Enviornmental Science - Two Site Observations

[Scouter_Rob]

I have an asperger's scout who is doing the two site observation and he is struggling with the concept of detail observing and writing the detailed observations. He tell me that he needs an example of report what an Envi. Science MB Counsler would need.

His current reports says are "a couple of bugs and lots of grass" and "a bunch of rocks and a couple of worms". He is including pictures.

Any ideas?

[FrankJ]

I can see that. One of the characteristics of Aspergers in not being to filter out the level of detail these things require. My first thought would be have the counselor help him observe one of the sites & point out details at the level wanted. This should be a give & take conversation, not a lecture. Another would be provide concrete examples of the level of details the counselor is looking for. Maybe a series of questions to be answered about the site.

[jr56]

Point out what kind of bugs are there, what kind of plants are there, why are they there, questions like that to prod his ideas. It is some give or take, depending on the individual boy, and his condition, how much detail will be forthcoming.

[Bill Pitcher]

Ask to see his IEP and take it from there. He may qualify for a tutor to help him.

[FrankJ]

I am not sure what an IEP has to do with merit badges. The GTA requires the merit badge to be performed as written, it does not allow modification by an IEP. Depending on the situation, I may or more likely not have shared my son's IEP with the merit badge councilor. Of course being an renegade MBC I have been known to follow the spirit of the requirements rather than a strict literal interpretation.

[Mrw]

An IEP can have tons to do with merit badges. We have a boy in our troop who can do okay verbally answering questions and demonstrating understanding of a topic, but will never manage to fill out a worksheet for the counselors that want or expect them. I do need to sometimes send him to a counselor who is farther away than the several our troop normally sees to find one who can work with the learning disability. It is not a matter of changing the requirements, but it does very much affect how the counselor works with the boy. Not all counselors can handle that.

[Quailman]

It's time to have a talk with those counselors who "want or expect" worksheets to be filled out. Remind them that if the requirement does not say "write" or "draw", verbal answers are appropriate, especially when it says "discuss with your counselor".

Now that I have that out of my system, I recommend the worksheets for boys to take notes and organize their thoughts, but I don't expect them to read them to me. After saying that, if a boy's communicative skills were such that he would do much better reading what he wrote, then go for it.

[jr56]

My son had the same issues, most counselors allowed him to verbally describe, rather than write out everything.