part 3 scouting for youth with disabilities
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Scouting for Youth With Disabilities
Part IX F-IUnderstanding Categories of Disabilities
and Best MethodsPresentation prepared by Lindsay Foster
Doctoral Dissertation Candidate 2011
Longhorn Council, Boy Scouts of America
Overview
The Boy Scouts of America wants to include youth who have emotional and behavior disorders. Many units have welcomed youth who have emotional difficulties. Scouting units have also been organized at treatment centers and hospitals and have become meaningful parts of the treatment program. Many young people with emotional difficulties have benefitted from Scouting.
The “Unseen” Disability
Emotional disorders are thought by some to be “unseen” disabilities. They cannot readily be seen as can blindness, mental illness, or a physical disability. So, since sometimes there is no warning of a behavioral episode, adults can be startled by the actions of a child who finds it hard to cope with his inner feelings.
Why?
Behavior problems can stem
from:
For these youth, misbehavior is an
outward expression of an inward emotional
problem.
Reactions
Young people have their own ways of overcoming barriers and having their needs met:
Language of Behavior
Actions speak, and they speak loudly.
The way a child is treated determines in part how he sees life and how he regards himself. The world can be viewed as safe and nurturing, or it can be seen as dangerous and frightening. If a child is cared for, loved, and accepted, he can see himself as worthwhile and loveable. If a child can
accomplish and achieve, he can see himself as competent.
Planning Activities for Disability-Specific Youth With Emotional Disabilities
What the members do is essentially
the same but HOW they do it is
sometimes different.
Special Leadership Needs
•Competitive activities should be avoided unless a member unless a member can compete against his own past achievement rather than the achievement or skill of others.•The leader should always remember that the level of interest and participation of members will vary greatly from activity to activity.•The Scouting leader and unit committee must be very active in helping to plan and evaluate the program activities.•The goals of Scouting must be understood, and the planning process and activities adapted to fit the abilities of the members in the unit.•Members may need individualized help with reading or other requirements.
Special Leadership Needs continued
In order to use volunteers or another Scouting unit
more effectively, an orientation and training program should be held.
Special Leadership Needs Plan For Success
1. Keep precise and accurate records, especially of advancement.
2. Use official Scouting equipment. It is the best available. (It is especially important that members have official BSA uniforms.)
3. Seek advice from leaders presently working in Scouting with youth with emotional disabilities.
4. Follow the program guidelines in the Troop Program Features, Cub Scout Program Helps, and the Webelos Leader Guide.
5. Develop and use the patrol method (see the Scoutmaster Handbook).
6. Keep the “outing” in Scouting.
A Community Unit
Many community units have members with behavioral or emotional problems.The leader’s attitude toward a child with emotional disabilities is most important. If the leader shows acceptance, if he show that he considers the child as much a participating member as any other, if se shows he expects the same participation (with some support), then the other members are likely to react similarly.Although the unit leader must set the example and be accepting of a member with a disability and be enthusiastic about helping him, he must, at the same time, fully appreciate the special demands that will be made on his patience, understanding, and skill.
Emotional / Behavioral / Social Disabilities
What You Should Know About Youth with Emotional Disabilities
Scouting Opportunities
Advancement should be guided according to the individual ability of each boy.
Scouting for emotionally disabled youth should not be watered-down Scouting. Rather than lower the standards, more leaders should be recruited to increase the individual help each child receives as his needs require.
The Outdoor Program
This is a part of Scouting for all boys, but it is especially important for a special unit
in which Scouts are part of a residential treatment
program and spend much of their time indoors.
The Outdoor Program 2
Fresh air and exercise are obvious benefits of a good outdoor program, but other benefits are:
Leadership Development
Opportunities for
learning and
developing leadership
skills are provided in
the following ways:
The Venture/Varsity
program offers older
youth a chance to learn
and practice leadership
and to take over
responsibilities
previously held by adult
leaders.Leadership training
is available for all
those in leadership roles.
The troop is organized to support
the patrol method.
Adults should never
do jobs that can be
done by boy leaders.
The patrol method gives each member
the opportunity and responsibility for some degree of leadership.
The outdoor program
gives every boy, even
those not in a formal
leadership role, the
opportunity to acquire,
develop, and display
the skills of leadership.
Personal Growth
ALL OF THE GOALS ANDMETHODS OF SCOUTING ARE ORIENTED TOWARD
PERSONAL GROWTH.
Physical Disabilities
Types of Physical Disabilities
Needs of Youth with Disabilities
The youth with physical disabilities is much more like other youth than he or
she is different. It is essential that the Scout leaders
understand this point since most youth with physical disabilities want Scouting exactly as it is given to all
others.
Emotional Problems
•Physically disabled youth do not come in a single mold, any more than other youth do.•Youth with disabilities may have more difficulty adjusting to society.•Youth with disabilities may sense feelings of pity or rejection by others, and they may respond to them by:
• developing feelings of inferiority,• becoming more timid, or • overcompensating and becoming more aggressive.
