Steps You Can Take to Protect Your Student from Bullies

Autism is a spectrum disorder characterized by repetitive behaviors, difficulty grasping social cues, and sensitivity to environmental stimuli. These characteristics make teens with autism more vulnerable than their peers to unfair or discriminatory treatment. The good news is that there are steps parents can take. Today we’re going to cover five things parents can do to flip the script and create the safest environment for their teens possible. Let’s dive in! 

Bullying & Its Impact 

In 2019 the US Department of Education released a report stating that as many as 1 in 5 teens in the US experience bullying while at school. Bullying is any verbal, physical, or social behavior intended to cause emotional, verbal, and psychological harm to the receiver, who may feel unable to prevent it from continuing. 

Bullying behavior is often seen in relationships where there is a real or perceived imbalance of power. The reasons for bullying range from gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability. Parents of teens with autism frequently experience the anxiety that bullying will scar their teen’s school experience. Though not enough formal studies have been carried out, data indicates that teens with ASD are twice to three times more likely to experience bullying than their neurotypical peers. 

The impact of bullying on a student’s academic performance cannot be stressed enough. When the student already faces learning challenges due to ASD this impact is multiplied severalfold. Bullying negatively affects students:

• Attendance 

• Performance 

• Focus 

• Ability to Learn 

• Self-esteem 

The consequences of the harm can echo throughout the student's life unless proactive measures are taken. Here are some steps you can take to protect your teen. 

Educate Your teen About Bullying 

Some teens are aware that they feel bad in certain situations but are not sure how to vocalize what’s happening to them. Teens with autism or other ASDs are even more likely to struggle to understand and communicate their internal world while navigating social situations. A helpful strategy for parents is to educate their teens on what bullying is, looks, and feels like. If your teen describes a situation that troubles you, guide them through these questions: 

• What happened? Was something said or was it physical? 

• Did you feel bad about it during and afterwards? 

• Do you believe it was on purpose? 

• Has it happened more than once? 

• Have you tried to stop it? 

The more questions they answer with yes, the likelier they are to be facing bullying. As heart-wrenching as it can feel for parents, now that the bullying has been identified, they can take action. 

Teach Your Teen About Self-Advocacy 

Being a fierce self-advocate is a critical skill to learn, and it can be taught. Self-advocacy is the ability to: 

• Identify and articulate how you feel and think

• Voice your opinions 

• Defend your point of view 

• Take responsibility for yourself 

• Take action in situations that violate your boundaries or threaten your well-being 

When you self-advocate, you are aware of your rights and fight for fair treatment and respect from others. You can teach them self-advocacy by: 

• Giving them communication tools such as “I feel,” “I want,” “I don’t understand,” and “I need help” are all key phrases when self-advocating. Teach your teen that they are all ok to use. 

• Letting them try things on their own. This attitude helps them foster independence, and by asking them questions afterward, you can guide them to evaluate their performance and what they would do the next time differently. 

• Give them responsibilities and keep them accountable. If they learn that they have household duties and that others depend on them, they will understand personal responsibility and how to work in a team. 

Encourage Peer-to-Peer Advocacy 

Peer advocacy encourages teens to look out for each other and themselves. Peer advocacy can look like: 

• Educating teens without autism on the characteristics of autism, what it is, and how their brains are wired differently, making them process the world around them differently

• Teaching them how to spot bullying 

• Enforcing the importance of telling adults 

• The impact of bullying 

• Inclusive language 

• Role-playing "what if" scenarios 

As a parent, you could encourage the school to hold workshops that focus on recognizing and respecting differences and reporting things that look, sound, and feel wrong. 

Know Your Rights 

When left unchecked, bullying can turn from playground teasing into full-on harassment. Nobody deserves to endure harassment, and there are federal and legal protections they can draw on. Bullying becomes discriminatory harassment when based on: 

• Race

• Nationality 

• Color

• Sex (including sexual orientation) 

• Age 

• Disability 

• Religion 

The most extreme cases of harassment are hate crimes. Hate crimes are violent acts or threats of violent acts against a group or groups of people based on specific identifying characteristics. Parents should know that if their student experiences discriminatory behavior on the grounds of disability, there are legal structures in place and they can ask for support.

Draw on Resources 

If your student with autism experiences bullying, harassment, or discriminatory behavior, your school should work with you to stamp it out. StopBullying.gov details the legal and federal obligations that protect students in bullying cases. The situation and behavior must meet three criteria: 

• Be unwelcome and objectively offensive 

• Create a hostile environment 

• Be based on a student's race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or religion 

Upon meeting these three criteria, schools must take action and conduct a swift, detailed, and impartial inquiry to determine the details of the case. Any behavior deemed harassing or discriminatory must be immediately eliminated with prevention measures implemented to prevent reoccurrences. 

Remember, your student's welfare should be your school's number one priority. 

At PS Academy, we focus on the able and look past the label - it’s what your teen deserves. 

If you're looking at options that accommodate the needs of your student with autism, get in touch for a no-strings-attached conversation about the benefits of specialized education today.

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