‘A race to save your child’
Breaking through the wall of autism at Marquette University
“You feel as though you are in a race to save your child.”
These emotional words were spoken by the concerned mother of a teenager named Clay, who was diagnosed with autism.
Clay’s parents were determined to help him adjust to social environments and live a life undefined by the stigma associated with his condition. That’s when they turned to a program at Marquette University.
Clay is just one of many bright teenagers who take part in promising research known as the Program for the Enrichment and Education of Relational Skills, simply known as PEERS. PEERS is an evidence-based, 14-week, outpatient treatment program that aims to understand how teenagers with autism can develop friendships.
Today, dedicated researchers, professors and students are helping teenagers and young adults with the social disability better navigate the challenging teenage years.
What is PEERS?
PEERS was developed in 2005 at the University of California Los Angeles to teach children with autism spectrum disorders how to make friends and develop relationships.
“Through PEERS, we see significant increases in brain activity in areas that support both the understanding and initiation of social behavior,” said Dr. Amy Van Hecke, Director of the PEERS initiative at Marquette and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology.
Dr. Van Hecke is certified by UCLA to provide the PEERS program at Marquette University, providing local families affected by autism the opportunity to contribute to the understanding of the disorder and learn how to better improve their child’s social skills.
Through Dr. Van Hecke’s leadership, the Marquette PEERS project provides this free social and behavioral skills therapy for individuals and families affected by ASD. The team researches the connection between PEERS therapy and brain activity and is, in fact, the only PEERS site in the nation conducting such research.
The Marquette PEERS Project has had an enormous impact throughout the Milwaukee community since it began at the University in 2010. More than 200 families have received PEERS therapy, with many exhibiting growth and improvement in social situations that would otherwise prove difficult.
“The PEERS program is greatly needed in our community,” said Kristen Schohl, a clinical psychology doctoral student and an avid contributor to the PEERS program at Marquette.
“This initiative teaches teens and young adults the unwritten rules for social interaction and we strive to help them make and maintain friendships because we emphasize the great benefit of having just one friend.”
Through the dedication of individuals working with the PEERS program, teenagers will continue to be positively impacted as they learn to make friends, become better conversationalists in a social environment and conquer their teenage years without letting ASD stand as a defining barrier.
“Our role is not to change who these kids are. It’s not to make them into something they’re not,” said Dr. Van Hecke. “It is about finding someone who is on their wavelength.”
Through their research, Dr. Van Hecke and the Marquette PEERS team have also begun to shape a deeper understanding of how PEERS affects the brain. The project has proven that PEERS therapy increases brain activity in adolescents with autism and reduces the appearance of exhibited symptoms via EEG.
What’s next? The PEERS Impact
The near future will include further research on these adolescents to see if the brain grows and changes following the Marquette’s PEERS interventions.
The study will contribute to the understanding of ASD, and of how teens who are successful in the program may change behaviorally and neurologically.
For more information or to volunteer for study, fill out the contact form or call the Marquette Autism Project at 414-288-4438. Please mention that you are interested in the PEERS study.
To see how this program helped Clay, watch his story.
This article was written by Marquette University Research Reporting intern Katie Miller
