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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]In the thread about social skills groups, there was a discussion about scouting and religious youth groups being more successful. Can you share your tips for making those groups successful? In our experience, they are run by unskilled adults and the social dynamics tend to be the same as at school  -- my child not initiating any social connections and being largely ignored by the other kids.

I'd love ideas I can pass along to the leaders (especially religious education, where the teachers are motivated). [/quote]

With scouts, there is quite a bit of parental guidance.  DH volunteered heavily.  We switched troops when DC went from cub scouts to scouts.  The troop we went to was more accommodating.  Plus, if your child's issues are more severe, there are special needs troops.  Scouts was particularly good for DC because he liked to check things off, so he was motivated to moved through the program.  It also teaches kids to interact with adults on there own and builds leadership skills.

For our congregation, it was part of our semi-annual teacher training.  Professional educators/child therapists in our congregation would do seminars on inclusion and give different ways to deal with different issues.  Different ages had different examples and things to do.  It was also part of a congregationwide mentality/ education to practice radical hospitality.  Again, we heavily volunteered, but tried to not teach our DC as his behavior was worse if we taught ( which is common in the early years with most children).

I found it easier to find a congregation that practiced and taught inclusiveness, than to start from scratch at one that did not.  It takes years of hard work to get it into the culture. [/quote]

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