Aspberger's Syndrome

[agdparker]

We have a boy in our troop who has Aspberger's. The only reason I found out is that I was checking advancement to clean up our records and noticed he didn't show anything signed off at all. I ran into his father and we started chatting about his situation. First off, I'll admit that I know little or nothing about the condition, except what I've read on Wikipedia. I know that alternate requirements can be done for Scouts with certain disabilities, but I have not dealt with it before. So a few questions:

1. Has anyone dealt with a boy with this type of condition in their troop?
2. There seem to be different levels of functioning, so how do you determine if accomodations need to be made?
3. Is there a better guideline on this somewhere? I have the Advancement booklet, but it was pretty light on its treatment of disability advancement. I have it in the back of my mind that there was another publication specifically for Scouts with disabilities.

[Mrw]

There is a specific booklet regarding scouts with disabilities that you should be able to get from your local scout shop.

As far as whether this boy needs special accommodations , that is something you may want to talk with the father about. He can give you tips about how to deal with this boy in a way that would best benefit him.

For Aspergers, it may just be that this boy needs to sit with someone on-on-one to go over requirements with less distraction than there is likely to be during a troop or patrol meeting.

[VenturingL]

We have a young man in our Venturing Crew with Aspberger's. He is high-functioning, but his Aspberger's is quite noticeable. He was in my son's troop & made first class before dropping out. He didn't like feeling pushed to earn badges he wasn't interested in. We spoke at length with his mother before he joined the crew, and I did a training session on what the kids in the crew should expect/know/accomodate (used for my diversity-requirement on WB ticket) also before he joined. He can do almost anything asked of him, but he does not always recognize that something needs to be done (items for pack list, sequencing of events to get meals fixed, etc.) that would seem so obvious to the rest of the crew. He works very well one-on-one. If this is the case with the boy in your troop - spread the workload around. It can take a lot of patience to work with someone with Aspberger's and occasionally you need a break. You didn't say how old he was or how noticeable his Aspberger's is - if you didn't notice, then maybe it's very mild. Watch for the other scouts to pick up on "quirks" & be prepared to work with them to understand. We have had to do this - new scouts know something is different, but don't understand it. Once it's explained, and they are given some advice/techniques for working with our Venturer, things go more smoothly. By the way - he recently earned the Leave No Trace Award. He took longer than some of the others in the crew, but he was allowed to go at his own pace (with lots of encouragement).

Bottom line - previous answer of talking with the dad is spot-on.

[Fibonacci]

My son has Asperger Syndrome, so I appreciate the care folks are taking of these special kids (and adults.) We had another Aspie in the troop with my son (they're both 18 now), and they offered unique contributions to the Troop. Neither needed any advancement accommodations, but as Advancement Chair I understood that they needed a bit more focused attention than some Scouts.

We had another boy with Asperger Syndrome in the troop a few years ago, but he was not able to function in this social setting and withdrew. I'm sure we'll get more Aspies as the years go by. There are lots of them!

[smtroop168]

http://www.scoutingmagazine.org/about/c ... index.html

Watch for the answers to this one.

Also...get the scout registered as one with a disability now...do not wait until the 11th hour. If he doesn't need to do alternative requirements, great, he can also back off and follow the regular ones.

[Bill Pitcher]

We had an Aspie in our troop a few years ago. He didn't need any special requirement accomodations either. He always carried a notebook to keep things and himself organized. He LOVED Wilderness Survival Week at camp (a special "extra theme week" added to the end of summer camp) and went 3 years in a row! He became an Eagle Scout and one of the best instructors the troop ever had.

[RWSmith]

3. Is there a better guideline on this somewhere? I have the Advancement booklet, but it was pretty light on its treatment of disability advancement. I have it in the back of my mind that there was another publication specifically for Scouts with disabilities.

See: Scouting for Youth With Disabilities Manual, No. 34059 (2007 edition). (Note: This may have been updated in 2010; but, I'm not sure.)

[ThunderingWind]

My son is a mild Aspie - the social anxiety disorder end of the spectrum.

