special needs tiger cubs

[jkdillard]

I am a new tiger den leader with 9 boys. 4 of the boys have ADHD and cannot remember things very well. Their parents have already told me that there is no way that they will be able to earn their badges. My question is am i suppose to award these badges based on thier ability to "do his best" or not award them the badges. Every other award says not to judge how well they do but to make sure they did their best for the award is that true for bobcat and tiger. please help i dont want these kids left out.

[Eagle92]

Welcome to the boards

 

At the CS level, which TCs are now filly part of, "Do Your Best" s the key tp ALL advancement. So yes sign them off as they go along.

[jamist649]

As long as they Do Thier Best, you should advance them. IF, HOWEVER on the other hand, they play around, and WILLFULLY do not try, do not.

 

I'd solicit serious help from the parents, especially given the fact that you are at Tiger level where this is supposed to be happening anyway.

 

Good luck and happy Scouting.

[ScoutNut]

My son is ADHD. ADHD does not impair memory. It impairs the ability to focus for an extended length of time. For some that length of time can be VERY short. There are things that you can do to help them with that. Their parents should have at least some idea of what works to help focus their child.

 

For all 4 of these parents to state this early that there is NO WAY their sons will be able to earn Bobcat, Tiger, or any other badge in Scouting, sounds to me like what they want is baby sitting not Scouting.

 

If your parents would simply open up the Tiger Handbook they would see that there is nothing all that complicated there. The boys do not have to memorize War & Peace, or even the Law of the Pack!

 

What they DO have to do is to ACTIVELY work WITH their Tigers. Both in den meetings, and at home. They have to make sure their boys are doing THEIR BEST (not your best or their parents best).

 

What works best with ADHD (and even non ADHD) kids?

 

Repetition - Incorporate the Bobcat stuff in every den meeting. Between openings, closings, and transition times between activities, there are lots of opportunities.

 

Change - Do the Sign and say the Promise (repeat after me type) at your opening flag ceremony. Then later on do a relay race where the Tiger Teams race each other to see who can tack up the words to the Promise in the right order first. Then later on have them print out the Law, Promise, or Motto, on something they are making (frame, bookmark, etc). You are reaching them with the same info in 3 different ways (vocal, sight, touch).

 

Variety - Similar to change. Keep each activities short and sweet. Change up the tempo. Go from a stand up opening, to a sit down quiet activity, to a stand up activity, to a move around game, to a song, to a quieter activity, to a stand up closing with some movement (like Living Circle).

 

Run the Tiger program the way it should be run. Tiger Teams (Tiger & Partner) work TOGETHER as a TEAM in everything. Teams take turns planning & running meetings.

 

Hopefully, when these parents start to see their sons growing, and achieving things, they will get invested and involved.

 

Meanwhile, you can only sign off on the activities that YOU know they did. Did they attend the Go-See-It to the Fire Department (great time for the Firemen to talk to them about a home fire drill!), or go on the hike? Did they make a leaf rubbing, or participate in a flag ceremony? Then you can sign those requirements off as having been completed. You can not simply give them a pass on the requirements. You can not sign them off on things that you have no knowledge that they did. The parents are responsible for working with their Tiger and signing off on the Family Requirements themselves.

 

If the parents do not want to work with their sons, it is a shame, but you can NOT simply give away a rank award as if it were only a participation badge.

 

 

[John-in-KC]

What ScoutNut said.

 

I would, however, contact your Unit Commissioner and find out who the District/Council special needs resource person is. He or she can provide you education, support and local guidance.

[jkdillard]

Thank you all very much for your insight. i'm sure i will have many more questions troughout my tenure as a den leader. Again thank you so much.

[mistysmere]

ScoutNut has some great ideas.

 

I just wanted to add that more than half of our returning cubs this year are ADD/ADHD. The boys in our Pack who are working the hardest are those who are our "special needs" boys. Being ADD/ADHD does not make you a special needs child. It just means that the adults around you need to work harder at being creative to help you along.

 

Last year, DS's Tiger Den had 5 boys. At the beginning, two were medicated. All 5 were fully capable of working on the Bobcat requirements. They all received their immediate recognition thingy at the first Pack meeting. They got their Bobcat at the second one. By the end of the year, we were at 3 medicated and one unmedicated ADD/ADHD boys in the Den. All received their Tiger in March.

 

As a Pack, we work hard to keep the boys engaged. One thing that we have learned is that it is better to over plan for everything. If you know you will have 10 spare minutes at the end of a Pack meeting, make sure you have 3 15 minute activities planned. It would be great to pack 2 up for next month, but there will be months when you need all three. The other thing we do is meet as a Pack at the beginning of every meeting. This takes 10 minutes out of our weekly meetings, but the process has helped the Tigers and new boys learn their Bobcat stuff and flag ceremony stuff quickly. The fact is that we had Weblos that couldn't remember their Bobcat stuff, so this practice has helped everyone. Plus there is a lot of bonding among the different Dens. But we only have 27 boys in the Pack. We do try to eliminate as many of the "silly stuff" from our Pack meetings as possible, because random songs and skits really push the patience of our ADD/ADHD boys. If is doesn't fill a requirement, we save it for campout camp fire entertainment.

 

In general, more and more parents are expecting all the work to be done without their help. DS's school now gives out volunteer hours for helping your child with their homework. You will find that you are going to need to do a lot of the work with these boys during their time with you anyway. The best thing you can do for the ADHD boys is show them that they can be successful. If you go into every meeting with the attitude that these boys can not make Eagle without my help, you will be helping them more than you will every realize.

 

mistysmere

[shortridge]

How do their children do things in school, day care or daily life? Even if these boys have the attention span of a gnat, their parents have to have figured out workarounds or solutions to get them to buckle down and do certain things. Just ask.(This message has been edited by shortridge)

[Stosh]

I know of one Eagle Scout personally who has ADHD.

 

I know of one boy right now working on his Eagle project who has Asperger's Syndrom.

 

It may take a bit more time and effort, but that's why we do what we do.

 

Stosh

[NJCubScouter]

I think there are good suggestions in the responses above. I have now been all the way through the Scouting program with my son (now 18) and have seen several Eagle Scouts in his troop who have had ADD/ADHD -- two of whom have been Senior Patrol Leader -- along with other boys who have had various other special needs. Some of the latter may make not make Eagle, but they have still gotten a lot out of the program.

 

I find it a little disturbing that a parent would conclude about their 6 or 7 year old son that "there is no way that they will be able to earn their badges." How can they know that? As ScoutNut suggests, have they really looked at the book, and concluded that even with their help, the boy cannot do these simple activities? Or are they just not interested in putting in the time to help their son?

[eghiglie]

As I recall Tigers are required to each have an adult partner, so they should be helping them.

 

If the boy is doing his best they advance. If they play they don't.

 

I'm a little surprised that the parents have made those statements. Adapt and overcome is my motto. Many times I see the boys with learning issues work harder. You have to admit Scouting at all the programs gives the kids a sense of accomplishment.

 

My son has learning disabilities the local school system left him back twice. But we just encouraged and pushed him more. He is also a rare kid who loves school. At 14 yo, in the 7th grade he earned Eagle. He never wanted special handling and did all the required work.

 

At his CoH he handed two mentor pins to women school teachers.