puzzlepiece

Our troop tends to take 12-18 months to reach First Class. However, my son has only been in the troop since December and is already Second Class and should be sitting for First Class the first week of June earning it in 6 months. The difference is he came in and asked the older scouts to help because some of the adult leaders wanted him to wait 4 months for everyone else to crossover and work with them to earn rank. If he had he would have quit so the plan was developed for him to approach the older scouts and set up with a few of them what he would like to work on at the next meeting and he had to be prepared for them to work with him. It depends on how motivated the scouts are! They learn at a pace they are comfortable with.

Just curious but what kind of training did your individual go through in order to assist the scout and other leaders?

To everyone that has responded, thank you. I am the mother of the ASD Webelos I that we are discussing. Trainerlady is my best friend and placed this post for me. I am still learning about some of the additional resources available.

In order to provide a little more clarification I felt that I needed to also include some information myself. Yes, I am a fully trained leader, I was the assistant Den Leader for my son's Tiger through Bear years. After providing information to the den leader all summer in order to develop a strong program for the Webelos I this year and never getting a response back I found out once the school year started that I was replaced by another parent as assistant den leader. The DL never informed me of this change nor did the CM. I was informed by another parent. In addition the other leader just recently completed Youth Protection. I was also told that the boys do not need to start learning or understanding any of the Boy Scout things until January of their 2nd year as a Webelos.

My son did attend 3 different camps last summer. One day camp, which decided last minute not to run a Webelos program and did not tell us. A 2nd day camp with a Webelos program. And an amazing summer camp at Dan Beard's Cub World which resulted in my son for the 1st time talking about staying in Scouts to go to Boy Scouts and reach Eagle Rank. This is a major break through. After the camps and the traveling he returned to school achieving 10 of the 20 badges.

Since then I have not done any of the badges independently with him. We have waited for the badges to be started at Den meetings. However, when meeting once a month for 2 hours it is easy to see that one will not complete the badges easily. Once projects were started I did have my son complete the needed activities. Making 6 crafts for Craftsman resulted in my son making at least 12 projects because he enjoyed it so much. Scholar and Artist required looking at the school work that came home, very little was done in addition and all work was presented to the DL (collage and mobile and talkign to his family members who answered survey questions and his aunt who is a teacher). Fitness and Athlete were completed with his den. Communicator resulted in email communications to his father who is military and items done in computer class and presentation and secret code done for his den. Everything that has been done since the summer has been completed with his den.

The issue arises when the DL waits until the day of the meeting to cancel the meeting after I have already taken 4-5 hours off of work to be there or waits until the day before to tell us that there is a meeting that was worked out with the other parents a week ago. The best one was in the same email stating that the rest of his den needs to complete Parvuli Dei she schedules a den meeting for when my son is at the Cathedral for recognition because he had already earned his Parvuli Dei last year and stated in the email that he doesn't need to be there because, 'I am going to teach the other boys and not him."

I have absolutely no problem with my son completeing additional activities for badges he has already earned. It is good for him and he becomes more involved in communicationg and sharing responses this way thus working on socialization and public speaking. His behaviors that are considered bad and gets him told to "Shut Up" result from him standing to feel more comfortable and from him attempting to teach the other 3 boys the Scout Oath and the Scout Law as well as the handshake, sign and salute. Knowing how to fold a flag correctly and try to help the other boys is also considered bad behavior by the DL.

He will be receiving the last of his 4 pins for the 20 in April. Two of those are being completed with the den. One is being completed at school - showman and the last one is being signed off with his swim instructor and life guards at the rec center for aquanaut.

As far as being with the Troop that we have visited. They have done numerous activities with him. They have made him talk in front of the group, be part of a Patrol for the night and give his input and learn the call, reviewed knife safety and rules with him, worked with him on his square knots, answer any questions he has and the best is working with him on calling the Color Guard. This last paid off immensely for him when at his Blue and Gold Banquet he was the one to call the Color Guard to Retire the colors. He was very serious, professional and knew when to call what orders and when to wait for other parts to take place. He even had to correct his den members that were folding the flag star to star which later got him in trouble with the DL because he corrected the boys and not her even though they had been 2 folds into the triangle and she did not notice what was wrong. The Troop already considers him as part of their group and is impressed with his drive and motivation to become an Eagle Scout in which his current DL and CM did not know what he was talking about and in front of his Pack told him that there is no such thing as an Eagle Scout and my son was just trying to get all of the attention.

Twocubdad, I hope this clarifies the situation some for you. I would do anything to be at every meeting and have offered on numerous times to plan a meeting or lead a meeting. I have even asked to take over as DL, the current DL does not want to turn it over but has complained that she does everything by herself and noone will help.

I hope this clarifies things for everyone. I am trying to help him out the best way I can to continue keeping him almost off of the Autism Spectrum completely as his psychologist would say and still keep him motivated and focused. A 3 hour den meeting in which the DL talks to the other parents for 2.5 hours of that time to figure out how to best complete a task is not keeping any of the boys interested in completeing a task. My suggestion of asking the boys how a task could be completed results in me being told that, "They are not old enough to understand and be that independent." My son is the only one that will not be turning 10 this school year. He is the youngest yet he seems more than capable and willing to provide his unput as do the other boys when I have asked them and the DL and assistant DL are out of the room. The boys deserve the credit that is due to them and not just my son.