CONTENTS

About This Course

Table of Contents

1. School Bullying: What It Is and Why It Hurts
2. The Role of Bullies, Victims, and Witnesses
3. Factors Contributing to Bullying and Violence
4. Screening and Assessment
5. Treatment For Children and Adolescents
6. Prevention and Intervention
7. Legal and Ethical Issues

Supplements
Case Studies
Fact Sheets
References
Resources

The ABCs of Bullying
Addressing, Blocking, and Curbing School Aggression

Myths and Facts

Myth: Children who bully are loners.

This myth has been proven wrong by research that shows bullies tend to have a following of peers who approve of their behavior or at least go along with it.ref

Myth: "Sticks and stones may break your bones, but names can never hurt you."

As any professional knows, this childhood nursery rhyme is not true. Verbal and emotional bullying, both direct and indirect, does hurt children. Physical bullying is easier to recognize.ref A more realistic rhyme is "sticks and stones can break your bones but words can break your heart."ref

Fact: All children can get bullied, even if they look "normal."

All children can potentially be victims regardless of how "normal" or different they may seem. As an earlier section pointed out, the reasons why a child may become a victim of bullying are endless. That doesn't mean children who are "different" do not get bullied. They do. ref

Fact: Most adults think bullying is the same as normal peer conflict.

Bullying can often be difficult to discern from rough play or normal conflict. A study on the ability of lunchtime supervisors to distinguish students' play fighting from true aggression found that supervisors were more likely to mistake aggression for play than the reverse.ref

Myth: Only a small number of children are affected by bullying.

Just about every student in a school may be affected by bullying, either as a victim, the bully him/herself, or as a witness. As bystanders, students are often confused and fear for their own safety. A conservative estimate is that 10 percent of students are chronic victims of bullying.ref

Fact: Parents can help prevent bullying by becoming involved in their child's schooling.

Many adults don't know about bullying, either with their own children or in the schools. Many parents are not aware of what goes on in their child's school. Many students believe adults will not intervene even if they do report the bullying.ref

Myth: Bullying happens mostly in plain sight of others.

Most bullying behavior occurs out of the sight of any adult, so adults need the cooperation of students to alert them to the behavior. Students need to know that the adults will take swift and appropriate action in their defense.ref