Everything you say on day three is, once again,
in the manual, you just follow it.
They will have an appropriate role-play
and an inappropriate role-play, what to do, what not to do,
and you just read and role-play this with another adult.
So, here's an example.
Begin by saying, we're going to do a role-play.
Watch this and tell me what I'm doing
right in handling this teasing.
And, here's the example in the gray box, in the manual.
They use the terms coach and instructor,
it just means the two adults.
Coach: Your shoes are ugly.
Rolls eyes, yeah, and?
Giving an attitude.
Seriously, those are some ugly shoes.
Am I supposed to care?
Said with indifference, looks away.
Coach looks defeated.
Kids love it when you ham it up for these.
You also have, at your fingertips,
free access on the PEERS website, role-play videos.
So, I do the in-person rehearsal,
show and tell that way, and then I show them a video
that's been put out by the PEERS program.
So, here's your fourth poll question.
I'm gonna show you one of these videos,
and poor Elena is gonna be doing things wrong, okay?
And, these are these perspective-taking questions.
What I want you to think about is,
what was that like for the other person?
What did she think of Elena?
And, would she want to talk to Elena again?
So, this particular skill in this video,
and there's a video for all the skills that are taught
in the program, is starting an individual conversation.
This is the bad example, and I'll play it for you.
(clicking)
-: Hey, do you ever go roller skating?
-: What?
-: Do you go roller skating?
-: No.
-: Why not?
You should go.
Okay.
-: It's really fun.
I go, like, every weekend.
-: Sweet.
-: There's this new skate park that just opened up.
-: I'm trying to watch something right now, so.
-: Oh, well, I'm just saying, it's really fun.
They have, like, a student night every Thursday.
-: Cool.
-: You should definitely go.
-: Okay.
Mary: All right, and at the end of each video,
what they have are these three
perspective-taking questions that you ask your students.
And, here they are.
So, you'll ask your student,
what was that like for the other person?
And, you generate the answers from them
and they'll say things like uncomfortable, confusing.
You give them a point every time they give an answer.
What did she think of Elena, the other girl?
Well, kids will generate these answers.
They thought she was annoying or weird.
Would she wanna talk to Elena again?
Probably not, okay?
So, these are those perspective-taking questions,
the thing that is so difficult for our students
on the spectrum to be able to do, and this is how
you teach them at the end of these role-plays.
They ask these questions every single time.
There's a lot of practice and review in the manual.
So, now let's look at what Elena is doing right.
We're going to think about the three
same perspective-taking questions.
What was that like for the other person?
What did she think of Elena?
Would she want to talk to Elena again?
Let's take a look at that one.
-: Oh, my god, I love that song.
-: Yeah, me too, this is the new video
that just came out today.
-: No way!
I'm dying to see that.
-: Yeah, it's so good.
-: That's awesome, have you ever seen her in concert?
-: I have, I actually have tickets for her upcoming concert.
-: No way, the one that's coming up in two weeks?
-: Yeah, it's gonna be so great.
-: That's so cool.
-: Have you ever seen her perform?
-: No, I wish, I really want to.
-: Oh, my god, she's amazing in concert.
You need to see her.
-: Yeah, that's what I've heard.
By the way, I'm Elina.
-: I'm Jordan.
Nice to meet you. -: Nice to meet you.
Mary: And then, once again,
there are the three perspective-taking questions.
What was that like for the other person?
And, you gently ask the question,
pose it to your students and they'll generate answers like,
she was on topic, she traded information
and listened, she asked questions.
What did she think of Elena, the other girl?
Maybe she thought Elena was a cool girl.
Would she want to talk to Elena again?
Yes, she probably would.
So, this is how the manual guides you after the videos.
So, here's one more, this is the handling teasing,
you know, doing those comebacks.
Here's another example.
-: Hey, dweeb, reading again?
-: Whatever.
-: You're such a loser, you're always reading.
-: Am I supposed to care?
-: Yeah, because everyone thinks you're a loser.
-: Anyway.
Mary: And then, once again,
the perspective-taking questions.
So, where are these role-play videos?
