CANCELLED: Maine Autism Institute offers PEERS® Friendship Boot Camps
NOTE (Feb. 13, 2020): Due to low enrollment, the PEERS Friendship Boot camps have been cancelled. For more information about the work being conducted at the PEERS®Clinic at UMaine, see the PEERS®Clinic at UMaine webpages.
The Maine Autism Institute for Education and Research will host a pair of two-day workshops in March and April for families, service providers and individuals with autism.
The public is invited to the PEERS® Friendship Boot Camps, led by Sarah Howorth and Deborah Rooks-Ellis, special education faculty members with the University of Maine College of Education and Human Development. Rooks-Ellis also directs the Maine Autism Institute and Howorth is a board-certified behavior analyst.
Elizabeth Laugeson, a licensed clinical psychologist and associate clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, developed PEERS® (Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relationship Skills).
PEERS® is a research-based social skills training intervention for teens and young adults with autism spectrum disorders. It also is appropriate for individuals with ADHD, anxiety, depression and other socioemotional problems.
The two-day boot camps include instruction, role-playing demonstrations, and time to practice newly learned skills in a small-group setting with coaching from the team. Rooks-Ellis and Howorth are certified by the Semel Institute to deliver this intervention and train others to deliver it in Maine.
The PEERS® Friendship Boot Camps will be offered March 14–15 at Jeff’s Catering & Event Center in Brewer and April 4–5 at Thomas College in Waterville. Cost is $150 per person. More information is available on the Maine Autism Institute website.