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

Mary Schlieder Author

10/05/2020 Added

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[00:00:01.690]Welcome to this session,
[00:00:03.490]getting started with PEERS:
[00:00:04.820]social skills training for adults
[00:00:06.880]with autism spectrum disorder.
[00:00:09.400]This webinar is brought to you
[00:00:10.720]by the Tri-state Autism Collaborative
[00:00:12.870]of Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska.
[00:00:16.150]And I'll be your presenter today.
[00:00:17.530]My name is Mary Schlieder.
[00:00:19.410]I'm a long time special education teacher.
[00:00:21.620]I spent 28 years in the classroom,
[00:00:23.640]mainly as a middle and high school
[00:00:25.440]special education teacher.
[00:00:27.720]In a past life, I also worked in groupons
[00:00:30.630]with adults with various mental health disorders.
[00:00:34.180]I'm also a professor,
[00:00:35.970]an adjunct professor for several different universities,
[00:00:38.710]mainly in teacher education programs preparing teachers
[00:00:41.850]for the field of special education
[00:00:43.780]with an emphasis on behavioral interventions
[00:00:46.210]in trauma informed classroom.
[00:00:48.500]I'm also an educational consultant working
[00:00:50.660]on projects like this one.
[00:00:54.080]So our learner objectives for today include,
[00:00:57.180]identifying social skill deficits
[00:00:59.030]among adults with ASD, autism spectrum disorder.
[00:01:02.490]It's important to know what those deficits are
[00:01:04.940]so that we can choose programs
[00:01:06.370]that are specifically designed
[00:01:08.580]for the unique needs of this particular population.
[00:01:12.610]Also to recognize the importance of improving friendships,
[00:01:16.080]exploring the limitations of existing interventions
[00:01:18.920]and research findings related to social skills instruction.
[00:01:22.670]And finally, the bulk of today's training
[00:01:24.730]will be on learning how to implement
[00:01:26.320]the PEERS curriculum for adults.
[00:01:28.520]This is the curriculum that you will be receiving
[00:01:30.330]an overview of today.
[00:01:33.230]So before we get started,
[00:01:34.520]I just wanted to note that all of the material today,
[00:01:37.050]this PEERS program was developed by Liz Laugeson.
[00:01:40.430]So this is her body of work
[00:01:41.930]for which I'm very grateful to have had
[00:01:44.083]because I've used it with my students
[00:01:46.070]and it's very much needed and I'm a big fan.
[00:01:50.920]I've put two references in this presentation.
[00:01:53.410]The first one is the actual reference
[00:01:55.660]for the program that I will be describing today.
[00:01:58.490]The second one is one of the studies
[00:02:00.130]that was done on the implementation of this program.
[00:02:03.040]I could have added many more references in the manual
[00:02:06.210]that I'll be sharing with you today.
[00:02:08.070]I believe there's eight pages of references
[00:02:10.310]so you can look those up.
[00:02:11.630]I didn't wanna put them all in a slide show here today
[00:02:14.590]because it would get pretty long,
[00:02:16.280]but you can also look it up on the PEERS website
[00:02:18.820]because they have a research link there.
[00:02:21.056]So if you go to this link,
[00:02:22.487]let me show you what that looks like.
[00:02:24.870]There is a research link at the top,
[00:02:28.730]and as you can see,
[00:02:30.040]they've put multiple research studies
[00:02:32.540]where they have explored and created an evidence base
[00:02:35.640]for the program, PEERS,
[00:02:37.520]and these are all hyperlinks
[00:02:38.900]and you can take a look at those
[00:02:40.190]if you're interested to learn more
[00:02:42.010]about the evidence base behind the PEERS program.
[00:02:47.000]So just a little bit of background about PEERS.
[00:02:49.420]It's an international program,
[00:02:51.090]has been translated into dozens of languages.
[00:02:54.110]It was developed at UCLA in 2004.
[00:02:57.350]And one of the first books that Liz wrote
[00:02:59.300]was titled, "The Science of Making Friends:
[00:03:01.897]"Helping Socially Challenged Teens and Young Adults".
[00:03:04.737]And the curriculum that I'll be sharing
[00:03:06.930]is the outgrowth of the information that's in that book.
[00:03:10.710]It's the how to teach the skills that adults need.
[00:03:14.920]There are several evidence-based
[00:03:16.310]social skills programs in this series.
[00:03:18.630]There's one for preschoolers,
[00:03:20.300]one for adolescents, and one for adults.
[00:03:22.730]For today's purposes, we are going to be focusing
[00:03:25.050]on the PEERS for adults.
[00:03:27.160]I will probably be using the term young adults
[00:03:29.650]because that's who the evidence base been researched for,
[00:03:34.170]but it can be used with older adults too.
[00:03:36.180]So, if you hear me say young adults,
[00:03:38.360]it's not just for young adults.
[00:03:41.230]So what can you expect?
[00:03:42.760]Well, you're going to be teaching
[00:03:44.010]ecologically valid social skills.
[00:03:46.910]Do you know what that means?
[00:03:47.840]I didn't when I first heard it, I had to look it up.
[00:03:50.300]What ecologically valid social skills are,
[00:03:52.590]are the things that people who are successful
[00:03:55.510]in social situations do, the things that work.
[00:03:58.830]So what they did was they observed
[00:04:00.500]and they studied those behaviors
[00:04:02.980]and then they built a curriculum around the things that work
[00:04:06.210]to open up the social world.
[00:04:08.310]There's a focus on relationship skills,
[00:04:10.440]including developing and maintaining friendships,
[00:04:13.250]developing and maintaining romantic relationships,
[00:04:16.190]managing conflict, handling rejection.
[00:04:21.290]You will also learn how to help find sources of friends
[00:04:24.610]and romantic relationships.
[00:04:26.460]The students in the program get this
[00:04:28.680]with assistance from social coaches.
[00:04:31.000]They're provided support through trained social coaches,
[00:04:33.850]we'll get into all kinds of details about that.
[00:04:36.560]And it also fosters independence in social relationships.
[00:04:42.160]This is different and unique from other programs
[00:04:44.770]because this is a caregiver assisted
[00:04:46.700]social coaching program.
[00:04:48.970]What that means is that
[00:04:50.100]there's two classes going on at once.
[00:04:52.100]In one class, you have a class for the social coaches.
[00:04:55.800]Those are the people that are going to be working
[00:04:57.460]with the students outside of the classroom setting
[00:05:00.600]to practice the social skills that are taught in the class.
[00:05:04.350]And then at the same time they're receiving the instruction,
[00:05:07.210]the young adults for whom the classes are designed
[00:05:09.900]are receiving the instruction in another room.
[00:05:12.760]And I promise you by the end of this webinar,
[00:05:15.330]you'll understand exactly what that looks like.
[00:05:18.810]These, it's appropriate for socially motivated adults.
[00:05:22.170]If someone doesn't want to be a student
[00:05:23.970]and learn these things in the class,
[00:05:25.700]they're probably not going to be very successful.
[00:05:27.870]So we wanna make sure
[00:05:29.347]that the students in the class want to be there.
[00:05:32.210]It addresses the core social deficits in ASD,
[00:05:35.800]which makes this a unique program
[00:05:37.540]because many other social programs
[00:05:39.190]aren't designed for this particular population.
[00:05:42.310]And as I said, it focuses on relationship skills.
[00:05:47.950]This is a 16 week curriculum.
[00:05:50.160]So you meet 90 minutes each session once per week.
[00:05:54.200]There is,
[00:05:55.280]the manual is very specifically outlined,
[00:05:57.900]is a scripted curriculum,
[00:05:59.240]I'll be showing you what that looks like.
[00:06:01.270]There's also a library of video role play demonstrations
[00:06:04.350]that you can use given the social skills
[00:06:07.230]that you are teaching.
[00:06:08.670]It's evidence based and the evidence base
[00:06:10.910]is for young adults aged 18 to 24 years
[00:06:13.970]with autism spectrum disorder.
[00:06:16.110]However, this can be used with older people
[00:06:19.120]and people who are not on the autism spectrum,
[00:06:22.000]but who lack social skills for other reasons,
[00:06:24.500]other diagnoses,
[00:06:25.960]but just know that the research has been done
[00:06:28.470]mainly on this population to date.
[00:06:31.010]I know that there's other research studies in progress,
[00:06:33.920]but as of this time, that's where it's at.
[00:06:38.290]So who are these social coaches?
[00:06:40.420]Each student needs to bring a social coach with them
[00:06:43.900]into the program.
[00:06:44.770]So it could be a parent, a sibling,
[00:06:47.240]another relative, a family friend,
[00:06:49.710]or any caring adult who is able to commit 90 minutes a week
[00:06:53.920]to learning what these skills are,
[00:06:55.370]and then helping them follow through with the practice
[00:06:57.370]outside the classroom.
[00:07:00.880]I like to start with the why of this program,
[00:07:03.930]and then we'll get into the specifics
[00:07:05.680]of how to implement the program.
[00:07:09.200]So I'm going to start with a poll question.
[00:07:11.190]This is poll question number one.
[00:07:13.450]What I'd like you to do is to either write down
[00:07:16.270]or think about the steps that you would use
[00:07:18.700]to instruct an adult with autism spectrum disorder
[00:07:21.930]if you were teaching them how to join in a conversation
[00:07:25.038]that two other people were already having, all right?
