The PEERS Program: Evidence-Based Social Skills Training for Teens

What Is the PEERS Program?

PEERS, which stands for the Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills, is a structured social skills intervention developed at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior by Dr. Elizabeth Laugeson and the late Dr. Fred Frankel. It is one of the few social skills programs in the world with a robust evidence base, and it has become the gold standard for teaching friendship and relationship skills to teens and young adults who struggle socially.

Unlike many social skills programs that rely on general concepts or unstructured social interaction, PEERS teaches specific, concrete social behaviors through a combination of didactic instruction, role-playing, and real-world homework assignments. It is manualized, meaning every session follows a detailed curriculum, which ensures consistency and fidelity across providers.

What truly sets PEERS apart is its emphasis on the unwritten social rules that neurotypical individuals pick up intuitively but that many teens with autism, ADHD, or social anxiety never naturally absorb. Things like how to enter a conversation that is already happening, how to handle disagreements without ending a friendship, or how to be a good host when a friend comes over.

3–5 years

Source: Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders

The Origins of PEERS at UCLA

The PEERS program grew out of decades of research on children's friendships and social development. Dr. Fred Frankel's earlier work, the Children's Friendship Training program, established the foundational approach of breaking down complex social behaviors into teachable, concrete steps. Dr. Elizabeth Laugeson expanded this work into the adolescent and young adult populations, creating the PEERS program as it exists today.

The first randomized controlled trial of PEERS was published in 2009 and demonstrated significant improvements in social skills knowledge, social responsiveness, and frequency of get-togethers with peers. Since then, the evidence base has expanded dramatically, with studies conducted not only at UCLA but at universities and clinics across the United States, Canada, South Korea, Israel, Australia, and several European countries.

PEERS is now used in clinical settings, schools, and community organizations worldwide. It has been translated into multiple languages and adapted for different cultural contexts while maintaining its core structure and evidence base.

The 14-Week Structure

The standard PEERS for Adolescents program runs for 14 weekly sessions, each lasting approximately 90 minutes. Teens and parents attend simultaneously but in separate groups, which is a critical design feature.

Teen Sessions

Each teen session follows a consistent format:

1. Homework review: Teens report on their real-world social assignments from the previous week, discussing what worked and what was challenging.
2. Didactic lesson: The group leader teaches a new social skill using clear, concrete rules and steps.
3. Role-play demonstrations: The leader and coaches model both correct and incorrect versions of the skill so teens can see the contrast.
4. Behavioral rehearsal: Teens practice the skill with each other in structured exercises, receiving coaching and feedback.
5. Homework assignment: Each teen receives a specific social assignment to complete before the next session.

Parent Sessions

Parents attend their own concurrent group where they learn the same skills being taught to their teens. This is essential because parents serve as social coaches between sessions, helping their teen practice skills, providing feedback, and facilitating social opportunities like hosting get-togethers.

The parent component is one of the key reasons PEERS produces lasting results. When parents understand the specific steps their teen is learning, they can prompt and reinforce those skills in everyday situations long after the program ends.

Skills Taught Across the 14 Weeks

The PEERS curriculum covers a comprehensive range of social skills, each broken down into explicit, actionable steps.

Conversational Skills

• Trading information: The foundation of conversation, learning to share information about yourself and ask follow-up questions in a balanced exchange.
• Finding common interests: How to identify shared interests that can form the basis of a friendship.
• Two-way conversations: Avoiding the common pitfalls of monologuing about a special interest or asking too many questions without sharing.

Making and Keeping Friends

• Using electronic communication appropriately: How to text, message, or interact on social media in ways that build rather than damage friendships.
• Choosing appropriate friends: Identifying who is likely to be a good friend versus someone who may be rejecting or exploitative.
• Entering a conversation: A step-by-step process for joining a group conversation that is already in progress, one of the most challenging social tasks for many teens.
• Exiting a conversation: How to leave a conversation gracefully without creating awkwardness.

Get-Togethers

• Planning and initiating get-togethers: How to suggest a hangout, choose an appropriate activity, and handle logistics.
• Being a good host: Specific steps for what to do when a friend comes to your home, including how to handle disagreements about activities.
• Being a good guest: What to do when visiting someone else's home.

Handling Conflict and Rejection

• Handling disagreements: How to manage differences of opinion without escalating into a fight or withdrawing completely.
• Dealing with teasing and bullying: Concrete strategies for responding to verbal teasing that reduce the likelihood of it continuing.
• Handling rejection: How to cope with social rejection and avoid common mistakes that make the situation worse.
• Dealing with rumors and gossip: Strategies for addressing social manipulation and reputational attacks.

