Geneva Centre for Autism

Available:

Onsite

No webinar available yet

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Location:
Geneva Centre for Autism, Rooms A, B, & C
112 Merton Street
Toronto, Ontario
M4S 2Z8

Presenters:
Dr. Elizabeth Laugeson
Director, UCLA PEERS Program
Director, The Help Group – UCLA Autism Research Alliance
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Shannon Bates, M.A.
Clinic Coordinator, UCLA PEERS Program
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Cost: $695/person for four days including training materials

Course Description:

The PEERS Training Seminar is designed exclusively for mental health professionals and educators who are interested in learning and/or implementing the PEERS intervention and research in their clinical practice.

Mental health professionals and educators who attend the UCLA PEERS Training Seminar can expect 4 days of intensive instruction regarding the PEERS research and intervention which will enable implementation of the PEERS intervention into the attendees' clinical practice. Attendees at the UCLA PEERS Training Seminar will benefit from:

• Didactic instruction in a small group format
• Observation of current UCLA PEERS Parent and Teen groups
• Live demonstrations
• Videos of previous PEERS participants

Attendees will have the unique opportunity to observe videos of actual PEERS participants and their families currently participating in the UCLA PEERS Program. Attendees will have ample opportunity to ask questions about and discuss case conceptualization and individualized treatment concerns relating to clinic participants. Upon check-in, each attendee will also receive a copy of the formalized PEERS intervention manual, Social Skills for Teenagers with Developmental and Autism Spectrum Disorders: The PEERS Program (Laugeson & Frankel, 2010).

Elizabeth A. Laugeson, Psy.D., Director of the UCLA PEERS Program will serve as course instructor throughout the PEERS Training Seminar.

About the UCLA PEERS intervention:
PEERS is a 14-week evidence-based and parent-assisted social skills intervention for motivated teens with Autism Spectrum Disorders in middle and high school who are interested in learning ways to help them make and keep friends. The PEERS intervention is well supported by positive outcomes in a randomized controlled clinical trial and follow-up study (Laugeson, Frankel, Gantman, Mogil, & Dillon, 2008; Laugeson, Frankel, Mogil, & Dillon, 2009).

During each group session teens are taught important social skills and are given the opportunity to practice these skills in session during socialization activities (e.g. playing sports, board games, etc.). Parents are taught how to assist their teens in making and keeping friends by providing feedback through coaching during weekly socialization homework assignments.

Topics of Instruction include:

• How to use appropriate conversational skills
• How to find common interests by trading information
• How to use electronic forms of communication
• How to choose appropriate friends
• How to appropriately use humor
• How to enter and exit conversations between peers
• How to handle rejection, teasing, and bullying
• How to handle rumors and gossip
• How to organize and have get-togethers with friends
• How to be a good sport during games and activities
• How to handle arguments and disagreements with friends
• How to change a bad reputation

Learning Objectives:

1. Participants will learn about the friendship difficulties common to adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders.
2. Participants will become familiar with the PEERS research and clinical intervention.
3. Participants will become familiar with how to administer the PEERS intervention to parents and teens.
4. Participants will be able to evaluate the success of their delivery of the PEERS intervention to their patients.