[00:07:28.030]So what steps would you teach them
[00:07:30.380]in order to join a conversation?
[00:07:32.900]Well, you can pause this right now
[00:07:34.300]while you either think about it or write it down.
[00:07:40.020]All right.
[00:07:40.870]So keeping the list in mind that you just made
[00:07:43.980]or the steps that you thought about,
[00:07:46.070]I want you to compare it
[00:07:47.690]to what you're going to see in this video.
[00:07:49.163]This is a video of the author of the book
[00:07:51.610]that we're going to be using.
[00:07:53.080]Her name is Liz Laugeson and she is having a conversation
[00:07:56.620]with an individual named Alex
[00:07:59.220]to teach him how to join a conversation.
[00:08:02.320]And she's going to be talking about
[00:08:03.900]all of the steps that are involved,
[00:08:05.570]the things that a young adult would need to know
[00:08:07.930]in joining a conversation.
[00:08:09.800]So compare her list with the list that you just generated
[00:08:13.610]and see how many you got right.
[00:08:17.090]Hi, welcome to Autism Talk TV.
[00:08:19.167](dramatic music)
[00:08:32.210]In this episode, we visit the PEERS center in UCLA run
[00:08:36.030]by dr. Liz Laugeson, which focuses on social skills.
[00:08:39.650]And in this episode,
[00:08:40.700]Alex is learning how to approach a circle of people
[00:08:43.610]and he will actually experiment
[00:08:45.120]and approach a real circle of people.
[00:08:46.890]So you get to see his progress.
[00:08:51.460]Yeah.
[00:08:52.630]People with autism generally try to make friends
[00:08:54.810]and sometimes they go about it the wrong way
[00:08:57.110]and frequently get frustrated by their lack of results.
[00:09:00.873]What are some ways that you think
[00:09:02.980]that people on the autism spectrum
[00:09:04.940]can sort of make new friends, get into conversations
[00:09:07.980]and really integrate in with a group?
[00:09:10.360]It's not a simple answer.
[00:09:11.610]There's lots of different elements of how you make friends,
[00:09:13.930]but one way that we meet new people
[00:09:17.340]and make potentially new friends
[00:09:19.250]is by entering conversations
[00:09:20.650]and not budding into conversations.
[00:09:22.150]The reality is a lot of times as adults,
[00:09:23.970]we give kids and even young adults
[00:09:27.930]the wrong advice, essentially in these situations.
[00:09:30.620]So what I wanna do is kind of share with you
[00:09:32.410]what we call an ecologically valid skill
[00:09:35.590]and an ecologically valid skill is kind of a fancy term for
[00:09:39.080]what people who are socially accepted naturally do
[00:09:43.020]in these social situations.
[00:09:44.390]And so that's what we wanna teach, right?
[00:09:46.000]Not what we think that they should do,
[00:09:47.320]but what actually works.
[00:09:48.830]So this is what people do
[00:09:49.930]when they're trying to meet new people.
[00:09:52.000]They'll first sort of listen to a conversation,
[00:09:54.980]kind of watch it from a distance
[00:09:57.140]and try to figure out what they're talking about, right?
[00:10:00.680]Hey Shan. Hey, girl, how is it going?
[00:10:02.570]It's good, how are you doing?
[00:10:03.650]Good, thanks.
[00:10:04.850]Is that your new laptop?
[00:10:06.080]Yes, the new MacBook Air, I just got it.
[00:10:08.260]Oh my God, I love it.
[00:10:09.850]I know, I love it.
[00:10:10.683]What do you think that most teens with autism do
[00:10:13.270]when they enter conversations?
[00:10:15.140]I would imagine most teens with autism
[00:10:17.140]when they enter a conversation
[00:10:18.470]will say something completely unrelated
[00:10:20.980]to the topic that's currently being discussed
[00:10:24.010]and probably is somewhat related to their special interest.
[00:10:26.700]Exactly, you're absolutely right.
[00:10:28.150]And that's what our research is showing,
[00:10:29.440]is that they tend to be rather intrusive with conversations,
[00:10:32.520]kind of bud in and are off topic.
[00:10:35.210]And they're talking about something that's not related
[00:10:37.010]to what the people are talking about.
[00:10:38.680]How do you think they're gonna be received
[00:10:40.160]when they do that?
[00:10:41.790]Usually, I would think that kids who enter
[00:10:45.120]into a conversation saying something unrelated
[00:10:47.650]would not be received in a good way,
[00:10:50.420]usually with other kids either being puzzled or annoyed,
[00:10:56.410]depending on how many times they've done it.
[00:10:58.650]So we don't wanna do that.
[00:10:59.980]Instead, we wanna use these ecologically valid skills
[00:11:02.160]where we first listen to the conversation,
[00:11:04.600]we figure out what they're talking about,
[00:11:07.230]once we've identified the topic,
[00:11:08.910]we also want to make sure that we know something
[00:11:11.540]about the topic before we join this conversation.
[00:11:13.830]Why would that be important?
[00:11:15.450]It would be important
[00:11:16.283]because if they're having a discussion,
[00:11:18.310]you don't wanna get into a situation
[00:11:20.100]where you don't even know what they're talking about
[00:11:21.620]and they get confused why you're even in the conversation.
[00:11:24.920]Exactly, important thing though, while you're listening
[00:11:27.120]to this conversation,
[00:11:28.580]essentially you're eavesdropping, right?
[00:11:30.917]But do you wanna look like you're eavesdropping?
[00:11:32.870]No, you don't wanna come off in a way
[00:11:35.010]that makes it seem like you've been eavesdropping
[00:11:38.230]and I've seen situations
[00:11:40.460]where kids do get called out for eavesdropping.
[00:11:43.710]Exactly, well, what do you think they were doing
[00:11:45.370]with their eye contact
[00:11:46.440]when they got called out for eavesdropping?
[00:11:49.098]I assume they were looking at the people.
[00:11:51.290]They were probably staring at them, right?
[00:11:52.980]That's what gives us away when we're eavesdropping.
[00:11:55.370]So instead of doing that,
[00:11:57.000]we're just gonna make kind of casual periodic eye contact.
[00:12:00.520]We're gonna look over occasionally to sort of show interest,
[00:12:04.100]but we're not gonna stare at them.
[00:12:05.710]So a lot of people will use a prop,
[00:12:07.230]like they'll use maybe their iPhone
[00:12:08.810]or their BlackBerry or something like that
[00:12:10.530]or kind of be looking through a book or whatever is around.
[00:12:13.720]Before you join, you're actually gonna wait for something.
[00:12:17.810]What do you think that you're waiting for?
[00:12:19.990]I would think that you would wait
[00:12:21.210]for a pause in the conversation.
[00:12:23.610]Yeah, exactly.
[00:12:24.520]So why would you not wanna just barge in
[00:12:26.720]when they're in the middle of talking?
[00:12:28.240]People don't like to get interrupted.
[00:12:31.410]So you don't wanna give a bad impression
[00:12:32.870]to the person that was talking.
[00:12:34.040]Right, so we wanna wait for just a little brief pause
[00:12:36.990]in the conversation before we actually join.
[00:12:39.540]But one of the things I actually have to remind the teens
[00:12:42.170]and the young adults that I work with
[00:12:43.710]is that there's never a perfect pause
[00:12:46.340]because a lot of people will be waiting forever,
[00:12:49.340]waiting for this perfect pause.
[00:12:50.910]But what you do is you actually,
[00:12:52.680]as you're waiting for that pause,
[00:12:54.290]when you can kind of find the pause,
[00:12:56.200]you're gonna move a little bit closer.
[00:12:58.090]They'll probably at least look over at you.
[00:12:59.900]They'll notice you.
[00:13:00.980]And then that's kind of, that's your moment
[00:13:03.200]to join the conversation.
[00:13:04.440]Now, when we join the conversation,
[00:13:06.430]we moved a little bit closer,
[00:13:08.120]there's hopefully a little pause.
[00:13:09.780]What do you think we're gonna wanna say?
[00:13:11.250]Like how do we join that conversation?
[00:13:14.340]Well, usually I would think that you would wanna talk
[00:13:17.640]about whatever they're talking about
[00:13:19.640]and have something insightful
[00:13:20.780]that actually adds value to their conversation.
[00:13:23.390]'Cause you could give an opinion,
[00:13:24.840]but unless your opinion is something
[00:13:26.983]that is worthwhile for them to listen to,
[00:13:29.480]they're not really gonna care that much.
[00:13:31.300]Exactly, so,
[00:13:32.410]I mean, it doesn't have to be a brilliant comment
[00:13:34.150]or anything like that, but it does have to be on topic.
[00:13:35.980]You're right about that.
[00:13:36.840]So you're gonna either make a comment
[00:13:39.100]or ask a question that's on topic.
[00:13:42.610]Is that the new MacBook Air?
[00:13:43.730]It is. Yeah, I just got it.
[00:13:45.350]Oh Cool.
[00:13:46.200]And so what you do from there is
[00:13:48.540]you actually need to start assessing
[00:13:50.610]whether or not you're accepted into the conversation, right?
[00:13:53.010]Those are the steps for joining the conversation,
[00:13:54.790]you're watching and listening from a distance,
[00:13:57.270]you're sort of making periodic eye contact.
[00:13:59.530]You wait for a little pause and you join
[00:14:01.660]by making a comment or asking questions on topic.
