Maine Autism Institute offers PEERS Friendship Boot Camps
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.