My friend ( hope I can call you that) and co-student on the ASD cert Program at Antioch.http://www.antiochne.edu/ap/asd/default.cfm?ref=homepage Mhttp://mcanthink.blogspot.com/ - Love the young mentor idea,,,not sure if this helps but with my son - PDD NOS in Kindergarten, we allow him to choose whom he wishes to accompany him on 'specials' body breaks and social walks. He gets to choose and we have the opportunity to learn why he is choosing particular friends, and teach friendship qualities in terms that a 5/6 year old may understand. All of his friends want to be chosen and the classroom teacher and his aide will cycle the choices so they all 'share' my son and all get to experience what he does when he's out of the classroom.
Is this like a baby step to mentoring? I don’t know - but it's sure is away to promote social interactions, and empathy/tolerance.
Recently, we attended a tree lighting and seasonal singsong - short story = is that most of the kids performing were older - and one of my son's friends invited him and my daughter to step up and join in. My son chose not to but it was my daughter’s first time 'performing' in front of a crowd, and it was a positive experience. I knew I could trust the older (1 st grader) friend with my daughter and could not choose a better peer mentor for her and my son. I guess I have to seek those special individuals who have natural mentoring skills - even at a young age and engineer those opportunities for both my Children. Thanks for making me think of this. You are a star! Twinkle bright now.