Articles on Scouting with special needs and disabilities
Here is Abilities Digest Volume 7, number 4 for Fall 2020. Here is a summary of the contents: Adapting Advancement: Swimming deferments for advancement; Disabilities Awareness Merit Badge.Adapting Activities: Managing behavior in an active den; Philmont offers the Zia Experience.Enhancing Awareness: National training events in 2021; the Inclusion Toolbox is coming soon.Recognizing Abilities: Your fellow... Continue Reading →
You have a den full of very active WEBELOS. You have discovered they are mostly kids who have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). and a couple of them are “on the spectrum” too. You don’t really know what all of this labeling means; all you see are the results of whatever it... Continue Reading →
An Adaptive Philmont Adventure for Scouts with Special Needs and Disabilities June 27-July 3, 2021. The Zia Experience is a modified BSA Family Adventure Camp at the Philmont Training Center focusing on giving Scouts with special needs and disabilities, their parent(s), family members, and/or caregiver(s) new and exciting Philmont adventures! This experience is designed to... Continue Reading →
For the last two years the national committee has been hard at work on the replacement for the 2007 Scouting for Youth with Disabilities Manual. The new product will be rolled out on Scouting.org as a web-based information resource and the title will be the Special Needs and Disabilities Inclusion Toolbox, or Toolbox for short. ... Continue Reading →
This article appeared in the Fall 2020 issue of Abilities Digest. Did you know? The Disabilities Awareness Merit Badge is not the low badge on the totem pole, so to speak. Although many of us would like to see it as a required badge, it does have a fair ranking in the grand scheme of... Continue Reading →
This article appeared in the Summer 2020 issue of Abilities Digest. Many Scouts get nervous before a Board of Review. They feel like they’re going to the dentist or something equally anxiety provoking. A knee bounces up and down between “Yes, Ma’am” and “No, Sir” abbreviated nervous answers. Hands fidget and you might notice a... Continue Reading →
This article from Scouting Magazine discusses the work in assistive technology by adult Eagle Scouts Buddy Marshall (left) and Mark Chilutti. Mark Chilutti is a member of the BSA's National Special Needs and Disabilities Committee. https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2020/12/17/how-two-eagle-scouts-are-making-assistive-technology-more-accessible/
The following article appeared in the Fall 2020 issue of Abilities Digest. Your Fellow Scouter Deserves the Torch of Gold If you are reading this article, you probably know a fellow Scouter who has been working diligently in support of Scouts with special needs or disabilities for three years or more. If so, they are... Continue Reading →
This article appeared in the Winter 2020 issue of Abilities Digest. For many leaders there has always been concern when working on advancement with Scouts with special needs in aquatics. Commonly we find these Scouts terrified of water and unable to complete the swim tests at camp or the swimming merit badge itself. For whatever... Continue Reading →
Britt Flather of the National SND Committee shares the following: Our family attended the Philmont Training Center Special Needs Scouting Conference in 2019. Here are a few highlights from our adventure and why we believe you should consider PTC in 2021! The first video (one minute, below) focuses on our overall conference experience. The second... Continue Reading →
