Overheard: Helping Students with ASD Handle Real or Perceived Bullying

In an online chat, SLP Erin Mauldin discusses how to teach students with ASD strategies for understanding and responding to bullying. Participant: Would you give an example of backhanded bullying? Erin Mauldin: Backhanded bullying happens when someone uses kind gestures or words with the intent of misleading their victim. A bully may say something in a nice or kind manner but the message may be negative, which our students who lack social skills are sometimes unable to interpret. A bully may take advantage of their lack of understanding to trick them into a negative situation. Participant: Is there any research about whether to talk with and support the bully in these situations?  Mauldin: A lot of the research I found was about talking to the victim of bullying and providing proactive support to help them cope with bullying. But research does also support talking with the bully. A lot of times bullies have something negative going on in their own lives, so we certainly shouldn’t ignore them. I don’t have specific examples of research supporting talking directly to the bully. We can always refer these students to the school counselor for further help. Participant: Would you comment on students dealing with ASD who may have developed an inappropriate sense of what bullying was and who then become the “bullying police?” Mauldin: Research shows that students with ASD who experience repeated bullying often interpret non-bullying ...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Tags: Academia & Research Health Care Private Practice Schools Slider Speech-Language Pathology autism Autism Spectrum Disorder behavioral therapy bullying Speech Disorders Source Type: blogs