"I'm Back In The Saddle Again"
Rodger Morris (rodger@FISHNET.NET)
Tue, 7 May 1996 23:23:30 -0700
I just started my third stint as a Scoutmaster about a month ago,
transferring from being an Assistant Scoutmaster in the same troop.
In more than 24 years as a Scouter, I've dealt with quite a variety
of things, but I find I'm _still_ having new experiences. I could
use a bit of help/advice/information in re two of these.
1) We have a Scout who exhibits "Fetal Alcohol Effects" and has
been diagnosed as autistic. Has anybody else worked with an autistic
and/or fetal alcohol syndrome child in Scouting? Some of his
characteristics are:
a) He appears to be of at least normal intelligence
b) He has extreme difficulty transferring most material from
short term to long term memory
c) He has an attention span that is usually measured in terms
of a few seconds, except when he is "hyperfocused" on
something
d) He really likes edged weapons and anything to do with force
e) He is 14 years old, going on 7 emotionally
f) He cannot prioritize and is easily distracted
g) He is helpful, cheerful, and is well accepted by the other
Scouts in our troop (I worked hard to get that to happen)
h) He is about the size of a ten year old child, but turned
14 this week
i) His eye-hand co-ordination is somewhat deficient
j) He is an enthusiastic Scout who seems to do his best at all
times
I would value any insights and help you might be able to provide.
BTW, he "hyperfocused" on the tomahawk throwing event at the Scout-O-Rama
last weekend. I decided to let him pursue his interest. He stood in line
repeatedly for over 5 hours, enduring an average wait of about 10 minutes
in order to be able to throw 2 tomahawks from about 20 feet away at a
playing card stapled to a target backing made of a piece of tree trunk
suspended vertically from a tripod.
Finally, about 3 p.m., he hit the playing card with a tomahawk that also
stuck in the target. This qualified him to have his picture taken
standing next to the target, tomahawk and playing card, and to receive
the playing card (signed by the adult running the event).
He was floating about six inches in the air. Then, he got back into
line again, still floating...
His mother says the photo and the playing card are now affixed to the
refrigerator door at home for everybody to see, and he was certainly
still excited about having accomplished this feat at our troop meeting
tonight.
Towards the last, he was sticking about one 'hawk out of every two
into the target, which is better than I can do and is much better
than the average I've seen of Scouts doing this at our mountain man
rendezvous area during summer camp at Camp three Falls.
2) I have three Scouts who are interested in learning the Hypertext
Markup Language (HTML) in order to improve our troop homepage. One
boy who had dropped out of Webelos a few years ago joined my troop
tonight specifically in order to do this. (He is also going to summer
camp with us, so I'm pretty certain he'll find other activities he enjoys).
The second Scout has been in Scouts for about a month. The third one
is a First Class Scout whom I recruited two years ago. I have told
the First Class Scout that managing the HTML project and working with
his two friends to help them advance is a good Scoutmaster assigned
leadership project for Star Scout.
We'll meet at one of the Scouts' houses on Friday evening to rough
out what we want to accomplish and and to go through a basic look
at HTML.
Does anybody else out there have a homepage programming special interest
group in their troop?
I thank you all in advance for your assistance and support.
Yours in Scouting,
Rodger
Rodger Morris <rodger@fishnet.net>
Scoutmaster, Troop 852 Woodbadge 416-18
Ventura County Council Philmont, 1973
Camarillo, California, USA "I used to be a Beaver..."
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City | 
