Survey finds 63% of children with autism bullied

(CBS News) It's no secret that bullying is a big problem in the U.S. among school-aged children. According to a new national survey, it's an especially big problem for children with autism and Asperger's syndrome.

Complete Coverage of Latest Developments in Autism

Researchers from the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore and Johns Hopkins University conducted a survey of 1,200 parents who had a child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and found 63 percent of the kids had been bullied. The researchers also found these children were three times more likely to be bullied than their siblings who do not have autism.

While any child that's bullied can experience significant emotional distress, children with autism may experience "meltdowns" or aggressive outbursts when upset, and the survey found some of the children are being intentionally triggered into such episodes.

The survey was conducted by the Kennedy Krieger Institute's Interactive Autism Network (IAN) - the largest online autism research initiative

"These survey results show the urgent need to increase awareness, influence school policies and provide families and children with effective strategies for dealing with bullying," Dr. Paul Law, director of the IAN Project at the Kennedy Krieger Institute, said in a statement. "We hope that this research will aid efforts to combat bullying by helping parents, policymakers and educators understand the extent of this problem in the autism community and be prepared to intervene."

The survey reported other interesting findings. Sixty-one percent of children with Asperger's are currently being bullied, a rate that almost doubled that of children with other diagnoses on the autism spectrum. Children with autism who attended public schools were 50 percent more likely to be bullied than those in private schools or special education settings.

While bullying occurred at every grade level, it  appeared worse for children with autism between fifth and eighth grade. Forty-two to 49 percent of children with autism in those grades said they were bullied.

One noteworthy finding was children with autism may also become bullies themselves. Twenty percent of surveyed parents said their child with autism had bullied others. Most were "bully-victims," meaning they had also been bullied at some point, the researchers said.

"Unlike victims who are more passive, bully-victims insult their tormentors or otherwise try to fight back in a way that only makes the situation worse," they wrote.

What explains such high rates of bullying among the autism community?

According to the Kennedy Krieger Institute, children with Asperger's may be more prone to bullying because they're often placed in typical classrooms in regular schools. The Institute also said certain behavioral traits including clumsiness, poor hygiene, rigid rule-keeping, talking obsessively about a favorite topic, frequent meltdowns and inflexibility may make children with an autism spectrum disorder more prone to bullying.

Parents were asked if another child, who knows what bothers or upsets their child with an autism spectrum disorder, had ever used that knowledge to trigger a meltdown or aggressive outburst on purpose. Fifty-three percent of parents said "yes." In some cases, bullies got the child to fall apart emotionally. "Often kids try to upset her because they find it funny when she gets upset and cries. She is overly emotional, and they seem to get a kick out of this," one mother shared.

Bullying may peak in fifth and eighth grades because those are often "rule the school" years before children transition to other schools, like middle or high school. Also trying to make friends may backfire. Of children with autism who want to interact with others but have a hard time making friends, 57 percent are bullied, compared to only 25 percent of children who prefer to play alone and 34 percent of children who will play, but only if approached, the survey found.

"To experience teasing, taunts, ostracism or other forms of spite may make a child who was already struggling to cope become completely unable to function," Dr. Law said. He hopes to conduct a similar survey in a peer-reviewed journal to delve deeper into the findings.

Dr. Guillermo Montes, associate professor at the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. School of Education at St. John Fisher College and director of research at the Children's Institute in Rochester N.Y., has published research on bullying among children with autism.

"While the social impairments of a child with autism may trigger bullying incidents, these symptoms never justify bullying or becoming a bully to others," Montes told CBS News in an email. He was not involved in the new study.

Montes thinks a lot of the problems have to do with ineffective anti-bullying policies put in place by schools.

"We swing from institutional neglect - where policies are on the books but hardly enforced - to "zero tolerance" approaches when a severe incident has occurred, and then back again." Montes said. "Neither approach actually teaches children how to behave properly and respect each others' differences. Both the child with ASD and the normally developing peers need to learn how to handle each others' differences and learn what acceptable and unacceptable behavior is."

According to IAN, there is an "urgent need" to increase awareness, influence school polices, and provide families with effective strategies for dealing with bullying.

Approximately one out of 88 children have an autism spectrum disorder, according to the CDC's newest report, which is about a 23 percent increase from previous estimates.

IAN's study on bullying can be found here.

[krisbrayeli]

I am writing this to let you know about a situation involving my 8-year-old son. (Date of birth 2-11-04) We live in Reading MI. My son has been diagnosed with PDD, which is a type of autism. He goes to Jonesville School where they have an EI (Emotionally Impaired) classroom.

On Tuesday March 27th while out to recess there was a slight altercation, which caused Eli to run from the school playground. Upon leaving school premises they called 911. When the police arrived the staff had Eli cornered against a fence. The Chief of Police Officer Brian Corbett wanted to have Eli ride in his police car back to the school. Eli was upset and after "dragging him by his arms and stuffing him in the back of the police car" (These were the words of Officer Corbett) Eli was kicking the cage in the police car with the car doors shut. To calm him down Officer Corbett opened the door and "Whacked Eli's ankle" with his baton and slammed the door. When Eli still would not calm down the Officer "Opened the door and whacked Eli's shin". Officer Corbette informed me that he chose this method because Eli was committing a felony by kicking the cage in the police car and he has a baton, pepper spray and a taser to choose from and hitting someone on the ankle or shin causes a lot of pain but does not injure them. Thank you for only causing my son pain and not injuring him. I guess the bruise that was evident almost immediately was not an injury. They took Eli back to the school and he calmed down. The teacher said that she thought that he could come back to the classroom. So the Officer handcuffed Eli and walked him back to the classroom.

