The PEERS Curriculum for School-Based Professionals Social Skills Training for Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder

The PEERS® Curriculum for School-Based Professionals brings UCLA's highly acclaimed and widely popular PEERS program into the school setting. This sixteen-week program, clinically proven to significantly improve social skills and social interactions among teens with autism spectrum disorder, is now customized for the needs of psychologists, counselors, speech pathologists, administrators, and teachers. The manual is broken down into clearly divided lesson plans, each of which have concrete rules and steps, corresponding homework assignments, plans for review, and unique, fun activities to ensure that teens are comfortable incorporating what they've learned. The curriculum also includes parent handouts, tips for preparing for each lesson, strategies for overcoming potential pitfalls, and the research underlying this transformative program.

List of Tables Preface Acknowledgements About the Author 1. Getting Started 2. Week 1: Introduction and Trading Information 3. Week 2: Two Way Conversations 4. Week 3: Electronic Communication 5. Week 4: Choosing Appropriate Friends 6. Week 5: Appropriate Use of Humor 7. Week 6: Starting and Joining Conversations 8. Week 7: Exiting Conversations 9. Week 8: Good Sportsmanship 10. Week 9: Get-Togethers 11. Week 10: Handling Arguments 12. Week 11: Changing Reputations 13. Week 12: Handling Teasing and Embarrassing Feedback 14. Week 13: Avoiding Physical Bullying 15. Week 14: Handling Cyber Bullying 16. Week 15: Minimizing Rumors and Gossip 17. Week 16: Final Review, Post-Test Assessment, and Graduation References Index

Elizabeth A. Laugeson, PsyD, is a licensed clinical psychologist and an assistant clinical professor in the department of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. Dr. Laugeson is the director of The Help Group - UCLA Autism Research Alliance, a collaborative research initiative dedicated to developing and expanding applied clinical research in the treatment of children and adolescents with ASD. She is also the founder and director of the UCLA PEERS® Clinic, an outpatient hospital-based program providing parent-assisted social skills training for adolescents and young adults with ASD, as well as youths with ADHD, depression, anxiety, and other social impairments.