Bullying Prevention Through Inclusion
One out of every five school-aged children reports being the target of a bully during their youth. While anyone can be a victim of bullying, children with disabilities are more than twice as likely to be bullied than their typically-developing peers. Bullying can present in varying ways including physical bullying, verbal bullying, and cyberbullying, and all forms can have a devastating impact on the victim. Breaking the bullying cycle begins with creating an inclusive environment where all children understand what it means to be different from your peers. The resources in this guide can help you start or further the conversation with the children in your life about inclusion and acceptance.
Fostering an Inclusive Classroom Environment
The best way to avoid the long-term impacts of bullying is to stop the behavior before it even begins. A great way to start is to teach children about empathy, acceptance, and the many differences they will find in their peer group as they grow and meet new people. We are Teachers is a site for teachers, by teachers, with a wealth of resources for educators of all kinds. The following resources from their site can help you as you work to create an inclusive classroom space.
These carefully selected learning activities offer fun ways to work on developing empathy. All the activities on this list can be done in a classroom setting, and many can be done in small group programs or even one-on-one in a home environment.
These tips and tricks for creating an inclusive classroom are great for school environments and for anyone who wants to build inclusive language usage in their home or even a workplace.
Children grow up in all kinds of different households. They may have a mom and a dad, same-gender parents, a single parent, caregivers who are not their biological parents, or a variety of other combinations. Helping kids to understand that no two families look alike can help prevent bullying. Before planning a Donuts with Dad or Muffins with Mom event, check out this list of event name suggestions that may help make your event feel more inclusive.
Read, Watch & Learn
The Cartoon Network partnered with the National Bullying Prevention Center to create a series of videos on inclusion. Watch the videos and then use the follow-up activities to check for understanding and continue the conversation.
The documentary film Bullied: A Student, a School, and a Case that Made History, is a great starting point for older students to begin discussions about the real-life effects of bullying. The film has a companion guide with discussion prompts and activities for educators and parents.
This book list, compiled by teachers and organized by audience age (youngest to oldest), includes fiction and non-fiction books with different perspectives on bullying.
This list of books, compiled by the Akron-Summit Library in Ohio, can help introduce readers to characters with a variety of abilities and disabilities.
FRIENDSHIP & BULLYING AWARENESS ACTIVITIES
The activities in this guide to bullying from Kids Health help students differentiate being bullied from an everyday conflict.
Find a Drag Queen Story Hour program near you, to help kids celebrate the uniqueness of all individuals.
Creating a friendship tree helps children to think about their friendships and distinguish between friends and acquaintances. The visual created by this activity can help parents and children see which friendships are strongest and which ones your child may want to work on An activity like this is a great conversation starter for further discussions about your child’s friends and social experiences. Are branches missing from the tree? What activities can be added on to make a more fulfilling group of friends? Are any current activities not fulfilling in terms of friendship?
Autistic individuals struggle with social cues and determining levels of friendship. This pyramid of friendship activity breaks down levels of friendship, and suggests actions to move to the next level of friendship, or to maintain a level of friendship once achieved. This type of activity is an ongoing process. Working on a pyramid of friendship opens the door to further conversations about how your child’s friendships are going, can clue caregivers into areas of need, and point out any bullying red flags.
From the Learning for Justice series on TeachingTolerance.org, this list of discussion prompts gives students the chance to critically think about the impacts of bullying.
Sensory-Friendly Environments & Inclusion
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other sensory processing challenges may find it difficult to attend events and activities that their neuro-typical peers more easily enjoy. Simple modifications - such as opening a half hour earlier, designating a quiet space, and providing a sensory kit - are easy ways to make school events more accessible to students and families who may benefit from a sensory-friendly environment. Finding ways to include children with all sorts of differences and abilities is a benefit not only to that individual child, but also to their peers. Learning about the little things that can be done to make an activity or event accessible, reminds all children that making accommodations to help everyone have fun is no big deal!
This article provides tips for hosting a welcoming, inclusive and sensory-friendly event.
Helping children to understand and be more aware of their peers with ASD can foster acceptance and encourage inclusion. These resources from Sesame Workshop are a great place to start.
Providing a social story for families and students to review in advance of the event can help ease anxiety and show what to expect. You can learn more about creating a social story, and find resources to get you started in this guide.
protecting students when bullying has already occurred
Since anyone can be the victim of bullying and it’s common for children to hide their bullying experience, it is important to be aware of the subtle signs that a child may be struggling with a bully. This list from Reader’s Digest covers 10 common and subtle signs that a child is being bullied.
Creating a safe space where children can talk about their bullying experience is a great first step. They need to know they can seek out support from an adult if they are being bullied, or witness bullying. It is critical that they believe their needs will be taken seriously. The Sandy Hook Promise Say Something Anonymous Reporting System is available when the possibility of dangerous action is suspected. Use this resource if you suspect that a person may be a danger to themselves or others.
More RedTreehouse.org Resources
If you found the resources in this guide helpful, you may also enjoy reading the following guides from our collection.
Written by: Theresa Maier, RedTreehouse.org Content Contributor. Theresa is the mother of a child with developmental disabilities, including Autism Spectrum Disorder.
