As one of the nation’s premier autism centers, the Thompson Center strives to provide the best patient care, autism research and training possible. As a part of the University of Missouri, one of the Thompson Center’s primary missions also is to provide high-quality education and training to students to prepare them for success throughout their careers and their lives.
Intersecting these important missions is the Training in Interdisciplinary Partnerships (TIPS4Kids) program housed at the Thompson Center. While TIPS4Kids has trained students at Mizzou for 19 years, Dr. Connie Brooks, an associate clinical professor of health psychology in the MU School of Health Professions, is beginning her first year as the director of the program. She says this program is helping meet the growing shortage of special needs health care providers around the country.
“With the number of children being diagnosed with autism, as well as other special needs, growing every year, the health care system is falling behind in providing enough well-trained professionals to provide care for these children,” Brooks said. “TIPS4Kids is one of the ways we are combatting this shortage: by increasing the number and improving the training of future health care professionals in Missouri and around the nation.”
TIPS4Kids, which is the result of a partnership between the University of Missouri and the UMKC Institute for Human Development, provides valuable interdisciplinary training for MU students pursuing careers helping children with special needs.
The year-long program brings together graduate students in speech/language therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, psychology, health management informatics and social work so they all can learn about serving special needs kids together. Additionally, the program hosts parent- and self-advocates to provide insightful family and patient perspectives. Brooks says having students from so many disciplines in the same room, learning together, creates a very effective learning environment.
“It is very valuable to the students to be able to discuss the implications of certain treatments or therapies for children with special needs with people who have different perspectives,” Brooks said. “A physical therapy student might have one perspective about a therapy while a psychology student might have different ideas. Allowing them to learn from each other and see all sides of issues really allows these students to grow and become better.”
The fall semester of the program takes place in a classroom setting, while the spring semester allows the students to get hands-on experience working with patients in a clinic setting. While the program has been successful for years, Brooks has some ideas for moving the program forward.
“We are working on giving students more hands-on experiences, because learning by doing, especially in the health field, is really the best way to educate,” Brooks said. “We also want to find ways to create smaller teams of students that can work together closely throughout the year and learn from each other, the teaching faculty and the patients all at the same time. We know this will result in more, better-trained health care providers in the future to help meet the needs that are growing.”
This year, 14 MU students are taking part in TIPS4Kids, but Brooks hopes to grow the program in the future. TIPS4Kids is the Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) training program in the state of Missouri. This program is federally funded through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.