The Scout Association

"My name is Laura and I work for The Scout Association as an Operations Adviser.

The Scout Association is committed to being inclusive of all young people, and we identified that our volunteers (e.g. Scout Leaders) needed more assistance in supporting young people on the autism spectrum in Scouting. This national piece of work was part of a project specifically focusing on providing our volunteers with information, guidance and resources, around supporting young people on the autism spectrum in Scouting.

As part of a national project supporting young people on the autism spectrum in Scouting, Widgit developed a series of visual stories to support the understanding of some aspects of Scouting.

We chose to use symbols as this piece of work was focusing on resources to support young people with autism particularly, who often tend to be visual learners.  Widgit developed a series of visual stories to support the understanding of some aspects of Scouting - making your Promise, joining a section (i.e. Beavers, Cubs or Scouts), the Grand Howl (a traditional ending to a Cub Pack meeting) and going on a camp. We hope that these resources will be used to support young people in Scouting, who benefit from visuals to understand or process information.

We found the experience of working with Widgit very positive; staff were quick to respond and very adaptable, and resources created were of high quality. We were really surprised by the flexibility and adaptability of the symbols. Thank you Widgit for creating high quality and tailored resources, which I am sure our volunteers will find useful in supporting young people in Scouting as needed."

Written by Laura Thorner
Operation Advisor
Scout Association