He "hates" disorder. So Scouting became an obsticle he could not overcome.
Boy lead was way too dis-organized.

[AquilaNegra2]

My son is a mild Aspie - the social anxiety disorder end of the spectrum.

He "hates" disorder. So Scouting became an obsticle he could not overcome.
Boy lead was way too dis-organized.

"Scouting is a game for boys under the leadership of boys under the direction of a man."
When SM/ASMs are directing properly, it's not chaos. The problems arise when "boy-led" is read as hands-off for the adults.

[cballman]

The problem with the pamphlet listed earlier in the post is that it is to vague for any of the Disabilities that it talks about. I have had the pleasure of many children with different talents. Somrtimes we as leaders need to really look at the medical forms and define what disorders any of the childeren have. I have had a child go to summer camp with me the last couple of years with Aspbergers Syndrome. Is he a handfull? YES but I would love to have most of the other children to have his drive. I had one of the greatest people help me out with this child his first year of camp that could have ever been. I wont mention Kathrine by name but she found some papers online and printed them off for me to be able to understand what to do with a child that has Aspbergers Syndrome. I still have those papers and refer to them constantly. Sometimes we must ask for help dealing with different types of children. I will copy these papers and send them to any one that would like to have them as soon as I get my new computer. I am using so many different computers I cant do anything since mine died. Either email me or post on this thread. As a last statement I would like each person to sit down, Think about each problem child that they have had over the years and then ask yourself "Did I do my best with each one" This is something I have learned over the years. Each child is unique in their own way. Not really bad but most times misunderstood. Stop Think and make a difference in that childs life it will help you in the future.

Charlie

[jr56]

My son has this. He has low reading skills but very hight reading comprehension, it it is read to him, he can get it. He has some minor social skill problems. These kids are often labeled as being "immature". He was able to complete all requirements, some counselors allowed him to give written reports orally.
He is still an adult leader, he earned his Eagle, Silver Award, Bronze Hornaday, and Ranger.
Fellow adult leaders when he was a youth spread the rumor all around the troop that he was too "stupid" to earn a merit badge, so I was accused of "giving" him all of his advancement. Nothing like good old scout spirit to cheer you up. Have to feel sorry for such ignorant slobs.

[deweylure]

we had a young man in our troop. some leaders could not deal with the scout and it turned out the scout sought out that leader and it became a mess. Here are a few of the techniques we used.

Assign 1 or 2 leaders to guide the scout. Depending on the severity it may take a lot of effort and patience .
His mom became involved as a leader since his dad was not around . This allowed us to let 2 other leaders help him instead of mom becoming the servant .
Be firm in the directions and or expectations of the task to be completed . I recommend talk to the parents about their son and read some goo info on this syndrome . Try to be part of the positive input work with the parents,teachers,counselors etc.

dewey lure

[Hawkrod]

My son is a mild Aspie - the social anxiety disorder end of the spectrum.

He "hates" disorder. So Scouting became an obsticle he could not overcome.
Boy lead was way too dis-organized.