Managing Reputation

• Avoiding behaviors that damage reputation: Understanding which behaviors cause peers to view you negatively and how to avoid them.
• Changing a bad reputation: Steps for gradually shifting how peers perceive you.

The Evidence Base

PEERS is one of the most thoroughly researched social skills interventions available. The evidence base includes multiple randomized controlled trials, the gold standard of clinical research.

Key Research Findings

Immediate treatment gains: Teens who complete PEERS consistently show significant improvements in social skills knowledge, social responsiveness, social engagement, and the frequency of hosted and invited get-togethers. These gains are measured not only by teen self-report but by parent report and, in some studies, teacher report.

Long-term maintenance: Perhaps the most impressive finding is that the social gains from PEERS are maintained 1 to 5 years after treatment ends. A landmark follow-up study published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders found that teens maintained their improvements in social skills knowledge, hosted get-togethers, and overall social functioning at one- to five-year follow-ups. This is unusual for social skills interventions, many of which show improvements during treatment that fade once the program ends.

Brain-based changes: Neuroimaging research has shown that PEERS participation is associated with changes in brain activation patterns related to social cognition, suggesting that the program does not just teach behavioral scripts but actually shifts how participants process social information.

Cross-cultural effectiveness: PEERS has been successfully replicated in South Korea, Israel, Australia, Hong Kong, and multiple European countries, demonstrating that its core principles translate across cultures.

Why PEERS Works When Other Programs Do Not

Many social skills programs produce disappointing results because they teach skills in artificial settings without ensuring transfer to the real world. PEERS addresses this through several design features:

• Concrete, specific rules rather than vague advice like "be nice" or "make eye contact"
• Real-world homework that requires practicing skills outside the group
• Parent involvement that creates a social coaching system at home
• Ecologically valid skills based on research about what actually makes people socially successful, not just what adults think teens should do

Who Benefits from PEERS

PEERS was originally developed for teens with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and this population remains the most extensively studied. However, research and clinical experience have shown that PEERS benefits a much broader range of adolescents.

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Teens with ASD who have average to above-average intellectual ability are the population with the strongest evidence base. These teens often have a genuine desire for friendships but lack the implicit social knowledge that makes forming and maintaining relationships possible. PEERS provides the explicit instruction they need.

ADHD

Teens with ADHD frequently struggle socially due to impulsivity, difficulty reading social cues, and problems with conversational turn-taking. PEERS' structured, rule-based approach gives them concrete strategies to manage these challenges. Research supports PEERS' effectiveness for this population.

Social Anxiety

Teens with social anxiety often avoid social situations entirely, which prevents them from developing social skills through natural experience. PEERS provides a safe, structured environment for practice, and the graduated homework assignments create manageable exposure to social situations.

Other Populations

Clinical experience suggests PEERS is also effective for teens with:

• Learning disabilities that affect social perception
• Depression with social withdrawal
• Selective mutism (with modifications)
• General social skills deficits without a specific diagnosis

What PEERS Is Not

It is important to set appropriate expectations. PEERS is not a cure for autism or any other condition. It does not eliminate social challenges entirely. What it does is provide a concrete toolkit that significantly improves social functioning and relationship quality. Teens who complete the program still face social challenges, but they have strategies for navigating them.

PEERS is also not appropriate for every teen. It works best for adolescents who have some motivation to improve their social lives, are verbal and able to participate in group discussions, and have the cognitive ability to learn and apply rules. Teens with significant intellectual disability, active psychosis, or severe behavioral problems that would disrupt the group may need other interventions first.

What to Look for in a PEERS Provider

If you are considering PEERS for your teen, look for providers who:

• Have completed official PEERS training through UCLA or a certified training program
• Follow the manualized curriculum rather than loosely adapting concepts
• Include a concurrent parent group
• Assign and review weekly homework
• Maintain appropriate group sizes, typically 6 to 10 teens per group

Ask potential providers directly about their training and their fidelity to the PEERS manual. The program's effectiveness depends on its structured implementation.

Getting Started

The first step is typically an intake assessment to determine whether PEERS is a good fit for your teen. The provider will evaluate your teen's social challenges, cognitive and language abilities, motivation, and any co-occurring conditions that might affect participation.

PEERS groups often run on a semester schedule, with new groups beginning in September and January. Waitlists are common at established providers, so it is worth reaching out early.