If you go to the PEERS website,
you will find that they have all,
everything is on YouTube, they give good examples,
bad examples, what to do, what not to do,
on all of the topics that are taught in the manual.
So, you can see conversation skills,
and then they just do the deep dive into all of that.
Appropriate use of humor.
Good sportsmanship, get-togethers, handling arguments.
So, this reinforces everything
that you're teaching in class.
So, on the third day, you can go ahead and,
you know, do the behavioral rehearsals,
reading from the book, and then I always
follow up with these videos as well.
The students just watch them very, very carefully.
That's how they learn.
On days four and five, then you're going
to do the practice activities.
Now, it's time for the kids to practice.
Some of it will be role-play.
Some of it will be game-based learning.
So, for example, the first three weeks,
you're going to be playing a Jeopardy game.
The kids practice the conversation skills
that they're learning, and then we play Jeopardy,
we encourage them to remember as much
as they can from what they learned in the conversation
about the other person, about their interests.
And then, in game-based learning, they get points and so on.
In other weeks, they share information using personal items.
So, we tell them, bring a personal item from home
or something that you have in your backpack,
and our practice conversations will be around that item.
In other weeks, we do board, card, video games.
When we do the good sportsmanship,
we play in the gym or outdoor games.
So, there's a variety and they're quite engaging
for the students.
I know that my kids did not complain
about doing any of this curriculum.
Okay, so that's what it looks like.
There's other things in the books to help you too.
So, one section is on behavior management techniques.
Many of us teachers, we know a lot of these things,
but there's some other good ideas too,
that we might not think of.
They recommend verbal praise.
You guys are doing a great job listening.
I've already talked about the reinforcement using points.
If one of them is not paying attention,
you can say, so Jake, just call on them,
the rules for trading information are?
And then, if they're still not following,
you know, protocol and proper behavior
in classroom, you can use peer pressure.
They recommend using general statements
that are not directed towards individuals.
So, for example, if someone's blurting and not raising
their hand, you would say, we need to raise our hands.
What could be the problem with not raising our hands?
And, you pose that question to the whole group,
who generate the responses.
We need to be respectful.
What can be the problem with laughing at people?
If kids are making fun of each other in class.
And, you generate the solutions or the answers
to those questions from the group,
and then that peer pressure is, you know,
hopefully going to help get them in line.
State your expectations.
We need to be serious now.
And, we use the word we, not I.
And then, you can give warnings if the behavior persists.
Addy, this is a warning.
If you continue to make jokes,
I'm gonna have to send you out of class.
We need you to be serious.
And then, later in private, you can explain
and problem-solve with that individual student.
But, there's all kinds of ideas in the manual
for behavior management techniques.
I wanted to say a word about including parents
as social coaches.
Some parents won't have time or want
to do this, and other parents will do
every single thing that's recommended.
So, I send it home.
There is a weekly handout for parents
and it goes through the buzzwords, the skills,
the rules that the kids are learning in school.
And then, it lets them know what the homework assignment is,
and then who need to interact to do
that homework assignment.
So, say for example, the homework assignment
is to have a video chat with another member of the class,
the phone numbers of the other member will be in there,
the time that they've arranged
to do the video chat and so on.
I also send home links to the role-play videos
that I just showed you, because the parents can see,
oh, that's what that's supposed to look like.
There, you can, you know, print off paper copies,
if you want, of the parent handouts with the instructions,
or you can send out an electronic version in an email.
I tended to like that, I'm not a big fan of paper,
but you can do whatever works best for you.
So, how many kids?
Who's in these classes?
Well, they recommend six to 10 is ideal.
I've had as many as 12 in a class.
This is appropriate for middle
and high school-aged children.
Boys and girls, I've always done mixed level classes.
What the trainers recommended was that
if there's only one girl in the class,
because sometimes the ASD population
is heavily skewed towards boys,
that you would tell the girl, you're the only girl
in the class, do you still wanna be in it?
And, sometimes they will, sometimes they won't.
You can include students without ASD.
And, I don't think I've ever had a class
that was all students on the spectrum,
because as a special education teacher,
I have a mixture of kids, but we handpick students,
no matter what their verification was,
and many of them were on the autism spectrum,
but any student who struggled to make friends
and who had poor social skills,
we chose for the class and we did handpick those.