[00:14:04.700]Yeah, are you a Mac person?
[00:14:06.030]Oh yeah, definitely. Me too, me too.
[00:14:09.300]I have the, just got the new iPad.
[00:14:11.907]I want that one, I heard it's so great.
[00:14:13.480]It is, I really like it.
[00:14:14.650]So Liz, how do you know if you've been accepted
[00:14:16.790]into the group?
[00:14:17.670]Well, we know from the research that about half the time
[00:14:20.470]that we try to join a conversation,
[00:14:22.620]we're not necessarily gonna be accepted
[00:14:24.840]and it's not a big deal actually, it happens to everyone.
[00:14:27.990]But we need to be paying attention
[00:14:29.330]to whether or not we're accepted.
[00:14:30.850]So there's very specific ways that we can tell.
[00:14:34.360]For example, when you join a conversation,
[00:14:37.810]what are people doing that's giving you the sense
[00:14:40.590]that they're interested in you?
[00:14:42.690]Perhaps they're talking to you, looking at you,
[00:14:45.940]looking you in the eye, leaning in towards you
[00:14:47.830]when you're talking, pointing their bodies towards you.
[00:14:50.600]That's exactly right.
[00:14:51.640]The reverse is true though,
[00:14:53.000]when they're not interested in talking to us.
[00:14:55.580]So if they're not interested,
[00:14:57.330]they're not engaging you in conversation.
[00:15:00.100]They're not looking at you.
[00:15:01.240]Or if they are looking at you,
[00:15:02.420]they're making a face or something like that,
[00:15:04.010]or they do this interesting thing with their body
[00:15:06.100]where they kind of turn away from you.
[00:15:07.760]And the interesting thing about the body language
[00:15:10.940]is that if you've ever, I don't know if you've ever noticed,
[00:15:12.660]but when people talk in conversations like with groups,
[00:15:16.770]they talk in circles.
[00:15:18.230]Yeah, I've seen-- Have you ever seen that?
[00:15:19.200]Everyone standing in a circle, usually
[00:15:21.600]or sitting around in a circle.
[00:15:23.190]Yeah, they kind of, they're all facing each other
[00:15:24.790]and maybe in kind of a circle.
[00:15:26.420]What do you think they do with that circle
[00:15:28.300]when they want to talk to you?
[00:15:29.660]What do they do with it?
[00:15:30.610]They make it wider.
[00:15:31.700]Yeah, they open the circle, essentially.
[00:15:33.783]What do they do with the circle
[00:15:35.210]when they don't wanna talk to you?
[00:15:38.550]Maybe that the people closest to you move
[00:15:42.470]sort of, or away from you.
[00:15:44.970]Yeah, they close the circle, essentially.
[00:15:47.220]They kind of give you that cold shoulder.
[00:15:49.280]So those are some very concrete behavioral signs
[00:15:52.790]that we can use to assess
[00:15:54.790]whether or not we're accepted into the conversation.
[00:15:56.750]Are they looking at us?
[00:15:57.583]Are they talking to us and are they facing us?
[00:16:00.320]Why is it important to know if you're accepted or not?
[00:16:02.970]Well, because do you wanna force someone to talk to you?
[00:16:05.360]Let's imagine we joined a conversation,
[00:16:07.770]they're not really interested in talking to us,
[00:16:09.560]we know that happens about half the time,
[00:16:11.750]do we wanna continue to force them
[00:16:13.780]to try to talk to us?
[00:16:16.740]Guess not.
[00:16:17.670]Probably not, what do you think they might think of us
[00:16:19.570]if we continue to try to engage them
[00:16:21.760]when they've shown us that they're not interested?
[00:16:24.020]I think they might find us annoying.
[00:16:26.330]Yeah, they might find us annoying.
[00:16:27.580]So in those cases, we have to exit these conversations.
[00:16:30.143]Sure, and what's the best way to exit,
[00:16:31.690]just to generally just walk away?
[00:16:33.870]That's a really good question.
[00:16:35.180]So the typical advice is that you just walk away,
[00:16:38.480]but the problem with just walking away
[00:16:40.520]is that a lot of the kids that we work with,
[00:16:43.470]they look like they're storming off.
[00:16:45.050]It's sort of very obvious.
[00:16:47.700]You can see that, right?
[00:16:48.810]So we actually teach them to slow it down a bit
[00:16:51.620]and they should begin by sort of looking away.
[00:16:54.770]Now, what does it tell the people you're trying to talk to
[00:16:57.220]when you start to look away from them?
[00:16:59.220]That you're not as interested in the conversation.
[00:17:01.740]That's right, so you're kind of disengaged
[00:17:03.340]from the conversation,
[00:17:04.173]your attention is focused elsewhere.
[00:17:05.910]Then while you're kind of looking where,
[00:17:07.220]you're gonna kind of turn your body away
[00:17:09.170]in that same direction that you're looking,
[00:17:11.010]what does that tell them that you're about to do?
[00:17:14.330]Tells them that you're about to leave.
[00:17:16.160]Yeah, you're about to walk away and that's the third step.
[00:17:18.130]So we start by looking away, kind of turning away
[00:17:20.860]and casually walking away.
[00:17:22.100]It slows down the process.
[00:17:23.620]And if we've done this right,
[00:17:25.500]the people that we've been trying to engage,
[00:17:27.450]there aren't even gonna notice when we walk off.
[00:17:29.980]I've noticed some neuro-typical guys
[00:17:32.100]that I hang out with who are really good at social skills,
[00:17:35.800]they'll go into a conversation.
[00:17:37.380]They won't even move their body into the conversation.
[00:17:40.060]And they'll like, look over their shoulder
[00:17:41.810]and start talking to the other group.
[00:17:43.220]And it seems like there's way less rejection from that.
[00:17:45.460]Is that wrong?
[00:17:46.420]That's absolutely a strategy you can use.
[00:17:48.640]We actually teach a lot of our kids in our program,
[00:17:50.940]the idea of what we call gaze aversion.
[00:17:53.360]We don't necessarily do that with our bodies,
[00:17:54.950]but that's what you're talking about,
[00:17:56.520]which is a very protective way of entering a conversation
[00:18:00.400]before you've really known if you've been accepted.
[00:18:03.350]Because you're not 100% invested yet.
[00:18:05.840]We kind of identified what the steps are, right?
[00:18:08.660]The first step for entering a conversation
[00:18:11.020]is that you're gonna kind of listen to the conversation
[00:18:13.490]and watch it, and then you're waiting for something.
[00:18:15.780]What are you waiting for?
[00:18:16.710]Waiting for a pause.
[00:18:17.780]Very good, and then you're gonna join by doing what?
[00:18:20.750]Sort of going towards the group, moving a little in.
[00:18:24.570]Slowly maybe, but--
[00:18:25.420]Yeah, and how will you actually join the conversation.
[00:18:28.570]Once you're accepted as part of the circle,
[00:18:30.690]you say something that's related to the topic.
[00:18:34.120]Yeah, you're gonna wanna make a comment
[00:18:35.500]or ask a question that's on topic.
[00:18:36.910]And then you're gonna be assessing
[00:18:38.470]whether or not you're accepted in the conversation.
[00:18:39.797]So you make the comment before you determine
[00:18:42.320]whether or not you've been accepted.
[00:18:43.310]Yeah, you always wanna make the comment first.
[00:18:45.623]♪ It's easy when I hit you in your ♪
[00:18:48.570]All right, so let's talk about
[00:18:51.260]what those steps were.
[00:18:52.160]That video gives you a really good idea
[00:18:54.970]of the in-depth nature of this program
[00:18:58.240]and the skills that they teach.
[00:19:00.170]So these were just a quick review.
[00:19:02.680]These were the steps for joining that conversation.
[00:19:05.020]Listen to the conversation,
[00:19:06.900]figure out what they're talking about,
[00:19:08.710]look over occasionally,
[00:19:10.550]use a prop like a phone so it doesn't appear
[00:19:12.690]that you're eavesdropping,
[00:19:14.270]wait for a pause in the conversation.
[00:19:16.270]And they got into detail about,
[00:19:17.880]there's never a perfect pause,
[00:19:19.830]move your body closer,
[00:19:21.200]make a comment or ask a question that's on topic,
[00:19:24.270]determine whether or not you're being accepted
[00:19:25.967]and as you could tell, there were several different things
[00:19:28.100]that needed to be taught
[00:19:29.450]to determine whether you're accepted or not.
[00:19:31.780]And then if not accepted, look away, turn your body away
[00:19:34.760]and slowly walk away.
[00:19:36.190]So in your poll question when you thought about this,
[00:19:39.140]how many of these steps did you have?
[00:19:40.680]Did you get them all?
[00:19:42.120]If you're like me, you probably didn't.
[00:19:44.100]So I spent a lot of time
[00:19:46.240]in my teaching career teaching my adolescents
[00:19:48.870]how to have a conversation,
[00:19:50.820]but I taught them four steps.
[00:19:52.300]One, have a greeting, hey, how's it going.
[00:19:55.370]Two, think of a topic to talk about.
[00:19:58.010]Third, ask a few questions
[00:19:59.980]and forth and the conversation, wrap it up with a,
[00:20:02.750]okay, see you later.
[00:20:04.360]And guess what, I wasn't getting the level of conversation,
[00:20:07.030]not the quality that I was looking for
[00:20:09.690]because I didn't know to drill down this deep, okay?
