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PEERS® Program

Group of high school students sitting around a table chatting
Dr. Keri Gomez of CAHELP, Kaori Hartzler, former Intervention Specialist with the DMCC, and four graduates for the PEERS program taking a photo
Group of graduate students from the PEERS program at CAHELP
Group of five high school students sitting around a table playing board games

Program for the Education & Enrichment of Relational Skills

PEERS® is a 16-week program that we offer through the SELPA that teaches teens specific skills related to making and keeping friends. These skills include how to have successful conversations, using various forms of electronic communication, choosing appropriate friends and social groups, having get-togethers, and dealing with bullying. This program was created by Dr. Laugeson at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The program was developed to support individuals with autism develop these skills through direct instruction, role plays, practice, and homework. This program also includes a social coach component which is typically a parent. The social coach must also commit to participating in the 16-week program which includes weekly participation in our group as well as support for the teen outside of class which includes practicing the skills and supporting homework completion- homework is practice what is learned in class.

The group focuses on skills like having conversations, entering and exiting conversations, electronic forms of communication, including making phone calls to friends, choosing appropriate friends, handling teasing bullying and other forms of rejection, handling arguments and disagreements with friends and having appropriate get together with friends, including being a good sport and a good host. Parents/social coaches are taught how to help their teens make and keep friends by acting as social coaches outside of the group. During the teen session, teens are presented with a lesson and then practice whatever skill they just learned while participating in socialization activities or playing board games, card games, or outdoor sports. Homework assignments are also given each week to make sure teens are practicing the skills they are learning. 

PEERS® is one of the only evidence-based social skills programs; Social coaches are trained to support use of social skills outside of the group. PEERS® only teaches ecologically valid social skills. PEERS® is cross-culturally adapted across the globe

Celebrating Success!

 PEERS Program Graduation | May 29, 2025

Check out our Photo Gallery!

The Confidence Builder Series: PEERS® Social Skills Videos

PEERS® Role-Play Video Playlists

Explore our role-play video playlists developed to guide teens through the essentials of building and maintaining healthy social relationships.

Participant Testimonials

Parent Testimonial for PEERS Program
Parent Testimonial for PEERS Program
Parent Testimonial for PEERS Program

Interested in joining PEERS®?

Submit Referral Form

Participation is based on the completion and submission of the PEERS® referral form. Once received, our team will review your referral and connect with you about next steps.

Hear what participants have to say!

The peer® video module project is supported by the Organization for Autism Research (OAR), and by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under the Autism Intervention Research Network on Physical Health (AIR‐P) grant, UT2MC39440. The information, content and/or conclusions are those of the authors and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by OAR, HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government. The recipient owns the copyright for materials that it develops under an award issued pursuant to this notice, and HHS/OAR reserve a royalty-free, nonexclusive, and irrevocable right to reproduce, publish, or otherwise use those materials for federal purposes, and to authorize others to do so. 

In addition, pursuant DocuSign Envelope ID: F467FFFF-9AB8-40E6-9B5F-082A56B72C4D to 45 CFR § 75.322(d), the Federal Government and OAR have the right to obtain, reproduce, publish, or otherwise use data produced under this award and has the right to authorize others to receive, reproduce, publish, or otherwise use such data for federal purposes, e.g., to make it available in government-sponsored databases for use by others. If applicable, the specific scope of HRSA rights with respect to a particular grant-supported effort will be addressed in the NOA. Data and copyright-protected works developed by a subrecipient also are subject to the Federal Government’s copyright license and data rights.