You can include peer mentors, so I do Circle of Friends,
a program where we train neuro-typical peers
to understand autism and then to help support our kids
on the spectrum with their behaviors and social skills.
And so, I've taught classes where I include them,
and that's really fun and very helpful,
because on the adult role-play days,
it's nice to have those peer mentors.
So, if you have that, use it.
If not, don't worry about it.
And, you can also include students
with cognitive impairments, even though the curriculum
isn't specifically designed that way.
In the training, they did show a student
that was included in the class,
who did have cognitive impairments,
and they just, you know, would ask the questions
more simply for him, give a little more clarification,
a little more prompting and feedback
and help, but it did work.
And, I have used this curriculum,
not only with kids on the spectrum, but also kids
who have cognitive impairments, quite successfully.
So, how many people do you need to teach this?
If you can possibly get two adults, I would recommend it.
These instructors can be teachers, speech pathologists
counselors, school nurses, paraprofessionals.
I taught one class with a paraprofessional.
I taught one class with another co-teacher,
another special education teacher.
And, I taught a third class when I didn't have
another adult to help me, I used peer mentors
in the class, kids who were neuro-typical
and who did have good social skills.
You will need two people, they call them behavioral coaches.
Those are the adults or the, you know, neuro-typical peers.
You need them to do the role-play demos for the students,
to help coach the students during their role-plays.
These kids need feedback.
You can't really just say, okay, now you go practice.
You have to be there and watch them.
If you don't have two adults, you can do it, you know,
two at a time, you could take turns in front of the class.
There's ways around it.
So, if you don't have two adults,
I don't want you to think that you can't use this program.
The videos are available.
If you don't have that extra coach, you can just use those.
What kind of facilities are required?
Well, we need a whiteboard and whiteboard markers.
Basically, you just need a classroom with chairs
and desks and then a room to do role-plays.
During weeks 12 through 15, when you focus
on good sportsmanship, an outside space
or gym space works well.
This program may be adapted for virtual instruction.
I'm not going to get into that
in this particular training, but more to come on that.
The folks who have designed the PEERS curriculum
are doing some work with virtual classrooms
and we're doing it too, so you can check back
with the ASD Network of Nebraska for more on that.
The other thing that's provided
in the manual are lots of forms.
I'm not showing them to you.
I didn't take pictures of them.
It would just make this webinar longer than I want it to be.
But, in the back, there are pre
and post skills assessments that you can use.
One is the test of adolescent social skills knowledge,
and I give that before I start teaching the class,
and then again after, to see how much they have learned.
There's also a quality of socialization questionnaire,
another pre-post.
They ask questions like, how many get-togethers
have you had in the last month?
If you had any get-togethers,
did you argue or did you get along?
How many invitations did you get in the last month?
And so on, and you can compare those, pre and post-course.
There's a phone roster, because kids will be
exchanging phone numbers for texting and video chatting.
There's an in-group call or video chat assignment log,
so you can keep track of that.
There's a good sportsmanship point log, a daily point log,
homework compliance sheets and certification of completion.
All of those are very helpful to have.
They help keep you on track.
So, for in conclusion, what are your next steps?
I would say that after watching this webinar,
you are ready to get your hands on one of these manuals
and start using it with students,
whether it's with a handful of students,
a whole class of students, you're ready.
I was not perfect when I started using the curriculum.
I had to practice, I had to jump in.
I missed a few things, you know, the first time around,
but that's okay, we get better, the more that we practice.
Don't be intimidated, don't be afraid.
You're gonna follow the book in order.
And, you're gonna read from the script.
All the work's really been done for you.
You can also check back with
the Nebraska Autism Spectrum Disorders Network.
We are going to continue doing work with rolling out
this PEERS curriculum across to our state and we'd be happy
to share everything that we've learned with you.
So, I'm also happy to help.
Here's my contact information.
You can get a hold of me anytime.
Happy to give you feedback, answer your questions,
anything you need help with.
So, thank you so much for listening today
and I wish you all the best of luck,
as you embark on your PEERS journey.
Take care.