[00:20:13.270]It takes time and observation
[00:20:15.350]to find what those ecologically valid skills are.
[00:20:20.210]And so the author of this book
[00:20:21.700]has taken the time to do that.
[00:20:23.290]So this is a level of detail
[00:20:24.860]that you can expect in this curriculum, okay?
[00:20:28.850]So, like I said, it's nuanced
[00:20:31.170]to a level that no other curriculum that I've seen
[00:20:33.840]has had before in systematic teaching.
[00:20:37.430]It's ecologically valid.
[00:20:38.900]It's tailored to meet
[00:20:39.820]the unique needs of the ASD population.
[00:20:42.570]It requires little planning.
[00:20:43.880]This is a scripted curriculum
[00:20:45.380]and I'm gonna show you what that looks like in little bit.
[00:20:48.070]It's very well organized and easy to use.
[00:20:50.800]It takes away your guilt.
[00:20:52.070]We know that young adults, these are the things,
[00:20:54.690]these are the skills that they struggle with
[00:20:56.650]and we want to help them
[00:20:58.120]but I think that we don't know how to help them.
[00:21:00.507]And this book takes care of that.
[00:21:02.960]The skills generalize to other settings,
[00:21:05.280]and this provides trained social coaches
[00:21:07.870]because it includes caregivers in the treatment team.
[00:21:11.030]And it provides extensive practice
[00:21:12.710]because there is a weekly homework assignment
[00:21:14.770]that the coach will help them practice with.
[00:21:18.090]So poll question number two,
[00:21:20.220]what I'd like you to do is to either think about or list
[00:21:22.670]the social skill deficits that adults with ASD experience.
[00:21:26.720]Why, because we have to be really familiar
[00:21:29.830]with what these deficits are
[00:21:31.190]when we're choosing a social skill program,
[00:21:33.490]because we want one that's going to teach to these deficits.
[00:21:37.430]So take a minute, you can pause this.
[00:21:39.330]Either list or think about
[00:21:40.910]social skill deficits adults with ASD experience.
[00:21:48.870]All right, let's see how many from your list
[00:21:50.810]that you got from the list that I have here.
[00:21:53.700]They have poor social communication.
[00:21:55.077]What does that mean?
[00:21:56.870]Problems with topic initiation,
[00:21:59.150]one sided conversations.
[00:22:01.230]That means they elicit fewer extended responses,
[00:22:04.040]they give you a reciprocal responses
[00:22:06.490]and they fail to identify common interests.
[00:22:09.160]This program is gonna teach
[00:22:10.720]to all of these social skill deficits.
[00:22:13.340]They tend to have repetitive themes
[00:22:15.690]where they perseverate on restricted interests
[00:22:18.080]and disregard the other person's interests which can make
[00:22:20.560]for some really dead-end boring conversations.
[00:22:24.450]They have difficulty providing relevant information
[00:22:26.900]because they're often making unexpected leaps in topics.
[00:22:30.150]They have a pedantic style of speaking.
[00:22:34.710]Difficulty interpreting verbal and nonverbal communication,
[00:22:38.480]including voice tone, sarcasm, gestures and social touch.
[00:22:44.220]This curriculum is embedded with ways
[00:22:46.700]to help them recognize and address and understand
[00:22:50.000]the things like this that they struggle with.
[00:22:53.000]Poor social awareness.
[00:22:54.730]They have difficulty making eye contact
[00:22:56.780]and difficulty understanding social cues.
[00:22:59.550]And then they end up having poor social motivation.
[00:23:01.910]And I think, and I saw this in my high school students,
[00:23:04.820]I think it comes about because they've tried
[00:23:06.990]and they've been unsuccessful for so long
[00:23:09.730]because they haven't received
[00:23:10.800]the skill training that they need,
[00:23:12.580]that they tend to just give up.
[00:23:14.220]So that results in less involvement in social activities,
[00:23:17.570]lack of peer entry attempts and fewer social initiations.
[00:23:21.550]If we fail at something over and over and over again,
[00:23:24.740]we tend to not wanna keep failing
[00:23:26.590]so we just avoid those situations.
[00:23:30.840]Poor social cognition.
[00:23:32.570]And this means difficulty understanding
[00:23:34.530]the perspectives of others,
[00:23:36.380]not knowing how the things
[00:23:37.580]that they do and say affect the others around them.
[00:23:40.070]Poor theory of mind and lack of cognitive empathy.
[00:23:43.800]So those are the social skills deficits
[00:23:45.870]that are going to be addressed by this particular program.
[00:23:51.160]Poll question number three.
[00:23:53.100]List three consequences for adults with ASD
[00:23:56.130]due to these social skill deficits.
[00:23:58.170]Why am I asking you to do this?
[00:24:00.240]Well, we need to understand the importance of the results
[00:24:04.300]when individuals on the autism spectrum
[00:24:06.910]don't receive the social skill instruction
[00:24:09.630]and intervention training that they need.
[00:24:12.280]So take a minute to think about it.
[00:24:14.490]Pause if you need to, this video and then come back.
[00:24:21.970]All right.
[00:24:22.900]Consequences include greater social isolation,
[00:24:26.340]fewer close meaningful friendships, poor friendship quality.
[00:24:30.040]So when they do get to make a friend,
[00:24:31.940]oftentimes it doesn't last very long
[00:24:33.960]or it's a friend that they really never see.
[00:24:35.930]They call someone their friend,
[00:24:37.680]but they're not doing it together
[00:24:38.970]so they're not getting to know each other
[00:24:40.560]at that deep friendship level.
[00:24:42.580]Fewer romantic relationships.
[00:24:45.900]More dependence on caregivers.
[00:24:48.390]Those are the people that end up having
[00:24:49.610]to be their entertainers.
[00:24:51.270]Less likely to live independently,
[00:24:53.540]higher unemployment and underemployment
[00:24:56.320]and less post-secondary education.
[00:24:58.840]I have released students from my high school,
[00:25:00.830]they've graduated, receive their diplomas,
[00:25:03.310]they are academically very capable,
[00:25:05.620]but it's their social barriers that get in their way
[00:25:08.220]of successful post-secondary education.
[00:25:11.890]They have poor quality friendships.
[00:25:13.610]That's one of the consequences
[00:25:14.880]for not receiving this social instruction
[00:25:17.410]and that results in less security
[00:25:19.000]in the friendships that they do have.
[00:25:20.840]They have greater conflict
[00:25:21.960]so friendships can end quite quickly.
[00:25:24.380]Increased social isolation upon entering adulthood.
[00:25:28.310]Kids go to high school
[00:25:29.620]and they're around people all day long
[00:25:32.410]during the school day, five days a week.
[00:25:34.580]Once they graduate from high school,
[00:25:36.190]that structure is no longer in place.
[00:25:38.550]So unless they have full-time school or full-time job,
[00:25:41.610]they tend to be a lot more socially isolated.
[00:25:44.010]They're just not even around people.
[00:25:45.950]More online friends than real life friends.
[00:25:48.870]And then they experience peer rejection
[00:25:51.260]as a result of those poor quality friendships,
[00:25:53.450]which can result in anxiety, depression,
[00:25:56.020]and other mental health disorders.
[00:25:59.250]The consequences of that peer rejection.
[00:26:01.350]Well, it's one of the strongest predictors
[00:26:03.690]of mental health issues, substance abuse,
[00:26:07.680]suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts.
[00:26:11.566]So I'm asking you to consider devoting 90 minutes a week
[00:26:15.230]to instruction or teaching this class, this program
[00:26:19.910]and you wanna think about, I'm already busy.
[00:26:21.970]Why is this so important?
[00:26:23.460]This is why it's so important.
[00:26:26.840]But the good news is having one or two close friends
[00:26:29.890]predicts later adjustment in life.
[00:26:32.230]It can buffer the impact of stressful life events.
[00:26:34.850]I mean, just think about it,
[00:26:36.320]when we have tough times in life
[00:26:38.080]and no one can escape this life
[00:26:39.670]without having stressful things happen to them.
[00:26:42.230]What do we do?
[00:26:43.063]We go our friends, we go to the people
[00:26:44.560]that are closest to us
[00:26:46.230]and they listen to us, they support us,
[00:26:48.350]they give us advice, they're there for us.
[00:26:50.800]Imagine experiencing stressful life events
[00:26:53.300]and you are alone.
[00:26:54.580]And there's nobody to bounce ideas off of,
[00:26:56.740]nobody to listen to you.
[00:26:58.310]I can't imagine how lonely and difficult that would be.
[00:27:01.810]Having one or two close friends correlates positively
[00:27:04.680]with self esteem and independence
[00:27:07.080]and friendships prevent victimization.
[00:27:09.960]You are less likely to be bullied if you are not alone.
[00:27:15.800]All right, so those are the why's,
[00:27:17.710]why to consider implementing this program.
[00:27:19.990]Now let's get into how.
[00:27:21.630]What does the program look like and how do we implement it.
[00:27:25.460]Well, I'm going to start
[00:27:26.570]by going through what the topics are.
[00:27:28.830]You do one topic each week.
[00:27:31.370]So the first one is trading information
[00:27:33.230]and starting conversations.
[00:27:35.460]Trading information
[00:27:36.400]and starting conversations are buzzwords.
