SPECIAL NEEDS STUDENTS AT GREATER RISK OF BEING BULLIED AT SCHOOL

Bullying involves the repeated harmful and frequent actions toward an individual or a group. It is also involves high intensity and a power-base. It is brought on when someone is perceived to have a weakness, a challenge, or a difference that may serve to both isolate them and to make them a target for harmful acts. Bullying often occurs in front of or includes others, and witnesses usually the fellow students , can play an important role in increasing or decreasing bullying, if they choose.

It is not unusual to hear stories about students with and without hidden disabilities of being bullied.

 Stories about bullying have captured media attention as children attempt to cope with being bullied and as families attempt to adjust to losing a loved one to suicide motivated by being bullied. The reality in today’s school setting is that students with special needs are bullied more often than students without disabilities. Regardless of the outcome associated with bullying and whether the student has a disability or not, bullying is a serious and systemic problem that must be addressed in schools all over the world.

There are various forms of bullying, including verbal, physical, emotional, and the deadly cyber virus, which is growing area for bullying in which Facebook, Email, Twitter, and other forms of social media are used to spread unkind and often untruthful information about students. While social networking can be a great resource to connect people; it can and has been used in a harmful manner to ostracize and exclude others.

The impact of bullying can be significant and can include lowered self-esteem, heightened anxiety, depression, fear, refusal to attend school, isolation, suicidal ideation, and suicide. Sometimes the signs are apparent, and at other times, individuals try to mask or hide their reaction to the bullying. Involved professionals and family members may notice decreases in grades, an inability of the child to concentrate, a loss of interest in academic skills, school avoidance and higher rates of absenteeism, and ultimately the desire to leave school . 

Families and school staff  should be aware of behaviour changes that may indicate a student is being bullied. For example, if a child or adolescent refuses to go to school, it may be an indicator that she or he is being bullied and does not feel safe at school or trust those that are hired to protect them.

For students with special needs , bullying may be difficult to detect and understand. Because of theory of mind challenges and social skill deficits, these students become more vulnerable targets for bullying. Theory of mind differences result in difficulties grasping the intentions of others and understanding what others are really feeling and thinking. In terms of social skills, individuals with disabilities have difficulty reading nonverbal cues, including body language and the facial expressions of others. In addition, they may take comments literally instead of understanding the underlying and perhaps unkind message. Many may have difficulty detecting the difference between teasing and bullying.

In addition to the emotional and social toll on students and their families, bullying is becoming a growing area for litigation. Schools must seriously investigate any complaints of bullying made by parents or students. While bullying often impacts individual students, programs must be designed schools. Their  anti-bullying programs should be conducted that focus broadly on teaching tolerance and understanding, and creating a safe school environment, overall. 

Current research clearly shows that proactively providing strategies and supports within the context of the school culture can decrease or minimize the need to reactively respond to incidents. 

We Should Create a school-wide no-bullying policy that clearly describes the various forms of bullying, outlines safeguard procedures to be followed when bullying occurs, and articulates consequences. This policy should be shared with parents, and parents should be encouraged to discuss the policy with their children, with or without special needs .

Establish rules and post these throughout school. Rules should not be stated simply in negative terms (telling students what not to do), but should tell students how they are to act. Often times, rules are stated using abstract terms, such as, “Respect Others.” Be tangible and measurable, in order help students understand what respect does or does not look like.

Teach what respectful behaviour looks like, teach how to be respectful, and teach others how to respond to behaviour that is not respectful. Again, the key here is, to establish a district-wide Anti bullying team or outside provider that is objective in his or her evaluation, so that it can be EVALUATED and assessed quarterly.

Highlight and reward students who have exhibited acceptance toward classmates. Staff should acknowledge random act of kindness by posting notices in central locations. Staff can also distribute reward cards to students when they notice students treating classmates in a positive fashion.

As a school, identify social skills that are important to focus on. For example, many students lack problem-solving, negotiation, anger management, and conflict resolution skills. 

Choose a social skill of the month. Rehearse with students and continually coach throughout the month. All school staff should also remember to be a positive role model for these social skills.

Hold regular meetings in which bullying is discussed.

Allow students to provide examples and discuss how it felt to be bullied. Make sure students know the consequences for bullying. At the same time, make sure they also understand the importance of establishing positive relationships.

 If there are times or areas of the school where bullying is more likely to occur, develop a staff safety plan for adult supervision.

If recess, during change of periods , bus rides, or certain classes are more problematic, work with staff in those areas to identify the signs of bullying. Often times, students are very discrete and bullying may be hard to detect.  Work with staff on strategies and a plan of action.

If unstructured times of the day are more problematic, it may mean that more staffing is required during those times. Create information about cyber bullying that can be sent home to family members and given to students. Students need to understand that technology allows us to maintain a permanent record. It may be necessary to establish rules for the use of personal technology in the school.

Bullies seek power and attention from bystanders. Empower peers to take action to stop bullying events by teaching them how to seek help, distract a bully, and advocate on behalf of the target of a bully. Layout a process they can follow if bullying escalates.  Make sure bystanders feel safe reporting students and that confidentiality is respected.

For specific students with special needs who are potential victims of bullying, I would suggest the following:

Help students clearly discern what bullying is and is not. For some students it will be helpful to explain in concrete terms since this is HOW THEY THINK on what bullying is by providing specific and concrete examples that do and do not depict bullying. Through the use of social narratives, role playing and coaching, individuals can be presented with real life concrete examples of bullying and teasing, and helped in learning the difference. Realize that it is difficult for many with and without disabilities to understand true intentions of others, thus they become afraid and lose trust. However, for students on the spectrum, it is critical that they clearly understand the differences.

When bullying does occur, a safe person or safe place should be identified for students on the with special needs to access quickly. Write out or illustrate procedures that students should follow if they believe they are being bullied or if they are in a situation in which they feel uncomfortable or unsafe.

Provide opportunities for students to practice the procedures at various times. It might be helpful to provide a small procedure card for the student to carry in their bags.  Another key to safety is to create a community of friends around the student. Students have the potential to become greater victims when they are isolated in the student body. 

Making sure they are connected to others through informal or formal means may increase their safety. If the hallway or bus stop is problematic, assign other students to be a hall buddy with the person with disability. The same can be done on the school bus, where bulling is often not reported or documented effectively.

Bullying can heighten child’s anxiety, and cause them to feel unsafe, and thus hinder academic performance. All students, including those with special needs have a right to feel safe, feel good about who they are, and get the BEST possible education our teachers can offer them at school. Each of us has a role in making our school a safe and caring environment that fosters learning and positive social-emotional relationships.