(Old) PEERS® (13-28yo)

Peers® For Teens & Young Adults

Evidence-based social skills course for teens & young adults.

Premium course: Peers® for teens & young adults

Social Skills Course - Teens & Young Adults

Helping people who have Autism, anxiety or who want general social skills growth.

Age-appropriate groups for 13-17 year old & 18-28 year olds.

Peers For Teens & Young Adults is the world's foremost evidence-based course for young people with Autism. It is a fun, high-impact, 4-month skills upgrade for social situations. Peers For Teens/Young adults covers a range of vital skills for interacting with others. Young people learn new skills to help support them through life's different social & emotional challenges.

Support For Young People & Parents

Teens/Young Adults

14 Sessions

90 minutes per session

Mini-groups: 3 or 4 students, on Zoom.

Parent Training & Support

7 Sessions

75-90 minutes per session

With experienced leaders, on Zoom.

Next start dates (August & February):

These are the options for "Session 1" dates for the next courses, which are weekly.

Note that your teen's sessions could be on any day that suits your family - You choose one session/week.

Session times are AFTER SCHOOL or AFTER WORK times on weekdays. Also, we give your family a CHOICE of times, because we have families of our own and we understand.


May Groups:

Week beginning Mon/Tues/Wednes/Thur - May 8-9-10-11 (weekly)

Sorry - All spots are taken. Look to August groups instead.


August Groups:

Week beginning Mon/Tues/Wednes/Thur - August 21/22/23/24  (weekly)

Groups are enrolling now.  Spots still available for families on most days/times. Our final intake for the 2023 year.


February (next year) Groups:

Week beginning Mon/Tues/Wednes/Thur - Feb 5-6-7-8 (weekly sessions)

Groups are enrolling now. 


Advantages

After School Sessions

Don't miss out on school.

We've set things up so that your child doesn't have to miss out on school and you don't have to deal with midday appointments. Instead, all sessions are at after-school times in the afternoons or evenings because your child needs routine. We can help that just by scheduling sessions conveniently for you.

No Waiting Lists!

You hate waiting lists and so do we!

Your child needs to learn asap. We have many, many groups and we would rather add more groups than have a waiting list. Every week your child is not learning new skills is a wasted week. We'll do everything we can so your child can start in our next course.

Teens & Young Adults Can Thrive

Peers is a proven learning program successfully used worldwide to help children with ASD, anxiety or any social skills development needs gain skills and confidence. It teaches students how to make friends and keep them. It gives your child the opportunity to develop a wide range of skills and gives them abundant opportunities to practice those new skills.

Peers® Course Content - 14 New Social Skills

  • Session 1:  How to start conversations that feels natural and how to exchange information in social settings.
  • Session 2:  Ways to keep conversations flowing more easily and balanced ways of exchanging information.
  • Session 3:  Finding reliable sources of quality friends
  • Session 4:  Electronic communication – Do’s and don'ts
  • Session 5:  Appropriate use of humour – Depending on content, timing, & strength of relationships.
  • Session 6:  Entering group conversations and playing your role within the group.
  • Session 7:  Exiting conversations – When, how and why to leave conversations gracefully.
  • Session 8: Get-Togethers - How to plan for social events & steps for enjoying social times.
  • Session 9: 2 ELECTIVES: (a) Sportsmanship Skills OR (b) Pre-dating etiquette: How to talk & interact confidently with both guys & girls
  • Session 10: 2 ELECTIVES: (a) Games Winning & Losing OR (b) Simple Pre-dating etiquette: Basic dating do’s and don'ts
  • Session 11: Handling disagreements
  • Session 12: Handling direct bullying
  • session 13: Handling indirect bullying
  • Session 14: Social celebrations, socially confidence, revising other goals and skills

The Peers® curriculum also covers:

  • Use appropriate conversational skills
  • Use humour appropriately/effectively
  • Use electronic communication
  • Enter and exit conversations appropriately
  • Be a good host during get togethers
  • Show good 'sportsmanship'
  • Handle arguments and disagreements
  • Change a bad reputation
  • Understand the basics of pre-dating etiquette
  • Handle rumours and gossip
  • Handle rejection, teasing & bullying













Video - See what your child will learn:

Peers is Evidence-Based For Teens/Young Adults

Peers® for Teens is recognised world-wide as one of the most successful evidence-based programs of its kind in the world and has helped thousands of children over the last 10 years. The research behind this course is immense and extremely positive. It is one of the most widely-recognised and approved courses for teens with Autism and more.

See the Evidence-Base



Meet the Researcher who Created Peers Course? 

This program was first developed by Dr. Elizabeth Laugeson at the University of California (UCLA) PEERS®.  This results-driven program has a strong evidence-base for use with adolescents and young adults with Autism. We know of no other programs that have the same level of quality research behind them and the same level of evidence-based results over the long term.