The Physical Benefits of Scouting
One of the Scouting movement’s principal goals is mental and physical fitness, and disabled youth derive at least as much physical benefit from
Scouting as do other youth.
As leaders are not physicians or therapists, the Scout leader should plan a full agenda of Scouting activities with
no regard to therapy; the physical benefits will follow.
Placing Youth in Scouting
Will the Scout do better in a special
unit?
Youth with a disability should
become a Scout in whatever
type of unit is available or is
most appropriate.
Vernon Mallinson in
None Can Be Called
Deformed asserts that children with disabilities should, if possible,
socialize with nondisabled
children.
Why Scouting for Youth With Physical Disabilities?
“The disabled child has a right to grow up in a world which does not set him apart, which looks at him not with scorn or
pity or ridicule but which welcomes him, exactly as it welcomes every child, which offers him identical privileges
and identical responsibilities.” ~ White House Conference on Child Health and Protection
What You Should Know About the Youth’s Disability
Problems could include:•Transportation for hikes and campouts•Involving all youth in games and contests•Acceptance of the youth by the other members as just another Scout.
When a Disabled Youth Joins
The leader’s attitude towarda youth with a disability
is all-important.
If he can show that he considersthe youth as much a Scout
As any other and show no favoritism, then the other Scouts are likely to react
in the same way.
Helping Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, & Venturers With Physical Disabilities
Never do for a Scout what he can do for himself.
Will He Hold Us Back? - DISCUSSION
DISCUSSION TOPIC:By definition, a physically
disabled youth is one who has some disability that makes it
difficult or impossible for him to do some things that Scouts
normally do. Unit leaders might occasionally face the question of whether to hold back the other
youth to allow the disabled youth to keep up or let him work at his
own pace while the others proceed at a faster pace.
What’s the right answer?
Games and Contests - DISCUSSION
When an individual with physically disabilities is unable to compete on
equal terms, how may he participate in active
games?
The Youth in a Unit With Scouts With Disabilities
This is essentially the same as in any other unit. The way the activities are carried out may be different depending upon the needs of the Scouts.A special unit might include:•Youth with a single disabling condition in a hospital or residential facility•Youth with a variety of disabling conditions in a children’s hospital or long-term rehabilitation facility•Youth with a variety of disabling conditions in a unit outside an institution
Hiking and Camping
HIKINGProbably fewer special troops and Webelos dens hike than camp, because in such units there is a high proportion of youth who use wheelchairs or cumbersome leg braces – traveling over rough terrain can be an ordeal for them.Experienced Scout leaders of youth with disabilities recommend:•There be an adult or nondisabled Scout for every two disabled Scouts•Hikes be relatively short (depending upon capability of the hikers)•Hikes be on fairly smooth terrain, particularly when youth are in wheelchairs•Plenty of time be allowed because of the slower pace of the hikers•Hikers do not get too far from easy access to transportation in case any of them become fatigued
Hiking and Camping
CAMPINGNearly all troops of disabled Scouts are perfectly capable of overnight and long-term camping, providing that the conditions are not too rugged. Special factors must be considered:•Presence of Sand•Presence of Rugged Terrain•Presence of Ramps•Presence of Individuals to Port Gear• Presence of First Aider
The Scouting Challenge
Every Scout will excel in some areas and not in other. The same is true for blind Scouts. What is important is that they
are given the opportunity to try.They are more alike other boys than they are unlike them.
Follow Practical Advice
THE DISABILITY CAN BEOVERCOME, LIKE ANY
OBSTACLE, WITH DILIGENCE.
Discard Old Notions
•The old notion that blind boys are helpless is false.•Another incorrect notion is that a boy’s disability is more extensive than it is.•One might tend to attribute poor coordination and balance to blindness, when in fact the boy has not had the physical experience necessary to attain control.•A blind boy’s knowledge of objects may be limited.•In physical capability, finger dexterity and coordination, the blind boy’s disability may be a limitation because of lack of experience but it is not necessarily prohibitive.
Sense Compensations
•Blind boys see neither smiles nor frowns (a smiling face may have a “frowning” voice).•Keep the Scout’s attention by recognizing him for what he has done.•Just as often, though, a boy who is blind can be encouraged by a pat on the shoulder and the leader’s reassurance.
Visual Impairment ACTIVITY
In a small group, use the cards to separate the various activities and
suggestions into the categories listed on the slide.
Cognitive, Intellectual, and Developmental Disabilities
Should the Term “Mental Retardation” Be Used?
It is considered an outdated and offensive term. It is also stigmatizing and
inappropriate.
What Is Mental Retardation?
An individual is considered to have mental retardation (or more appropriately a cognitive, intellectual, or developmental disability) when these three criteria are met:
Questions Regarding Cognitive, Intellectual, and Developmental Disabilities
How many people
are affected?
What is “mental
age”?How is having a
cognitive, intellectual, or
developmental
disability diagnosed?
How does having a cognitive,
intellectual, or developmental
disability affect individuals?
What about Boy Scout joining requirements?
What are the
causes of
cognitive,
intellectual, or
developmental
disabilities?
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