Aspie Discussion on Bullying and the Importance of forming a bodyguard system within the classroom

Bullying is very common for kids with ASD.  It is very important that parents work with professionals and teachers to work out on a bodyguard system (they are protected by more positive peers) such that the vulnerable kid won't become the easy target.

Tony Attwood wrote, " One of the problems with a prevention program that relies primarily on staff surveillance is that acts of bullying are usually covert, with only around 15 percent of such actions observed by a teacher in the classroom and only 5 percent in the playground (Pepler and Craig 1999).  However, other children often witness acts of buyllying and they will need to be key participants in the program.


Shared from an Aspie:

by momsparky Monday, April 16 

“One of the problems I have with the current anti-bullying campaign is that bullying is only rarely as simple as aggressor vs victim. Most often, bullying is an entire system of behavior, with everyone: victim, bully, bystanders, playing a role. This is not to say that the victims are at fault, but it is to say that isolating the bully as the problem - or, even, isolating the bystanders as is happening lately - will change the system. More than likely, what happens is new victims, new bullies and new bystanders step into the same roles. I believe that I was bullied because the other kids had no tools with which to handle me. I was very literal, and they thought the frequent miscommunication this caused were deliberate. I was very rules-bound, and they thought (legitimately) I was a rat. I'd miss cues from them: cues for friendship, cues that I'd bored them, cues that I was supposed to reciprocate a compliment - and they thought I was stuck-up, inane and cruel. I'm an adult now, and I realize that those girls were not inherently evil: they've grown up to be contributing members of society and probably have no idea how much they hurt me. Kids have to learn the skills of handling conflict, even when the conflict isn't direct: they have to be taught appropriate ways of dealing with people who bother them. This goes for bully, victim and bystander. We tell kids all the time to be tolerant, but we don't tell them how. While there is no excuse for those girls tormenting me the way they did, it was an expression of their frustration that's common with kids who lack these skills. Today, in an ideal world, I might have received pragmatic speech lessons or social skills classes. A teacher might have stepped in and helped us negotiate the missed cues. Maybe there would have been a disability/difference program for the whole school to help kids understand what was going on. Those girls might have been taught to expect odd behavior from me, and to understand that my intentions were harmless. I hope that the kids that come after us get these desperately needed resources: the victims aren't the only ones who are hurt by bullying.”



Proverbs 18:10
The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.

耶和華的名，是堅固臺；義人奔入，便得安穩。」箴言18：10

Zechariah 9: 8
But I will defend my house against marauding forces. Never again will an oppressor overrun my people, for now I am keeping watch.

「我必在我家的四圍安營，使敵軍不得任意往來，暴虐的人也不再經過，因為我親眼看顧我的家。」撒迦利亞書9：8 上主藉著先知撒迦利亞在末後的日子宣告施行審判萬邦列國，這一切都要在祂的心意之中，並眷顧屬祂的子民。惟有那掌管萬事的 神差派屬祂的天使天軍守護四圍，任何企圖攻擊或是肆意破壞者全都被驅趕，不得逗留半刻，背後定意在於這位愛以色列民獨一的主。我們同樣深得這位大能的 神保守恩待，就算四面楚歌，也不被打倒，直到走完人生的路程。