Extension Scouting

Special needs programs in Scouting organizations

Extension Scouting

Country

Worldwide

Founder

Robert Baden-Powell^{[dubious – discuss]}^{[citation needed]}

Scouting portal

Extension Scouting are programs in Scouting organizations which cater for young people with special needs.

Background

Extension Scouting was earlier called Scouts Malgré Tout^{[citation needed]}, which is French for "Scouts Despite Everything". It aims to meet the mandate^{[further explanation needed]} from Robert Baden-Powell, founder and first Chief Scout of The Boy Scouts Association in the United Kingdom, that the programme be made "open to all."^[1]^{[better source needed]}

Scoutlink badge of The Scout Association of the United Kingdom

Young people with special needs join in with Scout groups on a regular basis but some organizations provide a special parallel program tailored to these participants. For example, The Scout Association of the United Kingdom formed a Disabled Scout Branch in 1926 and has various Scoutlink groups around the country. Scoutlink is a program run by The Scout Association of the United Kingdom in order to provide support and involvement for young people and adults with developmental disabilities, a form of Extension Scouting^{[dubious – discuss]}^{[citation needed]} but is also the name of an Internet chat site and joint programs between The Scout Association in Northern Ireland and Scouting Ireland.

Extension Scouting is known by different names:

in the Netherlands, "Blauwe Vogels" (Blue Birds), after the play L'Oiseau Bleu by Maurice Maeterlinck;
in Scouts en Gidsen Vlaanderen, "AKABE", Anders KAn BEst (Different is all-right);
in Polish Scouts^[which?], "Nieprzetarty Szlak [pl]";
in Kenya Scouts Association, "Street Scouts".