Social Skills Group for Young Children with Social Challenges
PEERS® for Preschoolers is an empirically supported, parent-assisted social skills treatment program for young children, age 4-6 years, diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder or other social challenges who have difficulty with peer interactions and friendship.
Program Overview
PEERS® for Preschoolers is 16-week group intervention program that teaches young children social skills and guides parents in how to promote the implementation and regular use of those skills in daily life. In order to participate, children must speak consistently in phrases (sentences of four or more words).
During each group session, children learn fundamental play and social skills introduced through a live puppet show followed by a variety of games and activities designed to rehearse newly learned skills and reinforce skill development in a natural setting.
Parents simultaneously attend separate group sessions where they are taught how to help their children make and keep friends by acting as social coaches outside of the group. To maximize parent training, each session includes parent-coached play, consisting of mock play dates between group members, during which parents receive performance feedback from the treatment team on their social coaching.
Topics of Instruction
- Greet friends
- Listen and follow directions
- Ask for and use friends’ names
- Sustain play interactions
- Share, give turns, and ask for turns during play
- Keep cool when upset during play
- Be flexible and cooperative during play
- Ask friends to play
- Join ongoing game play
- Transition to new play activities
- Ask for help and provide help to friends
- Maintain appropriate body boundaries
Enrollment Process
- Complete our confidential online application, below.
- Upon receiving your application, a CAAT staff member will call to schedule a free 30-minute telephone intake.
- After the phone intake, both the client and parent/caregiver coach must attend a PEERS® orientation appointment with our clinician to determine if enrollment in the program is appropriate.