My son was wrong. He should not have left the school nor should he have been aggressive in anyway. However, was the response what it should have been considering his special needs? Do we think we helped the situation or hindered it? Do we believe that a grown man had other options available other then to 'whack' an autistic child?

My questions are this:

How did a special needs child get away from a team of people that are there to keep him safe?

If an 8-year-old is in a car- with a cage in it- is he a danger to anyone or himself- does he deserved to be "Whacked" twice?

If I had hit my son with a stick on his legs I would be arrested for child abuse...why does no one think that this behavior is wrong?

Should an 8 year old special needs child be hit when they are acting out?

Why are we not protecting and serving our innocent children instead of beating them up?

For More information call
This has also been covered by:
WILX
http://www.wilx.com/home/headlines/Autistic_Michigan_Child_Struck_Handcuffed_by_Police_144978935.html
Reporter: Liam Martin
Email Address: [e-mail]

Thank you,

Kristen Kolodie
[phone]
[phone]
[e-mail]

[blumoonchick]

This is true my 15 year old son is on the spectrum (high functioning autism). He not only got bullied by the kids but a teacher too. The kids started after the teacher bullied him in class. He reported it to this same teacher and other teachers plus the couselor no one done anything to stop it. PLus I brought it to their attention that he mentioned suicide again and three days after i went to the school and told them not to leave him alone uder any cirmcumstance this teacher kicked him out of her class for " thumping" which is caused by his autism. She not only kicked him ouit but she placed him in the hall way alone. Oh theres more to this story, when I got word of what was occuring at school. I called a meeting I fond out about the kids bullying him first. Then i was informed by another student about the teacher also doing it ( behind his back during class). I call the meeting and myself, my fiance, two otehr teachers including the spceial eudcation teacher and the princiapl were all present at this meeting. She first denied bullying my son( saying thats how I play with my students) I tried to explain to her you cant act like that with him, then in the next breath admitted to it. her exact words were yes i do that to him but its normally when i cant get get him to raise his head up.I'm not going to lie when she made that comment to me I came up out of that seat yes i was going after her. The principal came up placed his arm in front of my stomache called my name and said lets all handle this liek adults. I siad oh i will . Then i said shouldnt she be terminated suspended or something? She just admitted to bullying my son. My son who is a psecial needs child. He acted like he didnt hear me. So I todl her, if you even as much look at my son wrong again, ill be waiting on you in the parking lot after school and one of us will be toting a but whoopin. She asked if I was threatening her. I said nope I'm making you a promise. wasnt long after they placed my son in AEP( off the campus of that particular school) yet again and she failed him the rest of the school year.He has been homebound since sept 16 and he has only had one melt down. This was just what he endured last school year not including what he has endured this year at the 8th grade school. Currently my son is being homebound schooled doctors orders because the stress he was placed under in the school and being mainstreamed in the regular classroom environment he couldnt take it emotionally.

[shawanye]

Im so sorry for what you and your son have gone threw.Im very afraid for my son.He is entering fifth grade next year.People really seem to accept others who are different.SO sad.

[Autismum]

Tragically, this isn't just a problem in the USA
http://autismum.com/2011/12/05/what-to-post/

[mswolfestock]

Bullying will never go away as long as school boards are made up of politically correct spineless cowards. The parents of the bullies should be held accountable, as well. But I don't see that happening either because they can't even hold the parents responsible for truancy and other behavior-related issues.

[Snowballsolarsystem]

CDC: 78% increase in autism rates since 2002

If we're looking for changes in this time frame, perhaps we ought to examine the secret surveillance program rolled out in 1999 for tracking sex offenders by scanning pedestrians from aircraft using Synthetic Aperture Radar (weather radar pointed at the ground for scanning pedestrians) and acoustic imaging.

Perhaps either the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) microwaves or the acoustic camera ultrasonics are damaging to neural development of toddlers.

Commercial passenger airliners scan pedestrians and the media is complicit which is why this comment will likely be removed.

[Snowballsolarsystem]

CDC: 78% increase in autism rates since 2002

If we're looking for changes in this time frame, perhaps we ought to examine the secret surveillance program rolled out in 1999 for tracking sex offenders by scanning pedestrians from aircraft using Synthetic Aperture Radar (weather radar pointed at the ground for scanning pedestrians) and acoustic imaging.

Perhaps either the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) microwaves or the acoustic camera ultrasonics are damaging to neural development of toddlers.

Commercial passenger airliners scan pedestrians and the media is complicit which is why this comment will likely be removed.

[Milshaw]

It's pathetic when parents are bullies too. Read more here: http://missingpieceofthepuzzle.blogspot.com/2012/03/hate-threats-violence-facebook-folly.html

[mflskdlu]

Forget tougher punishments and hiring more police for schools. The solution to crime and violence is in your lunchroom. http://www.alternet.org/environment/25122/?comments=view&cID=35161&pID=34156 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKr4HZ7ukSE