SueM

I have to ask...where is your Chartered Organization in this process?? Have you asked them for any help?? It seems to me that they should be helping you to get some equipment! That's part of what they are supposed to be doing for the troop. What about other local troop? I would get up and request help from them when you go to your Roundtable! Many troops have extra things laying around not being used that they might be able to let you have or at least loan you for the short term basis. Does your district do a newsletter? Put a request in it! Many troops also have a uniform cupboard where they have donated outgrown uniforms that Scouts can use instead of having to buy new ones. Please also contact Coleman because they will often give excellent discounts on tents to Scout troops. There is help out there..think outside the box! Sue M.

As the mother of an Asperger's daughter, I had the same reaction to the comment about making the boy look you in the eyes..one of the classic symptoms of Asperger's is that it is difficult if not impossible for some of them to make eye contact and we should not force them to do this. If the boy can talk intelligently and answer questions without making visual contact with you, then don't try to force the issue. Make him comfortable in opening up. One of the other issues with Asperger kids is their narrow range of focused "obsessions"...if your scout happens to have one that is related to scouting (such as knots or perhaps plants, etc) take advantage of that within your troop. He will be a great teacher for the younger scouts and it will help build his self confidence. sue m

I am new to this forum so just found this subject...which is also a pet subject of mine My oldest daughter is an Asperger's..2 other of my 5 kids are ADD kids and I am a Scoutmaster! Oh..and my husband happens to be a Pediatrician! Dealing with an Asperger's kid poses many many challenges that are unique due to their inability to handle or understand social cues. My daughter was terribly bullied through high school and very little was done about it...she was and is terribly scarred by that. In our troop, we have several boys with "issues" and I have been trying to explain to many of my adult leaders WHY we need to be patient with them...WHY we need to try and explain to the other "normal" boys that they need to accept these boys for who and what they are. We have one new scout who is a classic (undiagnosed) ADHD kid..he's in the other boys' faces..he is very affectionate so he touchs the other boys (not inappropriately though)..on campouts he can be a handful and requires a lot of supervision, etc. Some of my ASM's want to restrict him from campouts more because they don't want to really spend the time to learn how to effectively manage him. I hear "we're not social workers!"...which is true, but they can do things to learn how to better handle the situation. I've found with this boy that if you really talk to him and continue to express to him in a positive manner what he is doing, he will make an effort to comply..he may forget in 5 minutes and you have to tell him again, but he does try. The parents of "normal" kids just do not have the understanding that these kids and generally are not doing this stuff deliberately! I also get comments from other adults about these issues just being "Labels" and "excuses" for bad behavior..they, of course, do not have children with similar issues! One of my fellow Wood Badger's last year put together a program called "Dealing with a differently wired Scout" (or something like that) and she delivered it as a course at the council level. She brought in Developmental pediatrician, neurologist and other experts to try and explain things better. I would have loved to have had my entire adult leaders attend the program, but they see no need.. Our scouts need to learn to respect ALL people no matter how different they are and I will not tolerate it if I hear any of my boys picking on another boy with a disability! Our adults need to take these developmental/other issues into consideration too when dealing with the boys. These boys are generally the ones who can get the most benefit from the scouting program and the boys who I want to keep active, to keep them off the streets and turning to other things with their impulsive behavior control issues. We CAN make a difference in these boys lives and we owe it to them to try!! down off my soapbox now! Sue M

Hi..I'm new here but looking forward to learning more from everyone. I am a 20 yr Navy Spouse...a mother of 5 and after spending 3+ years as the Troop Secretary in my oldest sons' troop, I became the Scoutmaster last fall..the first female Scoutmaster in our District! Our former Scoutmaster had announced that he intended to step down well over a year before this and we talked him into staying on while we searched for someone to take over. I started at that point doing everything that I could to help him in anyway that I could with admin and whatever else needed to be done. However, after 18 months of searching and no -willing- candidates found, either from within the troop or on the outside, I decided that since I was doing much of the work anyway, I might as well be doing it OFFICALLY and took over! I did face some opposition from a few boys who dropped out, and there are still a few passive/agressive parents who don't think I should be in the role, but for most part, all the other adults, our Chartered Org. & the district have been very supportive. I had alredy done BSLT and was trained and went through Wood Badge last fall. What I inherited though was basically an Adult led troop! I am working towards changing that, but since all the boys who were in the troop had never experienced anything else, it's been a hard struggle. I gained a full new scout patrol in March and slso an enthusiastic trained adult leader with them, who has been a tremendous help! He has taken on the patrol and is doing a great job of developing and guiding them. I've decided that that we will rebuild from the ground up with the new boys, instead of trying to remould the older ones. It's kind of neat though to see the older boys starting to try to imitate what they see happening in the new scout patrol. Anyway...I am not sure that I am the BEST possible Scoutmaster that this troop has had...or could have...but I was the only one WILLING to do it and I am giving it my best shot. It has been a tremendous personal challenge for me to do this all, especially when I get parents who deliberately circumvent me and go to the adult MALE leaders when they have questions or problems! When I start to have my doubts about things, I try to remind myself that I am not there doing this for myself or my own ego...I'm doing this for the BOYS! I have also ventured into doing Adult training this year and have enjoyed doing that more than I thought I would...I have a difficult time being center stage, so it was very scary at first. I'm looking forward to continuing on this path in the future too. Sorry this is so long... Sue "I used to be a Beaver"

I used to be a Beaver.. Everyone KNOWS that Beavers lead the way!! First in everyway! When we were building out rocket..I fashioned a beaver out of a brown pipe cleaner and we secured him in the bottle cap and attached him to the top of our rocket and then sent the first (to our knowledge) Beaver into space!! Sue SR-605

As every WB'er knows...Beaver's always lead the way!!...and to that end...it took my patrol mates and I only 2 minutes to figure out the "Win all you can" game! I enjoyed everything about the WB course. I had a good idea of what to expect before I showed up from talking to former attendee's...had my ticket items already formulated in my mind when I got there the first weekend. We had so much patrol spirit that by lunch on the first day, our SPL would no longer say "Beaver" because we'd immediately react with our patrol "yell"..instead, he'd say "That patrol whos name starts with a 'B'!" We made the whole group upset one day when at lunch, just as everyone had gotten their food, we stood up and broke into a spontaneous round of "Back to Gilwell" and they had to stop eating to sing. For me, the course was not only about how I could further help the troop, but it was also about personal growth and challenging myself to overcome obstacles and fears more easily and effectively and gain more confidence in leadership. I think what I have used the most of what we were taught is team building and conflict resolution. I am currently finishing up my final ticket item, which is one that was set up to take on a particular role in the troop for a year, which will be done on Nov. 15th. I hope to get my beads in early December! Sue SR-605 I used to be a Beaver!!