Friendship Training is an evidence-based, group-format, parent-assisted social skills intervention for children 6 – 12 and 13 – 18 years of age. This program was developed at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where it has been used and studied for over 20 years with more than 1,000 families.

It has been proven effective with verbal children and teens who have high-functioning Autism, Asperger’s Disorder, PDD NOS, ADHD, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, and prenatal alcohol exposure.

Friendship Training consists of 90-minute weekly meetings for 12 weeks where children and teens learn important social skills, such as how to have an appropriate conversation, make a telephone call to a friend, join other kids and teens already at play, be a good sport, host or guest and how to deal with teasing and bullying.

Parents participate in their own, simultaneous 90-minute weekly meeting where they are kept informed of what their child or teen is learning and are taught how to provide effective social skills training for their child at home.

Groups are kept small, with a maximum of 10 children or teens per group, to provide individualized attention to each family. Friendship Training is based on positive reinforcement and is FUN for both parent and child!

This program is run by specially trained, highly skilled clinicians in the areas of neuropsychology, behavioral, speech, language and occupational therapy.

For further information, or to register your family for an upcoming group session, please contact the Center at 702.777.4808.