Interesting...

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I keep looking up "Autism and Girl Scouts" on google and that one story about the girl who was kicked out of the special needs troop keeps popping up well this time, i found something different.

This...

"Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. does not have separate program activities for girls with disabilities. The goal for serving girls with disabilities is to make their experiences as much like that of other girls as possible, by inclusion in troop or group settings with their chronological age peers, and by flexible adaptation of program resources based on individual strengths in all situations. There are no "special" or different activities in Girl Scouting for girls with disabilities; activities such as camping, sports and recreation, arts, service, and learning skills are adapted to suit the needs and interests of all girls.

A Girl Scout leader's guide, Focus on Ability: Serving Girls with Special Needs is used by adults throughout the organization to facilitate participation of girls with disabilities in all activities. National and local training opportunities are offered to help leaders and others to develop awareness and sensitivity along with the skills needed in adapting program activities.

In addition, many councils develop disability awareness projects that involve girls with and without disabilities, and facilitate their understanding of the similarities and differences they each have. Some of these are done directly with schools, while others are conducted by Girl Scout councils."

This somewhat intrigued me b/c there's also a special needs troop out in Texas that is in trouble of disbanding b/c the leader is retiring (and the scouts are not little girls, but full grown women ranging in age from 35-61) there is an age limit to the girl scouts (18 I think) but since most of these ladies still function on a 10-12 year old level, this troop exists.

The paragraph mentions that the girl scouts promote inclusion and does not have separate program activities for girls with disabilities.

My thoughts: Someone must be lying otherwise, why else would these groups exist?

Is the troop in Texas legitimately affiliated with girl scouts? If so, perhaps the fact that they are older is the whole reason they aren't mentioned, and are looked over. It could also be that it was an independent trial that was backed by the scouts on a test-basis, just to see what happened.