[00:27:38.300]Trading information means having a conversation,
[00:27:41.050]going back and forth, asking questions,
[00:27:43.730]listening, sharing about yourself
[00:27:46.280]so that you can find an area of common interest.
[00:27:49.370]Because once you find an area of common interest,
[00:27:52.070]something you both like to do,
[00:27:53.760]something you're both interested in,
[00:27:55.770]that can guide the activities that you choose
[00:27:57.990]when you do your get togethers.
[00:27:59.810]Because part way through the program,
[00:28:01.470]you're going to start doing get togethers with another peer.
[00:28:04.830]And that's the end goal of this whole program,
[00:28:07.280]have get togethers and make friendships.
[00:28:09.700]So we start with week one with that.
[00:28:12.680]The next week is trading information
[00:28:14.580]and maintaining conversations,
[00:28:17.210]finding a source of friends,
[00:28:19.370]electronic communication
[00:28:20.916]because that's a whole other world to navigate.
[00:28:22.820]We do a lot of communication these days
[00:28:24.740]that's not person to person.
[00:28:27.110]Appropriate use of humor
[00:28:28.330]because just because someone's laughing when you tell a joke
[00:28:30.750]doesn't mean they think it's funny.
[00:28:32.800]Entering group conversations, exiting group conversations,
[00:28:37.030]and how to have get togethers.
[00:28:38.680]And they do a deep dive with the get togethers.
[00:28:40.740]We practice and role play how to open the door,
[00:28:43.740]greet your friend at the door,
[00:28:45.570]introduce them to other people that are in your house,
[00:28:48.230]offer them a snack,
[00:28:49.700]offer them a choice of activities and so on.
[00:28:52.660]So yeah, it's good.
[00:28:55.100]Other topics include dating etiquette,
[00:28:57.290]letting someone know you like them,
[00:28:59.850]asking someone on a date, going on dates,
[00:29:03.310]dating do's and don'ts,
[00:29:04.970]and then there's a week on handling disagreements,
[00:29:07.810]a week on handling direct bullying,
[00:29:10.060]handling indirect bullying.
[00:29:11.570]And then the final week 16
[00:29:13.350]is moving forward and the graduation.
[00:29:15.780]So those are the things that you're going to be looking at.
[00:29:18.590]The book is outlined in a very easy to use manner.
[00:29:21.700]So this is in the front of the book.
[00:29:24.700]The book has chapters on each one of these lessons.
[00:29:27.420]But just for a quick glance,
[00:29:28.720]you can see that on the first column down,
[00:29:30.900]it's the numbers of the weeks.
[00:29:32.390]And then across the top,
[00:29:33.800]there's a column on a didactic lesson.
[00:29:35.990]What didactic mean is just the new direct instruction topic
[00:29:39.670]for that week.
[00:29:40.750]And then there's the homework review that you'll be doing,
[00:29:43.420]the behavioral rehearsal activity that you'll be doing,
[00:29:45.910]the materials you need,
[00:29:47.410]and then what the new homework assignments will be
[00:29:49.310]for the following week.
[00:29:50.630]So at a glance, you could get everything ready
[00:29:52.890]that you're gonna need to provide the instruction
[00:29:54.990]for each week.
[00:29:57.560]The teaching methods used include the didactic lessons,
[00:30:01.130]the direct instruction of the new material,
[00:30:03.320]the new skills they're learning,
[00:30:05.030]and they use a Socratic method,
[00:30:06.640]which means that you're posing questions
[00:30:08.960]to the young adults to answer.
[00:30:10.830]And it's this give and take back and forth.
[00:30:12.870]You pose a question and the group responds to the questions
[00:30:16.087]and they learn from each other that way.
[00:30:18.650]There's a role plays involved,
[00:30:20.140]both role plays that the adult instructors do
[00:30:22.450]and then the role plays that the adult students do.
[00:30:26.090]There's perspective taking questions
[00:30:28.270]and I'm gonna get into what that means specifically
[00:30:30.290]in just a few minutes.
[00:30:31.810]The use of buzzwords, what are buzzwords?
[00:30:33.930]It's a common vocabulary.
[00:30:35.750]So in the example I talked about previously,
[00:30:38.740]trading information, finding an area of common interest,
[00:30:42.450]having a get together, that's what those things mean.
[00:30:45.820]You just want everybody, the social coaches,
[00:30:48.900]the parents or caregivers who are the social coaches
[00:30:51.540]and the students to be using the same words
[00:30:53.900]as they're working through the material.
[00:30:56.220]There's behavioral rehearsal exercises,
[00:30:58.810]where the adults practice
[00:31:00.170]and show them the inappropriate way to do something
[00:31:03.010]as well as the appropriate way to do something.
[00:31:05.320]And then it's the turn for the students to try and practice.
[00:31:08.910]And we provide coaching with performance feedback
[00:31:11.690]as they do that
[00:31:12.620]and then there's homework assignments
[00:31:14.430]because they need a lot of skill practice.
[00:31:16.983]I mean, you can't just practice it once and say,
[00:31:19.340]okay, you've got it now
[00:31:20.440]because that's really not how it works.
[00:31:24.550]The program is organized a certain way.
[00:31:27.130]You must go in lesson order.
[00:31:29.270]When I first got training in the program,
[00:31:31.530]I was very excited about it.
[00:31:32.677]And a couple of my students
[00:31:34.060]were struggling with a specific skill.
[00:31:36.220]So I thought, I'm just gonna jump
[00:31:37.117]and do that skill right now.
[00:31:38.700]I can't remember what it was.
[00:31:39.931]I think it was managing conflict
[00:31:41.160]or handling arguments or something.
[00:31:43.290]And that was a huge mistake
[00:31:45.080]because you have to learn the skills from week one
[00:31:47.720]and then week two builds on week one
[00:31:50.410]and week three builds on week two.
[00:31:52.180]Everything is scaffolded
[00:31:53.950]and so you can't jump into week nine
[00:31:56.000]not having done week one, two, three, four.
[00:31:58.980]What I tell people is, it's a scripted curriculum.
[00:32:01.680]I'll show you what it looks like in a minute,
[00:32:03.840]but you're gonna read what it says and don't skip anything.
[00:32:06.670]Go in order, don't skip any of it.
[00:32:09.270]90 minute lessons once per week
[00:32:11.070]and there's two classes going on at once.
[00:32:13.560]One class is for the social coaches, caregivers,
[00:32:17.430]and the other class is for the young adult students.
[00:32:21.050]And then there's a weekly homework assignment.
[00:32:25.290]So let me describe the two different classes.
[00:32:27.730]The first class that's going on
[00:32:29.510]is the one for the social coaches.
[00:32:31.240]And these are the parents, caregivers.
[00:32:33.150]In the book they label them,
[00:32:34.390]social coaching therapist guide.
[00:32:36.160]That's the section in each unit.
[00:32:38.300]That's what they call it.
[00:32:39.610]So what they're doing is a homework review for 50 minutes.
[00:32:43.030]So the caregivers of the young adults
[00:32:45.950]who are learning the skills,
[00:32:47.070]they come together and the teacher of that class says,
[00:32:49.870]okay, how do the homework assignment go last week?
[00:32:52.420]Let's say the assignment was to have a video chat
[00:32:55.200]with another class member.
[00:32:56.840]So you're going to ask them, did they follow the rules?
[00:32:59.990]Did they use the buzzwords?
[00:33:01.340]And they will know what these things mean
[00:33:03.160]because they've been taught to them the previous week.
[00:33:05.530]So 50 minutes is spent on the homework review,
[00:33:08.140]and then you have the new lesson.
[00:33:09.917]And this is for the social coaches
[00:33:11.690]because you can't social coach
[00:33:13.110]if you don't know what the lesson is,
[00:33:14.960]if you don't know what the skills are,
[00:33:17.000]if you don't know what the buzzwords are.
[00:33:19.120]So then they do the new instruction.
[00:33:20.610]They tell them what it looks like
[00:33:21.950]and explain it to them for 20 minutes.
[00:33:24.730]And then they give, for the next 10 minutes,
[00:33:26.530]a new homework assignment instructions
[00:33:28.370]so that they can understand how to coach the young adult
[00:33:31.550]and then there's reunification.
[00:33:33.190]So the last 10 minutes of the class,
[00:33:35.390]the social coaches, caregivers
[00:33:37.580]and the young adults come back together again.
[00:33:40.370]And the purpose of that time
[00:33:41.900]is to go over brief review of the lesson
[00:33:45.009]and to make sure everyone understands
[00:33:46.490]what the homework assignment is.
[00:33:49.280]So at the same time that class is going on,
[00:33:51.910]the young adults are receiving their instruction.
[00:33:54.327]And in the book they call this section,
[00:33:56.280]the young adult therapist guide.
[00:33:58.350]Those are just the terms they use for instructor.
[00:34:01.320]In their lesson,
[00:34:02.190]they're doing 30 minutes of homework review
[00:34:04.800]and then they're going to do 30 minutes
[00:34:06.520]of the new lesson material.
[00:34:08.740]Role play demos, they're gonna watch
[00:34:10.530]the two instructors demonstrate the lesson.
[00:34:13.830]And then they're going to spend 20 minutes
[00:34:15.470]on behavioral rehearsal exercises
[00:34:17.800]where they practice what they've learned.
[00:34:19.960]And then of course, the 10 minutes of reunification time
[00:34:22.980]with their social coach.
