Social Skills: Why Teach Them?
Have you noticed that your teen is withdrawing from social situations, spending less time with friends from school, and appearing to be shut down or disconnected from their peers? Have you felt helpless to come to their aid and provide solutions for their social frustration, potentially leading to depression and anxiety at school and at home? While you might be feeling like you as a parent cannot do much to help your teen out of this situation, there is an evidence-cased solution that could help your teen to come through this challenging time in their life.
Social skills such as making and keeping friends, making conversation with new people and handling bullying and peer pressure come naturally to many teens, but for those struggling with anxiety, living on the autism spectrum or healing from negative social experiences, that may not be the case. Social skills are important for many reasons, and can affect multiple areas of functioning. Even just one or two close friends can help individuals to be comfortable with life transitions, adjustments, and challenges that arise.
Social cues may not come naturally to teens who struggle with social anxiety, ADHD, depression, or teens who are living with autism spectrum disorder. These deficits in social skills, and interpretation of social cues can really come to a head and become more noticeable when teens are experiencing middle and high school, and the social complexity that comes with adolescence.
Peer rejection, poor social support, and isolation can lead to feelings of rejection and loneliness.
Studies show that around 30% of youth experience social rejection, and feeling left out at a formative age can impact attachment styles and the ability to make friends later in life, as well as self-worth and social satisfaction.
Intervention targeted to improve social interactions and satisfaction is crucial in teen and young adult years, in order to help the individuals develop confidence and positive social skills, which can lead to higher levels of satisfaction, lower depression and anxiety, and help individuals with short and long term adjustment.
How do we teach social skills?
Small group settings have been proven to be the most effective for the teaching of social skills. The PEERS group utilized by Virginia Beach Clinical Counseling uses didactic methods in these small groups for teens as well as parents, utilizing behavior modeling as demonstrated by instructional videos and the clinicians leading the groups.
These evidence-based methods are the most effective, and have proven results for helping teens who struggle with social skills to gain confidence in making and keeping friendships. We have seen firsthand what these groups can do to help teens with gaining the skills they need to feel confident and comfortable at school, in other social groups and settings, and even bringing friends home for casual hangouts.
PEERS For Teens
The PEERS (Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills) program, developed at UCLA, is an evidence-based program that targets skills needed to make and keep friends. This skills group, based on a model that includes the parents as the teen’s coach, The program breaks down each skill week by week and allows group members to learn each skill and then be able to practice it with the instructor, their peers, and then again at home during the week with their parent to reinforce the skill learned that week.
While PEERS is not exclusively for teens living with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder), it is a strong, evidence-based intervention that has proven to be extremely effective for individuals on the autism spectrum. Instead of teaching teens with ASD how to mask their symptoms and normal behavioral patterns, PEERS teaches teens how to read and recognize social cues, and how to effectively communicate with their peers. Teens living with ADHD, anxiety, social anxiety, depression and other socioemotional challenges can also benefit greatly from the PEERS social skills program.
How is PEERS different from other social skills groups?
Unlike some other social skills groups, PEERS is evidence-based. With decades of randomized controlled trials as well as multiple studies done on its efficacy, PEERS is proven to be an effective intervention.
PEERS also includes parents as an integral part of the program, which is crucial to the success of the program. Parent coaches help to reinforce concepts learned during each class, with structured homework assignments being sent home each week. During the parent portion of the session, one of the clinicians spends time explaining to parents what the teens are learning that week, and can listen to feedback from the parents on how homework assignments are going at home.
PEERS is also structured like a class, rather than a therapy group. Teens who might feel uncomfortable in a therapeutic environment can rely on the structure of this class environment to assist with their comfort levels.
PEERS breaks down each of the social skills into small, manageable steps during each class. Teens who are overwhelmed by social interactions and who do not know where to start with making and keeping friends at school will be presented with each skill during the class, and given the opportunity to ask questions, and also roleplay each skill in the second half of the class.
PEERS Groups at Virginia Beach Clinical Counseling
Virginia Beach Clinical Counseling believes in PEERS, and we run these groups as often as possible because we have seen what a difference it can make in the life of teens who are struggling with socialization and making friends. We have seen firsthand how transformational this group can be! Teens who come into the group very shy and withdrawn often gain the skills to initiate get-togethers, feel more comfortable in conversations at school, and to discern who good candidates for friendship are, along with who they should avoid.
We absolutely love seeing our PEERS participants come alive and unlock the skills to feel more comfortable and happy in social situations, and we are passionate about helping each of them realize their potential, and graduate from the group with confidence.