Several young buckaroos hunkered down at an encampment a few hundred yards from roaming buffalo, intent on a cowboy holding a rope.

Under the cowboy’s guidance, each of the youngsters all had a turn, twisting the rope and waving it overhead on the Meritt Bois D’Arc Buffalo Ranch in Denton.

DRC/Barron Ludlum

Miles Cole, 8, ropes a practice steer Thursday at Camp Communicate. The University of North Texas camp is for children ages 5 to 12 with communication disabilities. The camp was conducted at the Meritt Bois D’Arc Buffalo Ranch on Ganzer Road.

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It may look like another summer day camp for young children, but 8-year-old Miles Cole is doing something surprising.

He’s standing with strangers and interacting with them.

This is the first day camp experience for Miles, who is autistic and has a difficult time expressing himself and interacting with others, said Lauren Mathews, a speech language pathologist and clinical supervisor at the University of North Texas Speech and Hearing Center.

The day camp, called Camp Communicate, sponsored by UNT, finished up Friday.

The camp gave about 30 children between the ages of 5 and 12 with communication disabilities such as a hearing impairment, autism, Down syndrome or language delays a place to interact.

“We put them in a social setting with their peers. … It’s not just about kids interacting, it’s the kid-to-kid interaction that’s important,” she said.

Miles has a hard time understanding social situations that are normal for other kids, said his mother, Demetria Ennis-Cole.

Miles, dressed as a cowboy in boots and spurs, wanted to bring his toy gun with him to the cowboy-style dress-up day at camp and didn’t understand why he had to leave the gun in the car, she said.

“It made sense to him to have it … why wouldn’t you have a gun?” Ennis-Cole said.

It took another child explaining that the noise of the gun could hurt the hearing implants of some campers, before Miles understood that leaving the gun was a sensible option, she said.

And that’s why kid-to-kid interaction is important, Ennis-Cole said.

“He’s already learned some other behaviors from kids, like slang,” she said. “He tells me, ‘That’s not how we roll’ … meaning him and his friends. He wouldn’t come up with that on his own.”

Learning the social graces of other children is important for Miles, his development and his success as an adult, Ennis-Cole said.

“He needs to be able to express himself well,” she said.

Ashleigh Kissell, 6, has spent several years trying to overcome a speech and language delay through the speech and hearing center, but at camp she happily chatted about the 20 prizes she won, which she wanted to add to her treasure box at home.

Along with honing her speech patterns and learning not to thrust her tongue and to use the back of her mouth, Ashleigh has started reading in a pre-literacy class, which has helped her significantly, Mathews said.

“She’s now where she needs to be in school, and they can understand her,” she said.

Raising a child with a communication disability is difficult, according to several parents of Camp Communicate campers.

Along with a lack of financial support, finding information to help the child through the disability is hard to find, said Cathy Kissell, Ashleigh’s mother.

“No one told you your kid will have a speech issue; your friends say everything will be fine and they’ll just grow out of it,” she said. “You don’t know where to start as a parent.”

When Miles “melts down” and is uncontrollable, that’s when people start judging both him as well as her, Ennis-Cole said.

But even with the difficult times, he has his own special skill set, she said.

“He doesn’t forget, and he has a good memory. … It’s about drawing out what can be contributed [to society],” she said.

Miles has been going to the speech and hearing center for a few months and has progressed well, Mathews said.

“You’re doing great,” she told Miles.

“Yep,” he responded.

For more information on the UNT Speech and Hearing Center, visit www.sphs.unt.edu/

center.htm or call 940-565-2262

CANDACE CARLISLE can be reached at 940-566-6889. Her e-mail address is ccarlisle@dentonrc.com .