[00:34:26.710]So let's get into a little bit more detail
[00:34:28.610]about the homework review piece of these classes
[00:34:31.520]and what that looks like.
[00:34:33.190]So this is a picture of a page in my book.
[00:34:35.300]And what I do is I highlight everything
[00:34:38.720]that I'm going to say.
[00:34:39.760]They have italicized all of the script pieces
[00:34:42.340]that you, as the instructor, are going to verbally say,
[00:34:45.350]and then the other parts of the book are your instructions.
[00:34:49.060]And I pulled a piece of this out on the next slide
[00:34:51.560]so to give you an example of what that's like.
[00:34:53.970]So they give the instruction,
[00:34:55.640]go over the following homework assignments
[00:34:57.620]and troubleshoot any problems.
[00:34:59.260]Remember to use buzzwords.
[00:35:01.240]And then it says, say, and this is what I've highlighted,
[00:35:04.050]one of your homework assignments this week
[00:35:05.810]was to have a phone call or video chat
[00:35:07.850]with someone in the group
[00:35:09.140]in order to practice trading information.
[00:35:11.560]Raise your hand if you did the call or video chat.
[00:35:14.170]So they'll raise their hands
[00:35:15.190]and then you'll start to call on them
[00:35:16.630]with the following questions.
[00:35:18.440]Who did you talk to and who called whom?
[00:35:20.850]So you pose that question to the group
[00:35:22.570]and then you call on them to answer.
[00:35:24.990]Did you trade information?
[00:35:26.340]What was the common interest?
[00:35:27.920]Call on the students, they will answer.
[00:35:31.290]What could you do with that information
[00:35:32.760]if you were going to hang out?
[00:35:34.480]Because at the end goal is to do hangouts and make friends.
[00:35:38.240]So that's what the script looks like.
[00:35:40.210]And all you have to do with this is just follow the script.
[00:35:43.400]Next, after you've done the homework review,
[00:35:45.300]it's time for the new content, the didactic lesson.
[00:35:48.550]One of the things that you need as a whiteboard
[00:35:50.260]because you're going to be writing things down.
[00:35:53.100]Same format, what I've done here
[00:35:54.850]is highlighted the things that I'm going to be saying,
[00:35:57.100]that talking pieces of this script.
[00:35:59.090]When I teach the lesson, I've got my whiteboard,
[00:36:01.270]I've got a marker in one hand,
[00:36:03.430]and I've got the book on the desk
[00:36:05.750]or wherever I'm standing, the podium or wherever.
[00:36:08.310]And I'm looking down at my book,
[00:36:09.890]I'm asking questions of the group
[00:36:11.560]and I'm turning around and I'm writing rules on the board.
[00:36:13.970]That's really what this teaching looks like.
[00:36:16.460]I've pulled a piece out of that
[00:36:17.940]just to give you an idea of what it looks like.
[00:36:20.320]Explain, now that we're clear
[00:36:22.230]on the different types of friendships,
[00:36:23.850]we need to talk about how to strengthen these friendships
[00:36:26.430]and get to know people better.
[00:36:28.270]The way we do that is by talking and trading information.
[00:36:31.510]The most important goal of trading information
[00:36:33.670]is to find common interests.
[00:36:35.440]So you can find out if there are things
[00:36:37.070]you might enjoy talking about or doing together.
[00:36:40.260]And then they give you the instruction,
[00:36:42.150]as the instructor, what to do.
[00:36:43.790]Present the rules for trading information.
[00:36:46.380]Buzzwords are bold and italicized words
[00:36:49.290]should be written on the board and emphasized
[00:36:51.530]as they represent a common language.
[00:36:53.660]Do not erase the rules until the end of the lesson.
[00:36:56.530]So the manual will guide you through exactly what to say
[00:36:59.760]and exactly what to do.
[00:37:03.280]The next step after you presented the new information
[00:37:05.770]is to do the behavioral rehearsal
[00:37:07.930]and the instructors do these role plays initially
[00:37:10.580]because you don't send them to go practice
[00:37:12.910]because they won't be good at it yet, not good enough.
[00:37:15.820]So the instructors demonstrate through role playing.
[00:37:19.730]So in the manual, what you'll find are these gray boxes
[00:37:22.740]and they will have for each skill,
[00:37:24.670]an inappropriate role play, how to do it wrong,
[00:37:27.330]what that looks like,
[00:37:28.510]and then they'll have an appropriate role play,
[00:37:30.340]how to do it right.
[00:37:31.730]So I'll show you what the script looks like
[00:37:33.730]but after the script, you're gonna ask the questions
[00:37:36.700]that they have in the manual.
[00:37:38.440]These are the perspective taking questions.
[00:37:40.890]So here's an example of an inappropriate role play script.
[00:37:43.880]I've just pulled it out of that gray box in the manual.
[00:37:46.650]And they use the terms, instructor and behavioral coach.
[00:37:50.340]Those are the two adults that are demonstrating the skill.
[00:37:53.280]Hey, John, what are you doing this weekend?
[00:37:55.580]I'm going to my mom and stepdad's house.
[00:37:57.660]Your stepdad, are your parents divorced?
[00:37:59.690]Yeah.
[00:38:00.608]When did that happen?
[00:38:01.640]When I was 12.
[00:38:02.690]Why?
[00:38:03.930]Uncomfortable, I don't know.
[00:38:05.610]Was it hard on you?
[00:38:06.800]I don't want to talk about it.
[00:38:08.070]Well, I'm just trying to understand.
[00:38:09.210]Did they fight a lot?
[00:38:10.600]And so the two instructors do this role play, okay?
[00:38:14.880]And then there's also the appropriate role plays
[00:38:18.060]are in the book as well.
[00:38:19.340]How to do it right.
[00:38:20.580]So then the instructors do this.
[00:38:23.530]Hey John, how are you doing?
[00:38:25.010]I'm fine, how are you?
[00:38:26.440]I'm great.
[00:38:27.273]So how was your weekend?
[00:38:28.620]It was good, I went to the movies with some friends.
[00:38:30.400]That sounds fun, what did you see?
[00:38:31.850]And so on.
[00:38:32.870]So they show the wrong way.
[00:38:34.330]They show the right way.
[00:38:35.460]You demonstrate for them in the front of the class.
[00:38:40.600]Poll question number four,
[00:38:41.870]because I'm gonna show you the videos
[00:38:43.830]that are available for free open source
[00:38:46.150]on the PEERS website in just a minute.
[00:38:48.060]And there's going to be a girl in the video
[00:38:50.530]who is going to be doing the skill wrong.
[00:38:54.290]And these are the three perspective taking questions
[00:38:56.850]that you ask before every role play
[00:38:59.410]and then you ask them after the role play, all right?
[00:39:02.100]The questions are, what was it like
[00:39:04.270]for the other person that Elena is talking to?
[00:39:07.250]What did she think of Elena?
[00:39:08.910]And would the other person wanna talk to Elena again?
[00:39:11.970]I want you to think of those questions
[00:39:13.680]while I show you this video.
[00:39:18.170]And this is topic that they're working on learning
[00:39:20.280]is starting an individual conversation
[00:39:23.310]and this is the inappropriate way to do it.
[00:39:33.700]Hey, do you ever go roller skating?
[00:39:35.630]What?
[00:39:36.463]Do you go roller skating?
[00:39:37.860]No.
[00:39:38.780]Why not, you should go.
[00:39:40.770]Okay.
[00:39:41.620]It's really fun, I go like every weekend.
[00:39:44.020]Sweet.
[00:39:45.370]There's this new skate park that just opened up.
[00:39:48.050]I'm trying to watch something right now, so.
[00:39:50.290]Oh, I'm just saying, it's really fun.
[00:39:53.610]They have like a student night every Thursday.
[00:39:56.380]Cool.
[00:39:57.360]You should definitely go.
[00:39:58.900]Okay.
[00:40:01.770]And then the three
[00:40:02.720]perspective taking questions come up
[00:40:05.230]and you have them on the next slide here.
[00:40:06.600]These are the ones I pose to you.
[00:40:07.790]And these are embedded in every lesson
[00:40:10.270]and you're going to be asking these questions every time.
[00:40:12.380]There's a lot of repetition in the program
[00:40:14.460]because the students need it.
[00:40:16.300]So the first perspective taking question,
[00:40:19.010]what was that like for the other person?
[00:40:20.700]And you throw that question out there to the class
[00:40:22.670]and they generate responses like uncomfortable.
[00:40:25.690]She looked confused.
[00:40:27.470]Next question that you pose to the class.
[00:40:29.620]What did she think of Elena?
[00:40:31.380]Oh, she's annoying, she looked annoyed,
[00:40:33.410]that she's a weird person.
[00:40:35.300]Third question, would she want to talk to Elena again?
[00:40:38.730]Probably not, all right?
[00:40:40.220]So you can see how that teaches that perspective taking
[00:40:43.500]that these students really struggle with naturally
[00:40:45.770]because of their autism.
[00:40:48.820]Next poll question.
[00:40:50.290]I want you to think about what Elena is doing right.
[00:40:53.060]And here's the three questions, they're always the same.
[00:40:55.520]What was that like for the other person?
[00:40:57.630]What does the other person think of Elena?
[00:40:59.720]And would she wants to talk to her again?
[00:41:02.030]So you think about that while you're watching this video.
