Bully Prevention Plan for Autism Spectrum Children

How to help autism spectrum children with bullying and teasing. Barbara Lester, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, describes a plan for high functioning autism spectrum children (or those with similar social cognitive needs) to follow when there is a teasing or bullying incident. First, she describes how to explain to children the difference between what someone is thinking and what they say or do, using a white board, in order to help the children understand why the bullying is occurring, in part so they understand that it is not their fault, even if they have made a social mistake of some kind. Then she describes a 5 step plan with a visual support for responding to a teasing or bullying attempt: to look at the person, hold up your hand like a stop sign, say "please stop" in a clear firm voice, walk away, and then tell a trusted adult. She explains the role of the trusted adult, which is to determine if adult involvement is needed to stop potential reoccurrence. She also talks about rehearsing this and coaching the child to use the skill in different situations rather than doing it for them, unless it is a situation where an adult needs to intervene. She also describes how to use planned ignoring for low level teasing or bullying. This video is geared towards intervening in real teasing or bullying situations when the intent is not friendly. In another video, she describes how to intervene with the intention is friendly, and the autism spectrum child is misperceiving the intent as unfriendly (goo.gl/BsnLO).
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