Recognizing, Preventing, and Managing Bullying: What SLPs Can Do Stephanie Hughes, Ph.D., CCC-SLP University of Toledo
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What is bullying? “Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time.” -www.stopbullying.gov
Terminology
Victim ◦ Also known as a “target” or “target of bullying.” ◦ Better to say “student who is bullied.”
Bully ◦ Better to say “student who bullies others.”
Bully/victim ◦ Child who is both bullied and bullies others
Provocative victim ◦ Child whose behaviors unintentionally draw negative attention and bullying to him/herself
What are some of the effects and warning signs of bullying? Anxiety Physical illness Sleep disorders Absenteeism Poor academic performance Depression (both victim and bully) More likely to think about or attempt suicide than peers (both victim and bully)
What are the types of bullying?
Overt (Direct) ◦ Physical bullying Kicking Hitting, punching Shoving
◦ Verbal bullying Teasing Name calling Threatening
Covert (Indirect) ◦ Relational bullying Shunning Excluding Spreading rumors
◦ Cyber bullying
Who bullies?
Popular students have power over peers and are less likely to get in trouble for bullying. The “loners” and “misfits” may engage in retaliatory bullying against younger/weaker students. ◦ Kids with ASD and ADHD often tend to be “provocative victims.”
Boys tend to bully more than girls, though girls seem more likely to engage in relational bullying.
Why does bullying happen?
Students are trying to establish their place in the social hierarchy; some seek social dominance. ◦ Bullying occurs most often in middle school and when students are transitioning from one school environment to another.
Can result from inequalities stemming from socioeconomic status or race/ethnicity. Great pressures to conform to gender norms, especially rigid ideas about masculinity and heterosexuality.
How often does bullying occur?
Bullying happens quickly and often in elementary school, but teachers respond to little of it. In middle and high school, students can experience or participate in bullying as bullies, victims, or bully/victims. A national survey of 6th-10th graders found that: ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦
53.6% of bullying was verbal 51.4% of bullying was relational 20.8% of bullying was physical 13.6% of bullying was cyber bullying
Do the students on my caseload experience bullying?
Children with language impairments, autism, and stuttering report that they have experienced bullying or are at greater risk for being bullied than peers. Exclusion in preschool is associated with future peer rejection. ◦ Preschoolers with communication disorders have fewer positive social interactions with peers. ◦ Negative peer perceptions of older children with communication disorders
What are my legal obligations to students with communication disorders? According to the Office of Civil Rights (2010), school districts may violate students’ civil rights “when peer harassment based on…disability is sufficiently serious that it creates a hostile environment and such harassment is encouraged, tolerated, not adequately addressed, or ignored by school employees.” Administrators, school personnel and SLPs can be held liable if they do not address bullying of students with communication disorders.
How can bullying be prevented? Collaborative efforts from schools and school districts, classroom teachers and other school personnel, parents, and students Develop clear anti-bullying messages; students should know that bullying is not tolerated in school or in speech-therapy sessions. Create an environment that is inclusive of all students.
What can I do as an SLP?
Join or start an anti-bullying policy committee in your school or community. ◦ Advocate for children with communication disorders who may be provocative victims or bully/victims (no zero-tolerance policies).
Survey students on your caseload and their parents to determine the extent to which they are bullied and need support. Begin a dialogue about bullying with students.
How can I respond appropriately to bullying and reports of bullying? Listen to the child, and thank him/her for telling you. Report bullying to the appropriate person at school, and follow up with the child. Avoid advice like, “If you wouldn’t cry in front of them and would just stand up to them, the bullies would leave you alone.” Focus on developing social skills and antibullying strategies in therapy.
How should I address bullying in therapy?
Teach children about the nature of bullying (e.g., why students bully others, that bullying is not their fault). Help children to develop and role-play assertive, alternative behaviors to some typically nonhelpful responses to bullying (e.g., threatening, hitting, crying, etc.). Incorporate carefully selected, typically developing peers into therapeutic activities and social groups. ◦ Michelle Garcia Winner’s (2008) Social Thinking program (and others like it) can help develop better peer relationships.
What strategies do you and your school use to address bullying? We have relatively little data about the strategies SLPs use to address bullying and the extent to which students with communication disorders have found these strategies helpful. Clinicians in schools can make a difference by sharing resources and strategies, especially if these can be measured and reported scientifically.
Additional Resources
www.stopbullying.gov ◦ A federal government website managed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
www.pacer.org/bullying/ ◦ PACER’s bullying prevention resources are designed to benefit all students, including students with disabilities.
www.stopbullyingworld.org ◦ Website of the International Bullying Prevention Association
