Tiger Pals program connects kids, builds social skills
By Adrienne Cornwall
COLUMBIA, Mo. (Aug. 21, 2015) – For many families, summer break offers a chance to get out of town. At the Thompson Center, a group of kids instead seized the opportunity this July to make new friends.
The center’s Tiger Pals program pairs children with autism or other developmental concerns with typically developing children of about the same age to play for a few hours each week in the evening.
With the guidance of Thompson Center behavior analyst Anna Hogg and a team of graduate students, the children practice building social skills that all the children can take with them into school and their other activities.
This summer’s elementary-aged group included three children with a range of developmental abilities who are patients at the center as well as three typically developing children who volunteered to help their buddies practice seeking out friends and initiating conversations.
For typically developing children, social interactions come naturally and are fluent, Hogg said. The goal of Tiger Pals is to help make those interactions more fluent for the children with developmental delays with less need for adults to help them make connections.
“There’s not always going to be an adult on the playground to help them communicate,” said Hogg.
The buddies spent two hours together once a week for eight weeks with a range of activities including free play, guided buddy activities, snack time and activities the buddies would choose together.
Tiger Pals follow three rules to help maximize the peer-mediated social interactions they get to practice during each session: stay with your buddy, play with your buddy, talk to your buddy.
For this group, which was the first time the program was offered, those guidelines are working.
“In all three of our clients, we’ve seen a noticeable change in how often they initiate contact with and respond to their buddies,” Hogg said.
Tiger Pals will be offered again in the fall for eight weeks beginning Sept. 14. For more information about the program or to sign up, visit our events page.