I have never run or been part of A FLL team but I do have experience working with kids 8-13. Special needs students have always been one of my favorite groups to work with for the reason that many times they are profoundly impacted by the attention you give them and by the experience they can gain.
First your funding problem, I dont know what the education budget is like and your community but asking the school committee would be a good place to start. If that source is dry try asking some of your FRC sponsors for a little bit of money. My final idea would be go to local buisnesses, the type who sponsor little league teams and ask for some money they will usually give you $200-$500 and in return all they usually like is Their name on your shirts, a letter of thanks and A nice picture of you and the kids at the end of the season to hang on the wall. Look at local Pizza places and Dry cleaners first they are usually run by very nice people. My experience with this type of sponsorship has been great, a group of science fair and rocketry hopefuls recieved $500 and a free end of the year pizza party from the local House of Pizza, their picture still hangs on the wall next to local little league teams and local sports stars who got famous.
Now for special needs students I am by no means an expert I speak only from experience. First you need to be comfortable around them, If you can sit down and talk to them then you will earn their respect and they will listen to you. With the respect of these kids they will behave better than ever. In many cases special needs students are uncomcortable working with peers who are developmentally where they should be, this is often because kids this age can be mean. If you observe a conflict pull both aside individually and speak to them explain what is going on, the only way to control kids this age is to have them respect you. Let special needs students work on the project side by side with others they will learn more this way. These students tend to develop a passion, once you see it start to click mention to them how well they are doing and they will continue at whatever it is and often excel at it.
Special needs team members may require more attention dont be afraid to hav a mentor or 2 devoted mainly to keeping tabs on them and keeping track of their progress. Whenever you see a team mate who sticks out mention it to them and their parent, parents like nothing more than to here how well their child did, Children also like to receive compliments from you and their parents.
Finally I believe it is key for the team members to respect you, when you have pizza at a meeting sit with them rather than off to the side with other mentors, this brings up their comfort level and respect for you. I have worked at summer camp for 3 years and volunteered for another, every day i eat lunch with my group, this gets them comfortable and makes them more likly to confide big problems in you, this is the only way to influence the child long term, they will forget about the robot within a couple of years but they will always remember how people treated them and the lessons they learned.
I hope this helps if you have any other questions email me at
James_brown830@yahoo.com or catch me on AIM Jamesbrownssn