Bullies! Every classroom has at least
one. Whose name comes to mind
when you hear the word
"bully"? Who was the kid who could upset your day
with his verbal, physical, or
emotional insults? Most adults who were
bullied remember such
childhood events vividly.
Bullying among elementary school
children and teenagers is a growing problem in many schools in the United
States. It's happening in urban,
suburban, and rural schools. Kids who
have learning disabilities (LD)
www.schwablearning.org/articles.asp?r=25
or
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity
Disorder (AD/HD)
www.schwablearning.org/articles.asp?r=26
are especially vulnerable to
bullying problems.
While bullying isn't new,
professionals today have a new level of understanding of the problem. Bullying is a
learned behavior that can
be
prevented! Effective bullying
prevention programs are being used in progressive school systems throughout the
country. It's important for
parents, students, teachers, and
school administrators to understand
and learn to manage bullying
that occurs at school and elsewhere. . . .
For the complete article:
www.schwablearning.org/articles.asp?r=692
Bullying & Kids with Learning
Differences
A national expert on bullying sheds
new light on an old problem!
(The first article in a 2-part series)
www.schwablearning.org/SchwabLearning.asp?id=1438
Bullying Behavior Quiz
How well do you understand childhood
bullying – and how to stop it?
Take their quiz and find out!
www.schwablearning.org/SchwabLearning.asp?id=1439
Bullies2buddies
A
source of help for victims of bullying. It teaches victims how to solve
their problems without anyone's help and without getting anyone in
trouble.
bullies2buddies.com/index.html
They
have a free manual for kids, Most kids can learn how to stop being
victimized by simply reading the manual.
There
is also an audio tape:
"How to Stop
Being Teased and Bullied without Really Trying".
There
is another free manual for adults that teachs how to dramatically
reduce bullying between kids with almost no effort, while increasing
students' emotional maturity and independence. It enables teachers to
go back to being teachers instead of policemen and judges.
"A
Revolutionary Guide to Reducing Aggression between Children"
This
manual can be easily printed out (also a Spanish version).
MA DOE -- Safe &
Drug Free Schools info
www.doe.mass.edu/hssss/program/sdsf.html
www.keepschoolssafe.org
www.jodeeblanco.com
familiesandwork.org/askthechildren.html
Bullying Prevention Programs
www.stopbullyingma.org
The Attorney General's Disability
Rights Project will also
come into
schools to speak to staff if there is
bullying or harrassment based on
disability. There is a reference
to G.L. C. 265 sec 43A
regarding
criminal harassment.
www.ago.state.ma.us
Protecting
Students from Harassment and Hate Crime, A Guide for Schools
(January, 1999)
US DOE OCR SITE, put out as a joint
publication by the U. S. Department
of Education Office for Civil Rights
National Association of Attorneys
General Endorsed by the National
School Boards Association.
A threat to kill should
be a police and District Attorney's Office (DA's) matter, no
question about
it, and a school matter as well, but it is against the law to threated
to kill someone. Contact the OCR office.
Your District Attorney's Office (DA's)
office (county based, Middlesex
County,) should have a Bullying/School Programs department.
They are also funded to provide FREE
workshops (great for a PAC topic).
You can consider asking your high
school adjustment counselor for leads
and resoures.
You can suggest this topic to your
PTA/PTG/PTO as a parent workshop
because bullying is prevalent and it parents need to have their
awareness heightened on this issue. Not only about what happens to
targets, but what happens to unchecked bullies.
Stand
up for your child. Don't diminish their concerns over a teacher's
attitude or behavior. You have the right to question school
authorities, and you owe it to your child to do so.
If you
suspect a teacher is bullying your child, request a meeting with the
teacher.
Before your meeting, get as many
details as possible from your child.
Speak to other parents to see if their
child has voiced any complaints or observed mistreatment of your child.
Take
notes and prepare yourself. When you speak to the teacher or
administrator, try to keep calm, but make sure you get answers.
If
your concerns are dismissed without resolution, take it a step further.
Document your efforts, meet with the
superintendent, write an article
for the newspaper, or attend a PTO or school board meeting to voice
your concerns.
Our children have enough to deal with;
a bully for a teacher shouldn't be one of their problems.
Schools Where Everyone Belongs:
Practical Strategies for
Reducing Bullying
by Stan Davis.
Based on research by Olweus, Davis's
book discusses practical programs
for schools to deal with bullying. He lays out the step very
clearly, and stresses that bullying is not the fault of the victim and
needs to be dealt with systematically by schools. You can
see samples from the book at his site:
Massachusetts Bullying and Cyberbullying books and links:
http://www.stopbullyingma.org/Book___Links.html
The Federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration's
Center for Substance Abuse Prevention
has just completed a free online
tutorial for all school personnel on
school-based bullying. The
tutorial,
"The ABCs of Bullying: Addressing,
Blocking, and Curbing School
Aggression,"
offers CEU's to social workers, all
counselors, health educators, and
contact hours to all school personnel.
pathwayscourses.samhsa.gov/courses.htm#bully
Two kits developed by the U.S.
Department of Health and Human
Services' Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), as part
of the HRSA's Take a Stand. Lend a Hand. Stop Bullying Now! campaign.
The "Resource Kit" includes advice
from a youth-expert panel made up of
young people. The kit also contains clear tips and important facts on
bullying and bullying prevention for parents, educators, health and
safety
professionals, law enforcement
officers, and others who encounter child
and teen bullying. A CD-ROM with tip sheets ready for reproduction and
distribution is included.
The "Communication Kit" contains
materials designed to assist your PAC
in promoting and garnering support for the Take a Stand. Lend a Hand.
Stop Bullying Now! campaign in your community. This kit also includes a
CD-ROM with materials ready for reproduction and distribution.
The free kits can be ordered by
calling (888) ASK-HRSA (275-4772) or by
visiting the campaign website:
www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov
The website has activities for students and resources not included in
the kits.
PACER Center's new innovative
curriculum, "Is Your Child a
Target of
Bullying? Intervention Strategies for Parents of Children with
Disabilities," addresses these and other types of bullying. An engaging
and superbly produced resource, the curriculum is meant for
professionals and parent leaders to present to parents at meetings,
workshops, trainings, and myriad other occasions.
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Our Concord SPED PAC webpages, created
October 14, 2005, by Melody Orfei
Webpage
last
modified on December 15, 2011 - V6, by Melody
Orfei
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