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 →
This article appeared in the Summer 2020 issue of Abilities Digest. While updating ability-specific guidance provided by the National Special Needs and Disabilities Committee (NSNDC), we reached out to the National Federation of the Blind. With the help of Christopher S. Danielson, its Director of Public Relations, we have developed the following guidance for “Building... Continue Reading →
This article appeared in the Fall 2020 issue of Abilities Digest. Special needs and disabilities are all around us. There are many of us who have disabilities, but by looking at us, one cannot tell. In the next few months, we all will be either recruiting or joining a new unit. With that in mind,... Continue Reading →
The following was a response to a problem encountered by a Scout parent. It originally appeared in the Summer 2020 issue of Abilities Digest. Here is the dilemma: the Scout has immunization problems and the Scout’s physician suggests the Scout be isolated while camping. The unit leadership does not agree. Having a special needs child... Continue Reading →
This article appeared in the Summer 2020 issue of Abilities Digest. When a group of young friends reach Scouting age, there is often a discussion of whether to join a pack or troop, and then which one to join. Parents get involved, and careful parents will try to identify the best unit for their own... Continue Reading →
This article appeared in the Summer 2020 issue of Abilities Digest. Scouters who support Scouting with special needs through service to units, youth training, leader training, or organization, may be nominated for the Torch of Gold or Woods Services Award. Both of these require nomination. The Torch is presented by each council once a year,... 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 →
