Re: "MY SCOUT BADGE"
Settummanque, the blackeagle (waltoml@WKUVX1.WKU.EDU)
Wed, 19 Jan 1994 20:46:28 CST
Patrick G Skelly <scoutldr@AOL.COM> writes:
>for all, especially Bob McGwier -
>I would be happy to send you a copy of the "My Scout Badge Book" ... if you
>tell me you still want it. The program is set up ostensibly for "moderately
>retarded" boys, though I've used it with all of our troop up to about three
>years ago.
Hey Pat, go ahead and please send Bob your book since I haven't had
time to find it (I had a broken water pipe downstairs earlier and we
spent a half an hour getting an inch of water from the kitchen and
dining room...and the rest of this evening has been spent babysitting
our friends while they go out and gather clothing for families that
have been displaced by a gas main explosion earlier this afternoon in
the student section of town...what a busy evening!)
>The real hooker is that it STILL requires the boy to earn some of the old
>"Skill Awards" ... !Catch-22! ... BSA will not allow the boy to earn Skill
>Awards.
Yep. That's correct. The BSA has discontinued the Skill Award program
when the new Troop Operations Plan was introduced in 1989. The
National Program Group, after receiving untold numbers of pleadings
from local Councils, said plainly "NO" and that was it. Local
Councils cannot even do the Skill Awards as a "special awards program"
in harmony with National policy, since National policy is that the
Skill Awards don't exist anymore.
>I've complained to BSA about this problem numerous times over the past 5+
>years. At the disabilities course at Philmont in 89 I was promised by a
>National staff member not to be named that the "My Scout Badge" would be
>rewritten/reissued in the summer of 1990. It still hasn't been rewritten.
The book WAS re-written, Pat, in 1989. But with the introduction of
the new Troop Operations Plan, the book went on the shelves. You can
write the National Program Group at the National Office and ask for a
copy of the draft booklet, for "evaluation reasons", since you were
in part involved in the background (based on going to Philmont) of the
program.
The final booklet was NOT written or printed.
>That staff member then took all responsibilities for disabilities issues and
>concern over to Learning for Life, where he coined the slogan "STAND TALL
>..." in the L4L disabilities program. I later asked him if that would apply
>to the boy in the wheel chair, and he said to me, "Don't take what we say
>literally ..."
Yep. That's where we "stand" on all "Scouting for the Disabled"
programs. What it looked like to me is an attempt to move away from
mainstreaming and move back toward "special units and special
programs" which Scouts with disabilities do NOT need...they need to be
challenged like "normal" Scouts!
>I hope none of the above shows any bias or disbelief on my part.
Nah! Hehehe
>Happily, the responsibilities for disabilities issues and concerns have been
>reassigned to the several program divisions, but there is no longer a
>National Advisory Committee on Scouting for the Handicapped (NACOSH). So
>what happens in the Cub Scout Division need not mesh with that in the Boy
>Scout Division need not mesh with that in the Exploring Division.
But there IS some coordination....all three belong to the Program
Group, headed by the Group Director and the National Program Group
Vice President. This group, consisting of the program division heads,
and those from the Supply and Program Support divisions, meet each
week to discuss and hash out the common program details. But you are
right that this is mainly a PROFESSIONAL body and there are few
volunteers on the body.
>As a followup to the disabilities course at Philmont 93, I was asked to
>review adaptations for disabilities in the Cub Scout advancement area. My
>response document addressing the full range of Webelos Scout requirements is
>being studied right now by a project team of the National Cub Scout
>Committee.
>Returning to your immediate problem, work the normal Trail to First Class for
>that boy as far as you can ... then get back to me with some specifics on
>him, his disability, and the requirements in limbo ... and I'll try to give
>you some suggestions. The approaches for spinal cord injury would be quite
>different from muscular dystrophy.
I'm glad you're on here, Pat! Thanks!
Settummanque!
--
Settummanque, the blackeagle... (MAJ) Mike L. Walton (
AIS/MR Recreation Specialist, Lifeskills Inc. ___)_
(h) 502-782-7992 (f) 502-781-7279 (w) 502-842-2274 |-=-|]
3201-D Cave Springs Avenue -- Greenwood, KY 42104-4439 -=====-
WALTOML@WKUVX1.WKU.EDU (or via America OnLine) KYBLKEAGLE@AOL.COM
"Not speaking for Lifeskills, Inc. or WKU...but I do speak well!!"
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City | 