[00:41:05.930]Now it's starting an individual conversation
[00:41:08.190]and this is the good example.
[00:41:18.290]Oh my God, I love that song.
[00:41:20.020]Yeah, me too.
[00:41:20.853]This is the new video that just came out today.
[00:41:22.750]No way, I'm dying to see that.
[00:41:24.530]Yeah, it's so good.
[00:41:25.920]That's awesome, have you ever seen her in concert?
[00:41:28.080]I have, I actually have tickets for her upcoming concert.
[00:41:30.810]No way, the one that's coming up in two weeks?
[00:41:32.720]Yeah, it's gonna be so great.
[00:41:34.190]That's so cool.
[00:41:35.160]You've never seen her perform?
[00:41:36.030]No, I wish, I really want to.
[00:41:37.870]Oh my gosh, she's amazing in concert.
[00:41:39.680]You need to see her.
[00:41:40.610]Yeah, that's what I've heard.
[00:41:42.360]By the way, I'm Elena.
[00:41:43.540]I'm Jordan nice to meet you. Nice to meet you.
[00:41:45.860]And then at the end,
[00:41:47.420]you get those same three questions.
[00:41:49.850]So what was that like for the other person?
[00:41:51.850]What was Elena doing right?
[00:41:53.220]Well, she was on topic.
[00:41:55.180]They traded information back and forth.
[00:41:57.460]Elena listened.
[00:41:58.520]She asked her questions.
[00:42:00.410]What did the other girl think of Elena?
[00:42:02.470]She probably thinks she's a cool girl.
[00:42:04.490]Would she want to talk to Elena again?
[00:42:06.750]Yes, right?
[00:42:08.246]So that's what those look like.
[00:42:10.130]Well, here's just one more short example
[00:42:11.710]of the two personal example I gave you earlier.
[00:42:14.390]And this is in more depth so you would do it in person
[00:42:17.590]with your other and then you could show the video.
[00:42:21.370]Whoops, let me go back a minute here.
[00:42:32.440]Hey, Allison, how was your weekend?
[00:42:34.040]It was really good, how was yours?
[00:42:35.940]It was good, what'd you do?
[00:42:37.100]I went to dinner with my mom and stepdad.
[00:42:39.280]Oh, your stepdad.
[00:42:40.230]So your parents are divorced?
[00:42:43.250]Yeah.
[00:42:44.400]Okay, how old were you when that happened?
[00:42:46.000]That must've been hard for you.
[00:42:48.290]12.
[00:42:49.123]Yeah, it kind of was, I don't really wanna talk about it.
[00:42:51.540]Oh, okay, well, I'm just curious.
[00:42:53.030]So do you know why?
[00:42:55.620]They don't really talk about it.
[00:42:57.170]Oh, they didn't really tell you why?
[00:42:58.660]No.
[00:42:59.493]Okay, well, is that like hard for you?
[00:43:01.200]Could we just change the subject?
[00:43:02.640]Well, I'm just curious, you know.
[00:43:04.100]So like, do you hang out with your mom or your dad?
[00:43:08.050]I really hang out with both of them.
[00:43:09.940]Okay, is that like weird?
[00:43:11.380]Like, do they fight over you still?
[00:43:14.410]No. So are you like closer
[00:43:16.330]with your mom or your dad?
[00:43:19.170]I like both of them.
[00:43:20.920]Well, did they tell you why?
[00:43:23.290]No, we don't talk about it.
[00:43:25.810]Okay, well, I'm just curious.
[00:43:28.170]And then you can see,
[00:43:30.010]continue on with those perspective taking questions.
[00:43:32.490]So that gives you an example of what videos are available.
[00:43:36.360]So where are they?
[00:43:37.310]They're all these YouTube videos on the PEERS site.
[00:43:39.810]So you go here
[00:43:42.835]and if you go to the resources tab and hit role play videos,
[00:43:48.770]you will see all of them.
[00:43:50.220]And there's videos for all of the skills that are taught,
[00:43:53.920]there's conversation skills, and these are all very short.
[00:43:59.160]Starting, entering group, exiting,
[00:44:01.940]electronic communication, appropriate use of humor.
[00:44:08.340]A lot on those, good sportsmanship, get togethers,
[00:44:12.410]handling arguments and so on.
[00:44:14.540]So those are available for you to use
[00:44:17.180]as well as the scripts that are in the book.
[00:44:20.430]It's a very wonderful resource.
[00:44:22.020]What I do is I do a role play
[00:44:24.550]with another instructor in my class,
[00:44:26.620]and then we'll show the videos.
[00:44:28.400]They enjoy the videos a whole lot.
[00:44:30.240]They like seeing that.
[00:44:32.292]And then after that, it's time for the behavioral rehearsal
[00:44:34.660]for the students to role play
[00:44:36.140]and the instructors will walk around and help them.
[00:44:38.750]It's not really enough to say,
[00:44:40.060]okay, you guys just go practice now
[00:44:41.700]and think that they're going to do it right.
[00:44:43.440]You want them to practice a skill
[00:44:45.360]and to execute it correctly.
[00:44:47.200]Sometimes they get stuck.
[00:44:48.470]They don't know what to say
[00:44:49.910]or they might be breaking some of the rules.
[00:44:51.620]So you wanna be there to give general critique and feedback
[00:44:55.890]and self-correction as needed.
[00:44:58.190]So same thing in the manual.
[00:44:59.980]They have everything that you're going to say
[00:45:01.540]during this time, I highlight it.
[00:45:05.070]Here's an example.
[00:45:06.450]Now we're going to go around the room
[00:45:07.900]and have each of you practice exchanging information.
[00:45:10.640]We're going to figure out
[00:45:11.620]what you like to do on the weekends
[00:45:13.320]and then imagine the other person likes to do
[00:45:15.150]the same things.
[00:45:16.540]Then you will practice suggesting
[00:45:18.210]exchanging contact information with me
[00:45:20.860]while everyone watches, okay?
[00:45:22.560]So that was a skill that was being worked on,
[00:45:24.340]was exchanging contact information.
[00:45:26.800]And then the manual will tell you, go around the room
[00:45:29.400]and have each young adult practice
[00:45:30.910]exchanging contact information
[00:45:32.980]with a group leader in the following way.
[00:45:35.330]You ask, what do you like to do on the weekend?
[00:45:37.999]And then say, now, imagine I like to do that too.
[00:45:40.320]And we've traded information about that.
[00:45:42.570]Now follow the steps for exchanging
[00:45:44.370]the contact information with me.
[00:45:46.257]And you will have previously taught those steps
[00:45:48.340]during the didactic lesson, you leave them on the board,
[00:45:51.350]they can look at it if they need help
[00:45:53.130]and reminders that they get stuck and so on.
[00:45:55.960]So it's all in the manual, all laid out for you.
[00:45:58.723]What I found myself doing before
[00:46:00.530]was picking bits and pieces
[00:46:02.070]out of different social skills program.
[00:46:04.540]What I really like about this though,
[00:46:06.300]is it is very systematic.
[00:46:07.930]One thing builds on the other.
[00:46:09.580]I can't think of all of these things,
[00:46:11.260]the work's been done for me.
[00:46:14.130]And then there's more behavioral rehearsal activities.
[00:46:16.730]There's a lot of practice built in.
[00:46:18.750]Some of it is game-based learning.
[00:46:20.830]So in some of the initial weeks you play a jeopardy game.
[00:46:24.240]The students have conversations to get to know each other.
[00:46:27.370]They have to remember areas of common interest
[00:46:30.570]and things they've learned about the other person.
[00:46:32.919]And then we ask questions about it
[00:46:34.745]in a jeopardy game format.
[00:46:37.130]They also have conversations,
[00:46:38.630]sharing information using personal items.
[00:46:40.980]We tell them, bring a personal item to class
[00:46:43.060]and that's what you're going to talk about.
[00:46:44.950]And then other classes, you play games,
[00:46:47.390]practice good sportsmanship through that.
[00:46:49.680]Could be board games, card games, video games, and so on.
[00:46:55.040]Now during, okay, so we're giving the instruction
[00:46:58.490]to the young adults in one room
[00:47:00.410]and then in the other room,
[00:47:01.650]the concurrent session for social coaches,
[00:47:04.040]as I mentioned, they're doing the homework review
[00:47:05.950]from the week before.
[00:47:07.280]How did it go?
[00:47:09.070]How did their video chat go?
[00:47:10.610]What worked, what didn't work.
[00:47:12.080]And in the manual for the instructor of the social coaches,
[00:47:15.350]it tells you there too exactly what to say,
[00:47:18.500]step by step instructions of what to say,
[00:47:21.040]what to do and so on.
[00:47:22.850]And then you tell them
[00:47:24.040]what the new didactic lesson is for 20 minutes,
[00:47:26.440]you teach that, it's all on the manual
[00:47:28.270]just like it is for the young adult section of the book.
[00:47:31.430]And then you tell them
[00:47:32.263]about the new homework assignment instructions
[00:47:34.110]for 10 minutes.
[00:47:35.150]And then they come back together for the reunification.
[00:47:38.460]During that 10 minute reunification
[00:47:40.690]when the parent caregivers
[00:47:42.010]and the young adult students are together,
[00:47:44.860]you give a very brief lesson review.
[00:47:47.700]You clarify the homework assignment,
[00:47:49.999]this is what you're going to do this week.
