Home Relationships and Bullying

            Today I will continue my examination of Maria el Mar Badia Martin’s academic journal article, “The causes and nature of bullying and social exclusion in schools”. On this occasion I will highlight and discuss some bullying “research findings” found within the article. First I will discuss research studies that focus on bullying victims and their relationships with their siblings. Afterwards, I will discuss research studies that focus on the relationship between bullying that occurs at home, and bullying that occurs at school.

1)                  A research study conducted by Louise Bowers, Peter K. Smith, and Valerie Binney found that “bullies at school […] reported negative relationships with their siblings, whom they viewed as more powerful than themselves.” On the other hand, “victims of bullying reported often positive, even enmeshed, relationships with their siblings”.

This research finding is interesting, because one would think that children who have good social relationships with their siblings would have an easier time forming and managing their relationships with their peers. However, this is not the case. Instead, the study seems to suggest that seemingly perfect sibling relationships are actually handicapping some children. Perhaps, these children are unaccustomed in dealing with adversity, and thus are more vulnerable to become victims of school bullying.

2)               In another study conducted by Renae D. Duncan, it was found that out of 375 seventh and eighth graders, 22% reported that they were “often hit or pushed around by their siblings”, 8.1% reported that they were “often beaten by a sibling”, and 40% “admitted to bullying their brothers or sisters”. In addition, Duncan’s study revealed that children who identified themselves as bully/victims at school “were also most frequently involved in bullying behavior at home.” In fact, “60% of peer bully/victims reported being bullied by their brothers or sisters.”

The aforementioned research findings are interesting because they suggest that bullying behaviors do not necessarily originate at school. In fact, Duncan’s study suggests that on several occasions the relationships between bullies and their victims are not direct, that is, there are no seemingly logical reasons to explain the bullying behaviors. Instead, school bullying sometimes seems to be a form of mimicking or retaliating the bullying that occurs at home.

When all the aforementioned research findings are taken in account, they seem to suggest that there is a connection between bullying and home social relationships. Perhaps, home relationships are areas that should be focused on when designing a plan to reduce bullying. Overall, it seems that parents are failing to notice and address the bullying that is occurring within their homes.

How Can Autism be Treated?

Each child or adult with autism is unique and, so, each autism intervention plan should be tailored to address specific needs.

Intervention can involve behavioral treatments, medicines or both. Many persons with autism have additional medical conditions such as sleep disturbance, seizures and gastrointestinal (GI) distress. Addressing these conditions can improve attention, learning and related behaviors. 

Early intensive behavioral intervention involves a child's entire family, working closely with a team of professionals. In some early intervention programs, therapists come into the home to deliver services. This can include parent training with the parent leading therapy sessions under the supervision of the therapist. Other programs deliver therapy in a specialized center, classroom or preschool.

Typically, different interventions and supports become appropriate as a child develops and acquires social and learning skills. As children with autism enter school, for example, they may benefit from targeted social skills training and specialized approaches to teaching.

Adolescents with autism can benefit from transition services that promote a successful maturation into independence and employment opportunities of adulthood. 

After deciding to do my research on the growing number of homicides in rural cities such as mines which is Paterson, I was still undecided if I would stick to this topic but after doing my proposal I think that this is a topic in which I may very much stick to. It's just something about the fact that we are killing each other and that our peers and youth are dying younger and younger. Not only that but also the fact that so many people can now say that they were shot including myself in which I would hope that we can definitely change this not now but right now

The Three Categories of Bullying and A Brief Introduction to Cyber-Bullying

          As a continuation of the previous blog I will highlight some key statements made by Maria el Mar Badia Martin in her article “The causes and nature of bullying and social exclusion in schools”. First, I will focus on the three categories of bullying presented within the article. Afterwards, I will briefly discuss some points made by Badia Martin on “cyber-bullying”. In order to clarify some points made by Badia Martin I have included some definitions provided by “Stopbullying.gov”.

The Three Categories of Bullying

Bullying can be separated into three categories: 1) Physical Bullying 2) Verbal Bullying 3) Relational Bullying

•  According to “Stopbullying.gov”: (http://www.stopbullying.gov/what-is-bullying/definition/)
•  Physical Bullying– “involves hurting a person’s body or possessions.” Examples of physical bullying include: “hitting, kicking, pinching, spitting, tripping, pushing, taking or breaking someone’s [possessions], and making mean or rude hand gestures.”
• Verbal Bullying – involves “saying or writing mean things.” Examples of verbal bullying include: “teasing, name-calling, inappropriate sexual comments, taunting, and threatening to cause harm.”
• Relational Bullying – “involves hurting someone’s reputation or relationships”. Relational bullying is also referred to as social bullying. Examples of relational bullying include: “leaving some out on purpose, telling other [people] not to be friends with someone, spreading rumors about someone, and embarrassing someone in public.”

