Holding Hands provides the Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS), a 14-week evidence-based social skills intervention for high-functioning, motivated teens in the 7th-12th grades who are interested in learning ways to help them make and keep friends. During each group session, teens are taught (skill building) important social skills and are given the opportunity to practice those skills throughout the week. Parents are required to attend and participate in weekly parent training and support sessions facilitated by PEERS trained clinicians. Research shows that parental support and training is key!

PEERS is not only for individuals diagnosed with ASD. PEERS has been found to be effective for people with a variety of diagnoses, including but not limited to social communication disorder, ADHD, anxiety, depression, social phobias, bipolar disorder and other related developmental disorders.

Our groups are held at each of our centers, and we conveniently provide groups on Saturdays and week nights.

Topic of Instruction Include:

• How to use appropriate conversational skills
• How to find common interests by trading information
• 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 be a good host during get-togethers
• How to make phone calls to friends
• How to choose appropriate friends
• How to be a good sport
• How to handle arguments and disagreements
• How to change a bad reputation

PEERS (Ages 13-19)

• Curriculum is designed for 14 weeks made of 90-minutes session.
• A parent group will be run at the same time.
• Conveniently offered on Saturdays.
• Can be repeated 2 times.