My son and I are both Aspie's and boy led can be an issue. My son was SPL for a while and several boys refused to follow direction which led to a breakdown of the leadership. He soon hated being in charge and at least one boy quit because he says my son was too bossy because he held the other boys to the rules. It is a very fine line that can be difficult to walk. I too have had issues and have been accused of signing off my boys merit badges (thank the Lord that it was not only untrue as all but one of his merit badges had been earned at Council camps, but it was also very easy to prove that the person making the accusations was lying but unfortunately this person is still a district level member) and of being too involved. People who do not have Asperger's can't comprehend what we go through. Both my son and I have unusual intellects but are socially stunted and can not understand the behavior of some people. For us the world is very black and white, we can't see or comprehend gray. If the paperwork says you must do X and then Y we could never do Y and then X even if other people do it all of the time. The rules are very important and violating those rules just can't be accepted. We recently had a huge issue in our District with two adult leaders who have become an issue through their very flagrant violations of BSA policy, for me it has been very tough as so many people came forward to tell us of issues with these people but when we brought it to the key three, I was made to feel as if I were the problem. It was not a matter of having violated rules, it was a matter of why did they do it and it was treated as if it were a personal issue. I was even asked to not speak of the details by the District Chair! The only good that came out of the whole issue is that several parents who had been afraid to step forward were upset by the glossing over of issues that they went to the SE and a couple of other COR's stepped up and we will be addressing the issue in a different manner in the near future. The point I am making with all of this is we are square pegs trying to fit in a round hole and despite what others may do, we are bound by the black and white despite what it does to us personally (trust me, I have been ostracized over the issues). Had we not had so many people step up in frustration over both what happened and how it was handled I may have actually quit Scouting in frustration. That would not have been fair to my boys nor to the many youth I work with but for me it was very black and white, what these people did was wrong and allowing it makes other culpable for the way it was handled. It was not until afterwards that so many stepped forward to thank me that I realized that there are still a heck of a lot of people trying to do the right things and I actually did have a place to "fit".

[mt_goodrich]

Very timely topic for me now.

Have a young man who it was believed to have ADD. However, his mother just informed me this evening he was recently diagnosed as having Aspergers.

He doesn't seem to have any of the social anxiety issues, but it seems that he needs organization. I am going to learn all I can and also told his mother that I will be asking her a lot of questions too.

We will be going to Philmont in 2012 and the boys his age are going. He has expressed an interest in going. I spoke with his mother and she said that it would be a wonderful goal for him to work towards. I told her that let's take baby steps first with Summer Camp this year and go from there. She said that would be great.

Thanks!

[Hawkrod]

Asperger's is a very misunderstood issue. Many people with Asperger's are significantly above average in intelligence and are able to adapt so often common issues are masked through subconscious learning. Also note that the social issue are really "awkwardness" not anxiety. Those that have anxiety have it because of their fear of failing to fit in not because they are inately afraid of social situations. In many Aspie's there is no concern at all with the fact that they fail to recognize cues, they really don't care so there is no anxiety at all. Asperger's can range from people who just seem "smart" to people hiding from the world. Children with Asperger's are often called "little professors" and often socialize better with younger and older people but fail to fit well with their own crowd. This is probably due to the fact that younger kids look up to them and think of them as older and so do not recognize the issues, or lack of cue recognition, and older people tend to accept people based on their mental capacity so a smart kid who acts odd is just accepted because of their unique postion. It tends to be immediate peers that they have the biggest problems with. It is also very common for ADD, ADHD and similar issues to show clearly in Aspie's. You may also find that an Aspie kid may well be a good candidate for leadership as they often take the time to learn the skills and can teach others. My son is Troop instructor and has done well although I am watchful as he can get frustrated with kids who don''t follow the rules or don't care.

[jr56]

Yes, you hit the nail right on the head. You described my son's interaction with other youth in the troop perfectly.

[Reasonable Rascal]

We have a boy in our troop who is an "Aspie." I have seen him work himself up into a literal red rage such that you would think he was possessed. Other times he gets frustrated and teary. He can be challenging to say the least. One problem is that he is unbelievably intelligent with an IQ well into the genius range no matter which scale you use. But he is determined, loves being a Scout and has his eyes set on making Eagle. So far he has managed to make First Class well within his first year, and possesses a good handful of MB's thanks to summer camp and a 'challenge' issued last fall to set a goal of 100 MB's for one CofH in celebration of the centennial year.

In a troop of 12 boys we have represented Asperger's, ADD, ADHD, social disorder (lacks a sense of guilt/true understanding of consequences), anger management issues, a couple with learning disabilities, and even a boy who is bipolar. Of the bunch the bipolar boy is the kindest, most gentle and considerate and best behaved kid of the bunch. A far, FAR cry from what he was like before he was diagnosed and treated as I understand it. As a former SM/ASM with our troop once said, what would we do if we had normal kids? As I thought about it at the time I was at a loss for an answer.

RR