Brief Introduction and Overview on Cyber-Bullying

·         School bullying no longer requires a physical presence. For example, bullying can be done through the use of cell phones and computers. As a result, there has been the creation of a new term, known as cyber bullying.

• According to “Stopbullying.gov”: “cyber-bullying is bullying that takes place using electronic technology”. 
•  “Electronic technology includes devices and equipment such as cell phones, computers, and tablets as well as communication tools including social media sites, text messages, chat, and websites.”
• “Examples of cyber-bullying include mean text messages or emails, rumors sent by email or posted on social networking sites, and embarrassing pictures, videos, websites, or fake profiles.”

• Cyber bullies use “the anonymity of the internet to mete out pain without witnessing the consequences.” 
• Schools and parents often ignore the problem of cyber-bullying because they focus on problems that physically occur within school, while remaining ignorant to what occurs online and on social media. 
• Many bully victims do not report their cyber-bullying incidents because they “fear they’ll be barred from using the internet.”
• A suggestion to prevent cyber-bullying is to “be very careful about who you give your mobile phone number [and account information for locating you on the internet].”
•  The text suggests that if you get a message from a bully via the computer or mobile device, “save the message and take a note of the time and date for use as evidence.”

How Common is Autism? and some quick facts

Autism statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identify around 1 in 88 American children as on the autism spectrum–a ten-fold increase in prevalence in 40 years. Careful research shows that this increase is only partly explained by improved diagnosis and awareness. Studies also show that autism is four to five times more common among boys than girls. An estimated 1 out of 54 boys and 1 in 252 girls are diagnosed with autism in the United States.

ASD affects over 2 million individuals in the U.S. and tens of millions worldwide. Moreover, government autism statistics suggest that prevalence rates have increased 10 to 17 percent annually in recent years. There is no established explanation for this continuing increase, although improved diagnosis and environmental influences are two reasons often considered.

Did you know ...

• Autism now affects 1 in 88 children and 1 in 54 boys
• Autism prevalence figures are growing
• Autism is the fastest-growing serious developmental disability in the U.S.
• Autism costs a family $60,000 a year on average
• Autism receives less than 5% of the research funding of many less prevalent childhood diseases
• Boys are nearly five times more likely than girls to have autism
• There is no medical detection or cure for autism

Information from autismspeaks.org 

Paper Topic: School Bullying

            As I browsed the internet and conducted some research in order to narrow down my paper topic I made an important realization. I was aware that “school violence” is a very broad topic. However, I did not realize that the subgroups under school violence, such as: bullying, cyber-bulling, hate crimes, gang-related crimes, sexual harassment/assault, verbal abuse, and school shootings, are also very broad categories within themselves. As a result, I have decided to focus only on school bullying. Then if time permits I will try to make some connections with other types of school violence.  Within my paper I will focus on the causes of bullying, the effects of bullying, and possible intervention strategies for bullying.

            “The causes and nature of bullying and social exclusion in schools”, by Maria el Mar Badia Martin, was the article that made me realize how broad “school bullying” is as a topic. As Badia Martin states, “bullying is not easy to define.” Hitting, kicking, teasing, threatening, discriminating, marginalizing, assaulting, abusing, and taunting are just some of the actions that fall under the category of bullying. However, what all bullying situations seem to share in common is a victim. Badia Martin points out that the effects caused upon the victim by bullying should not be underestimated, especially in terms of fear instilled upon the victim. Where there is a victim, there is usually a perpetrator. In the case of bullying, the amount of perpetrators can vary from a single person to a large group of people. As can be seen, many different things must be taken into account when analyzing bullying. Without a doubt “school bullying” is a rich topic and much more is left to be discussed.   During the upcoming blogs I will review more articles and journals, and will present key and interesting facts, including more facts from Badia Martin’s aforementioned article.

What is Autism?

I have come to find that many people have heard of Autism but may not necessarily know what it really is. According to autismspeaks.org Autism is explained as followed:

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and autism are both general terms for a group of complex disorders of brain development. These disorders are characterized, in varying degrees, by difficulties in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication and repetitive behaviors. With the May 2013 publication of the DSM-5 diagnostic manual, all autism disorders were merged into one umbrella diagnosis of ASD. Previously, they were recognized as distinct subtypes, including autistic disorder, childhood disintegrative disorder, pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) and Asperger syndrome. 

ASD can be associated with intellectual disability, difficulties in motor coordination and attention and physical health issues such as sleep and gastrointestinal disturbances. Some persons with ASD excel in visual skills, music, math and art. Autism appears to have its roots in very early brain development. However, the most obvious signs of autism and symptoms of autism tend to emerge between 2 and 3 years of age. 

Autism Speaks continues to fund research on effective methods for earlier diagnosis, as early intervention with proven behavioral therapies can improve outcomes. Increasing autism awareness is a key aspect of this work and one in which our families and volunteers play an invaluable role.