I was chatting to my sister last night and she asked me ‘what would you do if a parent with a child who has special needs came to you and asked if their child could join Beavers, Cubs or Scouts?’ So I said I have a chat with the parents, see what their child’s needs were, check with the District’s special needs advisors and then if the child was able to join us draw up a ‘contract’ between the Group and the parents stating what we can and can’t do, what help we’d need from the parents and reminding the parents that we’re not child care professionals, but we will do our best to get their child to join in and enjoy Scouting.
She was a bit shocked as a colleague of hers had been told by a client (they’re both psychologists dealing with children with special needs), that a local group had turned their child down flat!
As we’ve had two young people in the Group in the past who’d both had Asperger’s Syndrome I was a bit shocked. You don’t just say ‘No’.
Scouting should be available to all young people irrespective of their background or circumstances. Even if they couldn’t accommodate a young person with special needs, at least they should have tried and then seen if there were alternatives. Saying ‘No’ is just not on.
Nick…
It is iteresting that you bring this topic up.. I could not agree with you more.
I have a few Scouts in my unit that live with Aspegers Autism. And what I have found is that we treat them like any other Scout. The beauty of this is that these kids are brilliant and pick up on things quiclkly. Socially, once they attach themselves to the group and the group wholey accepts them. There are little if no issues.
The only accomodation that we make is that we maintain and distribute any medications while on camp outs.
I think you are correct in saying that “saying No is just not it”.. Over here we would say that it is not the “Right answer”. I would encourage any Scout leader to reconsider their choice when saying no to any kid, let alone one that may have a “Special need”.
I think at the end of the day we all have special needs… Scouting, from the beginning has been for all that want to participate. For all that want to live a set of values, discover the adventure, and make the committment to serving others.
Happy Scouting!
I see we're 'singing from the same hymn sheet' so to speak!
The two kids we've had (so far) with special needs were great. Parents told us how they integrated well with everyone else and it also gave the other Scouts the concept of special needs. In fact, the Scouts didn't treat them any differently! They just got on with everything as normal and gave them a bit of extra help when needed.
Oddly enough, the day after I wrote the original post, I got a letter from the Scout Association saying that they were running a course in association with MENCAP next year about helping young people with learning difficulties gaining access to Scouting! Think I may go on that one.