NDIS Funding Options

For Peers® For Teens & Young Adults

Self-Managed Families & Plan-Managed Families

NDIS funding can generally be used if the family are self-managed or plan-managed.

Please note that for participants with plan-managed NDIS there may be an out of pocket expense for the family for people on some types of plans.

Which Funding Categories?

Chat with your plan manager for what is relevant to your situation. It is helpful to know that other families have told us they use these categories:

A. Increased Social and Community Participation

B. Improved daily living

Total program cost: $2950



Social & Life Skills - in an ASD-Friendly Way

1

Each session, your child learns a new social skill, broken down into simple steps.

2

Your child experiences new skills in a fun way.


3

Your child practices new skills in a supported environment.

4

Your child plays fun games to discover effective ways to apply their new skills.

5

We help your child to try out these skills at home and at school for themselves.

6

We collaborate with parents and teachers to create opportunities for the new skills to be used.

Learning Is Outrageously Fun

Peers support for teens & young adults

Content is taught in a way that is practical, well-sequenced, and at times, outrageously fun! New skills are practised with others using a variety of technology. What makes this course so special is that the secret agent theme helps your child take on the role of a detective to look for clues in how others speak and communicate.


Then, as social detectives, we use those clues to determine what others are trying to tell us and what they may be thinking. For example, your child can learn to use their ‘Detective’ skills to listen to the volume, speed and pitch of people’s voices during conversations. Then your child can interpret these clues to detect how the other person is feeling.

What parents are saying

You are passionate about supporting, encouraging and growing the kids you’re working with. I’m so glad we’ve found you!

Sally J.


Mum of 9 year old daughter, near Melbourne.

Thank you for all your care and support with our son. We are so impressed and grateful for this program. Not to mention the skills he is using daily from it!

Irene


Delighted Mum of primary school son in Sydney.

Oh my goodness! Blake absolutely loved last night. Thank you so much! It made him feel very special and comfortable.

Vic


Mom of 10 year old child.

Other Programs Loved By Kids & Teens

Start point - juniors

Secret Agent Society®

7-12 yr

Secret Agent Society® (SAS) is a fun, evidence-based learning experience, helping your child grow their social skills and emotional regulation skills. The engaging spy-game curriculum helps your child learn to make new friends and keep those friends. Kids can choose to feel happier, calmer and braver. Recommended by Psychologists, OTs and Speech Therapists.

Start point - seniors

Peers® Social Skills (Teens/Young Adults)

12-28 yr

Peers is an friendly, evidence-based learning experience for teens and young people. Together with a caring “mini-group” of new friends and leaders, your young person learns skills and confidence for social interactions - learning new ways to make friends, keep friends, and thrive in life. Recommended by Psychologists, OTs and Speech Therapists.

Minecraft Teamwork Group

7-15 yr

Each week, your child will enjoy creating and co-operating with other kids. Your child will be guided through teamwork skills, negotiation skills and friendship skills. Each week we build a different Minecraft building project together. Will we build a beach scene, a spaceship, or a theme-park?

Art Friendship Group

7-17 yr

Kids and teens create fun art activities together, with our leaders helping and guiding your child through social skills to make new friends. It’s relaxed, supportive and very social. Each week we have a different art project that we work on together as a team (e.g. a drawing, painting, graphic design etc).

Friendship Hero (Boys) Playground Skills

8-15 yr

Your young man builds on skills he’s learnt from SAS & Peers (Evidence-based social skills courses), targeted for the daily challenges that growing boys face. Your child learns to be more confident, contribute more to interactions with others and how to keep friends. It’s a fun experience, with a focus on playground-style social skills.

“Worth It” (Girls) Friendship Skills

8-16 yr

Your daughter will love learning new social skills, building on the skills she gained in SAS & Peers (Evidence-based social skills courses).  In a fun, safe space your daughter learns how to navigate healthy relationships and develop social resilience. She can learn to ‘read the room’, evaluating social settings to drop her social ‘mask’ and shine as herself.

Adventure Team - Role Playing Game

11-25 yr

Social Role Playing - A fun interactive Zoom board-game-like Social Skills learning experience on Zoom. Each session, we learn new social skills and then we apply those social skills as a Pirate, a Space Pilot or a Farmer.

Free

Parent Encouragement Groups

Parents only

Parents who love hanging out and exchanging ideas - What’s working in your family right now, and what is tricky? Let’s learn together. Parent support, ideas & encouragement night are so much fun.

Want to know more?

Is this course right for your child? Get in touch with the team to arrange for your child to get started. It’s a way to start learning about new social skills, making better friendships and enjoying their school experience more.

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