[00:47:51.810]And then you wanna make sure everyone
[00:47:54.060]has the needed contact information.
[00:47:56.090]So perhaps if the assignment was to have a video chat
[00:47:59.560]with somebody that's in the classroom,
[00:48:01.530]you wanna make sure that they've agreed
[00:48:02.880]upon a day and a time
[00:48:04.197]and that they've exchanged phone numbers
[00:48:05.920]so that they can make that call.
[00:48:07.580]That they have the appropriate app downloaded
[00:48:09.530]on their phone if they need something with an app,
[00:48:11.660]that kind of a thing.
[00:48:12.870]So that's what that 10 minute ending time is used for.
[00:48:17.230]And just like every other part of this program,
[00:48:20.650]what you do and what you say is all outlined in the book.
[00:48:25.830]All right.
[00:48:26.663]So that's about the program
[00:48:28.310]and let's go into some things about the makeup of the class
[00:48:31.040]and the materials you need and so on.
[00:48:33.230]So class composition.
[00:48:35.920]They recommend seven to 10 or up to 12 students.
[00:48:39.890]You want students who are socially motivated.
[00:48:42.390]There's an intake form that you give them
[00:48:44.660]to determine that they want to be in the class
[00:48:47.120]otherwise, they're not going to be successful.
[00:48:49.530]The research has been done in ages 18 to 30,
[00:48:52.440]but it's okay to use this curriculum with older adults.
[00:48:56.260]You can have a mixed gender group, both males and females.
[00:49:00.210]Sometimes you end up with a class
[00:49:01.750]that may be skewed to more males or even all males.
[00:49:05.260]If you only get one female in the class,
[00:49:07.543]that PEERS people recommend that you tell the female,
[00:49:10.990]you're the only girl in the class,
[00:49:12.050]do you still want to be in the class
[00:49:13.780]and get her permission if that's okay.
[00:49:16.090]You can have homogeneous groups of all people
[00:49:18.530]on the autism spectrum,
[00:49:20.150]but you can have a mixture as well.
[00:49:21.850]I've done mixed classes,
[00:49:23.550]or some kids are on this spectrum and some kids are not
[00:49:26.820]in the high school level,
[00:49:28.160]even though this is not, that's a different program.
[00:49:30.720]I've used peer mentors.
[00:49:32.010]There might be instances where you can use peer mentors
[00:49:34.770]to help out in class too.
[00:49:39.170]So what do you need to teach this class as far as personnel?
[00:49:43.020]I would recommend two instructors in the young adult class
[00:49:47.080]because it's good for the role plays.
[00:49:49.260]You can use educators, counselors,
[00:49:51.570]therapists, speech pathologists, recreational therapists,
[00:49:55.240]vocational counselors, other mental health professionals.
[00:49:59.030]And then in the other room,
[00:50:00.160]you're going to need an instructor for the social coaches,
[00:50:02.570]for the parents and caregivers.
[00:50:04.320]One person could manage this alone.
[00:50:06.700]If you have two, you could do some role plays,
[00:50:08.580]but you can just show the videos
[00:50:10.270]so you don't really have to do those in person.
[00:50:12.950]And each student has to bring with them
[00:50:15.080]a social coach, okay?
[00:50:16.400]So the agreement in the young adult classes
[00:50:19.060]is that each student is going to bring somebody,
[00:50:22.210]whether it's a parent or a neighbor
[00:50:24.540]or a sibling or whoever
[00:50:26.280]who is going to be learning the skills,
[00:50:27.870]because that person is gonna be responsible
[00:50:30.260]for helping to coach them through the homework,
[00:50:32.370]making sure there's follow through
[00:50:33.740]and making sure they did it correctly.
[00:50:35.590]They help with their homework practice and follow through.
[00:50:38.440]Now, the PEERS instructors
[00:50:41.300]said that there is something you can do called Peers Lite.
[00:50:44.420]If you are only one person, perhaps you're a therapist
[00:50:47.670]and you don't have other people,
[00:50:48.990]you don't have another instructor,
[00:50:50.790]you could just totally leave out
[00:50:52.370]the social coaching lesson piece total.
[00:50:55.200]But they do say that the research
[00:50:56.850]on the efficacy of the program has been done
[00:50:59.770]with two concurrent classes going on at the same time.
[00:51:03.550]I think that the social coach piece
[00:51:05.490]is what separates this program from all the other ones
[00:51:09.090]or many other ones out in the market.
[00:51:11.160]And I think that that's what makes this so successful.
[00:51:13.770]These individuals need a lot of practice
[00:51:15.970]and so you teach the lesson,
[00:51:17.780]but the social coaches are the one
[00:51:19.220]that help them practice it.
[00:51:20.730]So they say, you can do a Peers Lite
[00:51:23.270]where one person just teaches the young adult
[00:51:25.400]part of the lesson
[00:51:26.233]and you don't even do the social coaching part.
[00:51:28.520]You can copy off, you could do it electronically,
[00:51:31.030]or you can do a print copy and send it home
[00:51:34.110]in case a parent is interested in what they learned
[00:51:36.750]and maybe you could help them out in some will.
[00:51:38.760]I've seen that on my own when I've had classes.
[00:51:41.560]So it's something to consider.
[00:51:43.910]My thoughts on that are,
[00:51:45.270]it's better to do something than to do nothing.
[00:51:48.160]I'd rather have them receive this instruction
[00:51:50.470]without the social coach piece
[00:51:52.290]than to never receive it at all.
[00:51:54.010]So that's something to think about.
[00:51:57.640]What kind of facilities do you need?
[00:51:59.440]Well, you're going to need two rooms.
[00:52:00.910]You're gonna need one
[00:52:01.743]for the social coach instruction piece
[00:52:03.910]and one for the young adult instruction class.
[00:52:06.800]You need a space large enough
[00:52:08.100]to bring the whole group together for that reunification
[00:52:10.760]at the last 10 minutes.
[00:52:12.480]You'll need a white board, chairs and desks,
[00:52:14.960]and then enough space for the role plays.
[00:52:17.680]This program may be adapted for virtual instruction.
[00:52:20.980]I'm not going to get into that in this particular webinar,
[00:52:24.300]the folks who developed the PEERS program
[00:52:27.040]are doing virtual classes right now.
[00:52:30.090]And the ASD Network of Nebraska
[00:52:32.150]is also in the process of implementing
[00:52:34.240]a virtual instruction class.
[00:52:36.140]So if you check back with us, we can let you know
[00:52:38.410]and give you more ideas on that,
[00:52:40.210]but I'm not going to get into that right now.
[00:52:43.740]They provide many forms in the back of the book
[00:52:46.240]that are very helpful.
[00:52:47.320]I didn't take pictures of them and put them up here,
[00:52:49.400]but there's a pre and post skills assessment.
[00:52:52.610]It's called the test of young adult social skills knowledge
[00:52:55.450]and so you give it to them before they take the program
[00:52:58.550]to see what they know about the skills
[00:53:00.870]that you're teaching, and then you give the post
[00:53:02.490]and hopefully they've learned a lot
[00:53:03.890]and their scores improve.
[00:53:05.460]There's also a quality of socialization questionnaire,
[00:53:08.130]which you can also use for pre and post.
[00:53:10.500]That one asks questions like,
[00:53:11.900]how many get togethers did you have last month?
[00:53:14.520]Did you get along with a person that you invited over
[00:53:17.220]or were you arguing?
[00:53:18.950]How many get togethers were you invited to?
[00:53:21.860]And those kinds of questions,
[00:53:23.070]and you can do a pre and post with that.
[00:53:25.280]There's a planned absence sheet, a phone roster,
[00:53:28.340]everyone's gonna need everyone's phone numbers
[00:53:30.300]for the homework activity so you wanna have that.
[00:53:33.170]There's an in-group call or video chat assignment log.
[00:53:37.200]There's all the handouts for the social coaches
[00:53:39.310]so that they know how to prompt their young adult
[00:53:41.330]in their life as they're coaching them through the homework.
[00:53:43.740]And then of course,
[00:53:44.573]there's homework sheets for both of them.
[00:53:48.240]So in conclusion, what is your next step?
[00:53:51.780]You've had an overview through this webinar.
[00:53:54.280]I would recommend that now you are ready
[00:53:57.190]to get your hands on a PEERS for Young Adults manual
[00:54:00.620]and to start experimenting with it.
[00:54:02.850]Do a class, try it out with a few young adults in your life.
[00:54:06.760]When I started, I wasn't perfect at this,
[00:54:09.090]you just read the script, you depend on that manual,
[00:54:11.770]you need a marker, a whiteboard and the manual.
[00:54:15.060]And so I think that you're ready to start experimenting
[00:54:17.380]and try a class.
[00:54:18.720]You won't get better at it until you start out.
[00:54:21.440]You can also check back with us
[00:54:22.940]at the Nebraska Autism Spectrum Disorder Network.
[00:54:26.100]We are doing some ongoing projects with the PEERS curriculum
[00:54:29.060]and we'll have more information to share in the near future.
[00:54:32.820]So here's my contact information.
[00:54:35.500]If you need any help, you have any questions,
[00:54:37.730]I'm happy to help out.
[00:54:39.470]And thank you so much for listening to this webinar.
[00:54:42.530]I wish you all the best
[00:54:43.970]as you start on your PEERS instructional journey.
[00:54:47.080]Take care.

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

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