Miracles Do Happen

[Chippewa29]

In the past, I''ve often written about a Scout in my troop that has dealt with OCD, ADHD, and Aspbergers Syndrome. He drove me crazy at times in his Scouting career, but fortunately, he was (and still is) a really nice kid that had some challenges to deal with.

 

Miracle of miracles, this young man had his Eagle Court of Honor a month or so back. When he joined the troop, he was a few months shy of 11 with the intellectual capacity of an 8-9 year old, the body of a 6-7 year old, and the emotional maturity of a 4-5 year old. Now, he just left for college as an 18 year old. He''s still a couple years behind in his physical development and has the emotional maturity of about a 14 year old, but intellectually, he is more a like a college junior or senior than a college frosh.

 

I am very thankful his parents recognized after a short time in Scouts that he would need to work for his awards and didn''t pull him from Scouts and put him in something else where he could get more instant gratification. Although it was a bumpy road at times and I had many "discussions" with his parents on the how and why we did things, they eventually came around and realized that he needed to be treated like the others Scouts for his own development.

 

This Scout won''t go down as one of the great Eagle Scouts or leaders in our troop''s history, but there has never been anyone in our troop that has come further in his physical, emotional, and intellectual development. Ultimately, that is what Scouting is really all about.

 

Another good side note to his Eagle COH: two of the invited guests were a pair of brothers (a few years younger) that dropped out of the troop a year and a half before. The older one just didn''t like camping or other outdoor activities. The younger one liked the stuff Scouts did, but is another kid with ADHD and Aspbergers. He had a very hard time getting along with the other Scouts and didn''t want to take orders from anyone, youth or adult.

 

After the Eagle COH, the younger of the two Scouts (just turned 13) came up to me and said he wanted to join the troop again. He said he had been thinking about it and the fact that our Eagle dealt with the same issues as him really inspired him.

 

Despite my reservations, I told him he was welcome to come back for our next troop meeting. When he and his mom (a very nice lady that understands her son''s issues and is focused on helping him overcome them rather than cover for him) came to the next meeting, I sat down with the two of them and told him that if he wanted to come back to the troop, he would have to do what we were doing whether he thought it was fun or not. Also, he would have to follow the orders of the youth and adult leaders. Fortunately, his mom backed me 100% and said she would support her son only if he agreed to what I said.

 

He has been back with us for a month now and is doing much better. He went hiking with us last weekend and is excited about going camping next month. His attitude and willingness to cooperate still aren''t perfect, but he is about 80% better now than he was a year and a half ago. Who knows, maybe another miracle will occur in the next few years.

[scoutldr]

Thanks for sharing, Chippewa. Stories like this are why we do it. Good job!

[eagle90]

Congratulations Chippewa. I understand exactly how you feel. A few years back we had a scout join who we believe suffered from fetal alchohol syndrome, and while he was extremely intellegent, lacked the social and physical skills needed. We made his dad come to all camnpouts with us to supervise the boy. He loved scouting, and to our scouts'' credit, they treated him very well. Yes, he also made it all the way to Eagle. Not the greatest Eagle or best leader(his POR was Librarian)but turned out to be a great scout. He has since graduated magna cum laude from college in THREE YEARS and is now enrolled in law school! That indeed is why we do this Scouting stuff!

[insanescouter]

Chippewa29 me salutes (Scout Salute) for being a great leader...

 

Yes miracles do happen, and I was hoping others may share there''s with us too.