Children with autism are at greater risk of being bullied

Dr. Claudio V. Cerullo :
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 on the autism spectrum are bullied more often than students without disabilities. In fact, of the students who are bullied, roughly 62.3% are on the autism spectrum (Center for Disease Control, 2011). 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.
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 bystanders), can play an important role in increasing or decreasing bullying, if they choose.
There are various forms of bullying, including verbal, physical, emotional, and the deadly cyber virus, which is growing area for bullying in which Facebook, instant gram, 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 dropout. Families and professionals should be aware of behavior 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 s/he is being bullied and does not feel safe at school or trust those that are hired to protect them.
For students on the autism spectrum, 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 autism 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. As such, learners on the spectrum may over- or under-react when perceived or real bullying happens.
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. If the student has a disability, bullying could be denying a student his or her free and appropriate education or (FAPE), under the IDEA law.
While bullying often impacts individual students, programs must be designed school-wide. School-wide 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 (National Crime Prevention Council, 2011). District and building leadership must demonstrate an absolute intolerance for bullying and the entire school community must understand and support this mission. Below are several suggestions:
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, an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The policy should be revisited frequently with students and posted in various areas of the school. The important piece here, it that it get evaluated quarterly.
Address anti-bullying as part of your school-wide positive behavior support program. 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 behavior looks like, teach how to be respectful, and teach others how to respond to behavior that is not respectful. Again, the key here is, to establish a district-wide Antibullying team or outside provider that is objective in his or her evaluation, so that it can be EVALUATED and assessed quarterly. Highlight 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 district staff should also remember to be a positive role model for these social skills.
Hold 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.
Most school districts collect school-wide behavioral data. 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, passing 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 cyberbullying 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 on the autism spectrum who are potential victims of bullying, I would suggest the following:
Help students on the autism spectrum clearly discern what bullying is and is not. For some students on the autism spectrum, 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 ASD 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 autism spectrum to access quickly. Write out and/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 wallets or book 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 ASD. The same can be done on the school bus, where bulling is often not reported or documented affectively.
Bullying can heighten child’s anxiety, and cause them to feel unsafe, and thus hinder academic performance. All students, including those on the autism spectrum, 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.