There have been a number of Regional Adviser appointments made over the past few months.  In this and in newsletters over the next few months the advisers and their roles will be introduced.  This month Nancy Nichol and John Buchanan feature.

Nancy Nichol is one of the team of Regional Advisers for Special Needs.  Each of the Advisers has a different specialist.  Nancy offers help for young people with speech and language difficulties.  Communication probably best summaries this area. 

Her involvement with Scouts so far has been a bit second hand – Her husband is a Scout Leader and their three sons who have worked their way through the ranks of Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and into Explorer Scouts.  Nancy felt it was time to do her bit. She has helped cater on fortnight-long camps and by doing the odd duty on a Scout night!

Despite this experience she would say she is still learning about Scouting.  However in the area of special needs she has a fair bit of experience in working with children with special needs.  Nancy was a Primary teacher and some years ago took a further degree in Special Education: Speech and Language Difficulties.  She has worked full time in this area since.

Nancy teaches, mostly boys, each has different needs and some of them are Beavers, Cubs and Scouts. They may exhibit difficulty with some or all of the following:

 

• Making themselves understood verbally – they might have very low self esteem and lack confidence.

 

• Following instructions of increasing length or containing many concepts of time and space, e.g. before, after, until, between, right, left etc. They may not have a correct understanding of the concept words used and this could result in misdirected behaviour. 

 

• Repeating a spoken sentence/ instruction exactly. This taps into memory and is an important skill in following instructions and learning vocabulary.  They may have very poor short term or ‘working memory’.

 

• Listening to a short ‘presentation’ and answering questions. Some of the questions may be factual, requiring good verbal memory, and others need inferencing skills or imagination. Some of these young people find it very difficult to ‘infer’ information, or read social situations using facial expression for example.  They may have difficulty involving themselves in games or following the rules of games.

 

• Poor knowledge of familiar sequences i.e. days of the week, sequence of numbers (first, second etc). Are you relying on the young person to take information home? 

The help Nancy can offer will be to adapt weekly activities to suit young people with additional needs in speech, language and communication.  In order to do this effectively it will be useful to know some background information about the specific needs of the young person and the aims of the activity.

 

She can also give advice on communicating with the young person with additional needs; on a one-one basis and/ or within a group setting. 

As a parent who works full time, she would appreciate some notice to be able to respond to your queries effectively. If she is unable to help herself then she will try to direct you to someone who can.

 

The Duke of Edinburgh's Award is designed to encourage and recognise achievement by young people from all backgrounds and of all abilities.  As such, it integrates perfectly with the aims of Scouting and dovetails neatly into the Explorer programme, where it can provide structure and extra motivation.  It is highly regarded by employers and can be achieved by Scouts and Leaders aged 14 -24 whether or not their own Group/Unit is able to offer it directly.

 

As Regional Adviser I hope that I shall be able to facilitate the delivery of the Award as part of Scouting.  I aim to:

• Encourage participation in the Award across the age range.
• Offer direct advice and assistance to Leaders who wish to incorporate the Award within their programmes.
• Make contact with Leaders who are already involved to identify any problems but also, most importantly, to learn from existing good practice.
• Encourage cooperation within the Region with the aim of ensuring that any Scout aged 14 - 24 wishing to do so is able to start and complete the Award.  This is particularly important for smaller Groups and Units, and also for the many Leaders within this age range who are almost certainly already fulfilling the requirements of the Volunteering section and for whom the Award could provide a significant enhancement for their cv.
• Work with others to ensure that adequate training opportunities are available.
• Act as regional coordinator for eDofE (the on-line resource for managing the Award and recording progression and achievement) and liaise with Scottish HQ as our Operating Authority.
• Be available to explain the structure of the Award to Leaders, parents or potential participants, if desired.

 

It would be very helpful if all Leaders already involved with DofE in Scouting could e-mail me at dofe@sesscouts.org.uk so that I can establish what is currently happening.  Likewise, if you think I can be of any assistance to you, please feel free to contact me directly.

 

John Buchanan

Adviser (Duke of Edinburgh's Award) for South East Region Scouts