Supporting inclusion in scouting- resources?

[Anonymous]

We have moved from the DC area and seem to have landed in a place where there is only 1 Boy Scout troop. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to have as many experienced volunteers as our last troop.

My husband and I are volunteering as an ASM/ merit badge counselor to do our part. But it is really apparent that both the parent volunteers and kids would benefit from some sort of education about neurodiversity, effective ways to engage kids at different ages etc. COVID was really difficult so the older boys are struggling to step into their leadership roles.

I would like to suggest “official” Boy Scout training/ development on these topics. Does anyone have experience or suggestions of resources we could use?

[Anonymous]

Such a good question -- I don't have that. There is a BSA person that posts FREQUENTLY in posts involving Scouts. If you post on the more general activities forum, you may catch his eye and he may have resources.

I've done the GS training, and it includes this, but it's not so great that I would recommend it. I think this stuff is really hard, and it would be great for both scouting organizations to hire a consultant that could develop that sort of practical training advice.

[Anonymous]

I’ve done the Girl Scout training too, it was OK.

I am going to check out the Boy Scout inclusion toolbox.

Has anyone seen troops doing a really good job with inclusion? Maybe they could share resources.

[Anonymous]

This is the link to the inclusion toolbox website. It seems to be under construction?

https://www.scouting.org/resources/disabilities-awareness/inclusion-toolbox/introduction-inclusion-toolbox/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Such a good question -- I don't have that. There is a BSA person that posts FREQUENTLY in posts involving Scouts. If you post on the more general activities forum, you may catch his eye and he may have resources.

I've done the GS training, and it includes this, but it's not so great that I would recommend it. I think this stuff is really hard, and it would be great for both scouting organizations to hire a consultant that could develop that sort of practical training advice.

I'm going through GS training to become a troop leader now since our main leader is moving. Was there a special module in gslearn? Maybe I haven't gotten to it yet. There was a pretty basic one about inclusive language and inclusive programming, and some of the lessons had examples of working with children with disabilities, but not much so far that I feel would equip someone someone to effectively engage with a kid with ADHD, for instance. I think this would be really useful, however at the same time the training is already pretty long and it's not like there is a simple answer that would be one size fits all.

Great question, look forward to other answers.

[Anonymous]

There's this page from national: https://www.scouting.org/resources/disabilities-awareness/

For the older kids generally, is NYLT training available where you're located? That may be what they need to get on track for dealing with a variety of scouts.

For adults, your district's or council's University of Scouting should offer training that specifically covers inclusion and special needs. Wood Badge training (should be offered by your council) could also be useful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's this page from national: https://www.scouting.org/resources/disabilities-awareness/

For the older kids generally, is NYLT training available where you're located? That may be what they need to get on track for dealing with a variety of scouts.

For adults, your district's or council's University of Scouting should offer training that specifically covers inclusion and special needs. Wood Badge training (should be offered by your council) could also be useful.

We’re in the Far East Council currently and we don’t have the NYLT locally. Maybe I should advocate for that. The precursor youth leadership class doesn’t seem to have any info in it from what I saw in the local facilitation. Maybe I should start there.

I am also not finding any inclusion contacts on the council here. And it doesn’t seem like we collect any data to make a case for that role.

Well, I guess we can try to build something locally. In our troop of 60, I know of 11 scouts with ADHD, 4 with autism, and 5 with dyslexia/ dysgraphia. So the need is definitely there.

[Anonymous]

You can check with the regional scout council to see what the offer.

[Anonymous]

I have no idea what the Boy Scouts are doing regarding special needs, but Girl Scout Council of the Nation's Capital had an inclusion specialist for a very long time. It was more than a module/training. The specialist was available to coach leaders and troops on how to include girls with special needs more effectively. However, they have been very short-staffed during covid and I don't see a specialist on the staff list at the moment, but I know that their are people on the staff who can help with this if you call. There are
Here's the page with the info: https://www.gscnc.org/en/council/about-us/Our-deia-programming-resources-training.html

Plus here is a basic training module good for a leader's level Service Unit training:
https://www.gscnc.org/content/dam/girlscouts-gscnc/documents/Volunteer/Online%20Education/Inclusion%20Short%20and%20Snappy.pdf