Making adjustments (60 minutes)

Objectives

1. To take away practical examples of how to make reasonable adjustments on the Programme.

2. Use the parent/carer conversation framework to best support a young person.

Handout or display the Parent/carer conversation framework.

Please make sure it’s an up-to-date copy.

Share these tips with participants to help them make successful reasonable adjustments:

• Be Positive
• Remember, conversation is not a contract
• Frequently review the adjustment to see if it’s working
• Keep up all communication and stay engaged
• Allow parents/carers to be a part of the decision-making
• Scout Groups should never assume any unreasonable costs without funding
• Be realistic

Starting a conversation

We know that Scouts works well when we’re part of a team and work together. It’s vital to foster effective team working relationships to truly offer inclusive Scouts. Parents/carers have a wealth of ‘expert’ information about their young person, so they’re a key source of information.

The best approach is to build a positive relationship with the parents/carer, in which leaders can explain the need to understand the detail of a young person/s additional needs. Important topics to cover include their likes/dislikes, management strategies, triggers, what happens at home and at school.

The value of a conversation is that there’s the opportunity to stress that Scouts is delivered by volunteers, not paid professionals or experts, but that leaders are willing to make reasonable adjustments to support participation. It’s important to make sure parents/carers have a realistic expectation of Scouts.

Going through the programme in detail is a good way to build the relationship with parent/carers. Regular communication and reflections on progress also helps to maintain the relationship.

At the same time, it’s essential to get to know the young person as an individual. Involving older young people in the conversation may also be appropriate.

1:1 Support workers

If one-to-one support is needed and the group are able and confident to provide this, that’s fantastic, but remember that Scouts is not a statutory provision, like the education system, so there’s no legal requirement to provide one-tone support, if the capacity or skills don’t exist.

It’s important to know this in your role, to help manage the expectations of parents and other leaders. One-to-one supporters may be required where a young person has personal care needs, for example. This could require an adult acting outside the Yellow Card, so this care should be provided by a family member or professional.

In Scouts, a one-to-one supporter attends exclusively to support the individual young person, so should not be counted within the adult ratio. This person is not a helper and should be over the age of 18. Young Leaders, or siblings of a young person who are also within the Group should not be fulfilling this role.

All one-to-one supporters must be appropriately vetted. Where a young person is accompanied by a professional carer it’s advisable to contact the Vetting Team at HQ to discuss your situation so they can advise. Most often a one-to-one supporter is a parent or carer.

The provision of an external/ professional carer is the responsibility of the family; the Scout Group should not take on the financial responsibility of employing a carer.

Parent/carer conversation framework activity (20 minutes)

Discussion activity (10 minutes)

Discuss ways in which an adjustment could be made for the following scenario using the parent/carer framework agreement:

A Cub is attending a camp, two days before the camp the one-to-one support worker who assists with their personal complex medical needs informs a Section Leader that they can’t make the camp. The Section Leader then contacts the DC to discuss options.

What would be the best course of action to make sure the young person isn’t excluded from the event?

Autism

Let everyone know that this is currently a prevalent topic in Scouts. The purpose of this topic is to give a basic overview of autism and how to best support autistic individuals.

Autism is a lifelong condition affecting how someone communicates with and relates to other people and to the world around them.

‘It’s as if someone is playing some complicated games and I am the only one who hasn’t been told the rules’

National Autistic Society

Encourage participants to imagine seeing the world this way:

• Seeing the world in pictures with an altered sense of reality
• Being unable to read emotions or feelings
• Taking everything that’s said to you literally
• Senses more acutely than everyone else
• Unable to cope with ANY change of plans

Planning and adjusting Scouts for autistic young people helps to make sure they have a truly meaningful experience in Scouts. The following ideas can enable inclusive Scouts:

• Provide structure and routine
• Explain what’s happening now and next
• Prepare for changes or new situations
• Clear rules and expectations for all
• Be prepared and plan ahead

Visual stories are resources that can support young people with learning and/or speech and language difficulties. They portray various scenarios within Scouts in a way that’s visually accessible. Leaders can either show the visual stories directly to the young person or use the signs shown in the stories to communicate with the young person.

Your Scouting

Discussion activity (10 minutes)

From the activities, learning and discussions throughout this session, ask everyone what they’ll take away back to their Group/section and apply to their approach to make Scouts more inclusive?