PEERS Social Skills Course

What do we look for in a friend (how to tell a real friend from a false friend)?

We look at factors like:

• sharing common interests,
• kindness and caring,
• support,
• commitment and loyalty,
• honesty and trust,
• equality,
• ability to self-disclose feelings,
• conflict resolution.
  

4. Maintaining Conversations - Building on what we covered in Week 1

• Don't brag
• Don't be the police 
• Use good body boundaries
• Use good volume control
• Options for potential eye contact
• Don't be argumentative   
• Listen to your friend
• Ask open-ended questions
• Don't be repetitive   

There are a variety of ways we can go about looking to develop new friendships. There a 3 main ways to find good potential friends…

1. Social Groups (Scouts/School choir/School Bookclub)
2. Social Activities (soccer/swimming/dance) - Discuss the possibility of joining a social activity like etc. 

Friendship criteria should be:

• Based on things of interest to your young person, 
• Meets at least fortnightly
• Accepts peers of similar ages
• Includes unstructured time to interact with others
• Activity can be accessed within the next couple of weeks

This includes things like making calls, texting, emailing, social media networking, video chats and instant messaging. 

Electronic Communication is a vital way for young people to communicate with each other.

So we want to work with you to ensure their experiences are positive ones.

Social Coaching:

1. Steps for exchanging contact information

2. Steps for starting and ending phone calls

3. Cover story or 'reasons for the call' examples

4. Steps for leaving a voicemail

5. General rules for using Electronic Communication

6. Safety plans for attending Meet-Up groups found online

7. Suggestions for staying safe online

1. Rules for Humour - which covers things such as

• Rules of Humour (what works & doesn’t)
• Give a courtesy laugh 
• Are people laughing at you or with you 
• Paying attention to humour feedback.



In Weeks 1-5, we've learned:

1. Starting conversations and trading information, 
2. Maintaining conversation and trading information.
3. Finding a Source of Friends
4. Appropriate use of Electronic Communication
5. Appropriate Use of Humour - last week was a great opportunity to share some laughs together.

Good things are happening - Last week we focused on strategies to 'Enter Group Conversations', so this week we are going to focus on 'Exiting Group Conversations'. That also means choosing and planning strategies for handling group rejection (which everyone faces)

Sometimes even when we follow all the steps for entering group conversations we might discover that the group does not want to talk to us, or are not the right fit for us. This happens to all of us and that's why it is important that we practice building our confidence:

• Exiting conversations when NOT ACCEPTED
• Exiting conversations when INITIALLY ACCEPTED AND THEN EXCLUDED
• Exiting conversations when FULLY ACCEPTED

As always there will be opportunities to practise these skills in our online small groups and we have attached the task sheet so you know exactly how we’re helping your child.

The 5 W's will help our PEERS to be more confident in planning successful Get-Togethers. 



1. WHO is going to be there

2. WHAT you're going to do

3. WHERE you're going to get together

4. WHEN you're going to get together

5. HOW the get together is going to happen

If you are joining us for the topic Good Sportsmanship & Teamwork that will be so much fun.

This week we will be looking at:

• Why is it important to be a Good Sport when participating in games and sports events?
• What are ways someone might be a Bad Sport?
• What are ways someone might be a Good Sport?
• Rules of Good Sportsmanship
• We have some fun, interactive group games to practice good sportsmanship
  

This week we are going to have an online Group Games Night to practise the PEERS skills we have learnt so far including Good Sportsmanship & Teamwork. 

The Social Coach Skills we will be working with our PEERS on are the same as last week. No new forms are attached for this week. Please continue practising skills we covered last week.

If you are joining us for Pre-Dating Etiquette the content this week includes:

This week our session structure returns to normal and the topic is 'Handling Disagreements'. 

It is fairly common to have an occasional argument or disagreement with family, friends or others, but as a rule, they shouldn't have to mean the end of a relationship.

There are usually two positions we find ourselves in when a disagreement arises and this week we will explore these and the steps we should take to address the issue.

The focus this week is to provide our young people with strategies for 'Handling Direct Bullying'. 

DIRECT forms of bullying include teasing and physical bullying. Attached to this email is the Social Coach Handout that outlines the STEPS for 'Handling Teasing and ' Handling Physical Bullying' in more detail.

We will cover INDIRECT bullying such as cyberbullying, rumours and gossip in a later session.

Bullying can be common in adolescence, but unfortunately, it also happens with adults. It is important to note that we are not going to encourage participants to talk about specific experiences where they may have been bullied. Instead we are going to focus on what we can do in these situations to make it less likely that we are bullied again, and strategies to address the situation if it does occur again.

This week we will look at INDIRECT forms of bullying including 'Handling Cyberbullying and Minimising Rumours and Gossip'. INDIRECT forms of bullying such as cyberbullying, rumours and gossip happen behind our back but we can handle it.

Strategies needed to address INDIRECT forms of bullying are very different to those we might use for DIRECT forms of bullying. Attached to this email is the Social Coach Handout that outlines the STEPS we will be practising in more detail.

Instead, we are going to focus on what we can do in these situations to make it less likely that we are bullied again, and strategies to address the situation if it does occur again.

We encourage you to continue to practice with your child the steps for 'handling disagreements' and 'Handling Direct Bullying' that we covered last week as well.