Teasing and bullying
By Cherry Hughes, BSA Education Officer

Children who stammer may be bullied because they appear different to other children. Make sure that your child knows to always 'tell' on the bullies!

Parents can be confident nowadays that if they - or any other responsible adult, or any child - report bullying, the report must be taken seriously by all schools and other education settings such as playgroups, childminders and nurseries. Always encourage your child to tell you of any problems at school so that you can contact the school and nip problems in the bud. Be alert to changes in behaviour or normal routines and chat with your child to find out what is going on. Take action, even if the bullying is at a low level, such as name-calling about his speech, as this can quickly get out of hand and lead to a child being marginalised and a victim for more serious bullying.

Bullying policy

'Be alert to changes in behaviour or normal routines and chat with your child to find out what is going on.'

The Government requires all education settings to have a bullying policy available to you. Ideally, the policy should state that everyone should 'tell' on the bullies and that bullying includes every type of verbal and physical harassment. Nowadays there are approaches that use systems that are based on a 'no blame' approach for the bully. You need to be certain that you are happy with this attitude when you choose a nursery or school which has adopted it. It can go badly wrong, and if followed may leave your child with a sense of injustice or even fear.

Sometimes children are bullied just because they are different and this can occur with children who stammer. If your child is bullied in a situation where he has not deliberately upset another child, then no fault must be laid at his door. It is clearly the fault of the bully and that must be the starting point for the intervention. When you express concern that your child's stammer is being mocked or worse, the practitioner (e.g. the teacher) should respond immediately and be clear that the problem lies with the bullies.

A policy that does blame the bully, and has procedures for punishment followed by strategies for monitoring behaviour so that the bullying does not occur again, is more likely to leave your child feeling supported. After the bully has responded to these strategies, then you may consider supporting a coming together of the children and a plan to help them build a relationship.

Your rights as a parent

Remember that as a parent you have the right to expect that staff respond to your concerns about an incident and implement action to deal with them. If this does not happen insist on talking to the Head of the school or nursery.

Prepare some dated notes of incidents and reactions by staff to support your case. If you need to more formally pursue a complaint, make sure that you put your concerns in writing and request a formal reply. It should always be possible for a bullying incident to be resolved within the setting. However, if you feel you need further support contact your local Parent Partnership service through your local authority or at www.parentpartnership.org.uk. This free service is independent and available in every area for support, advice and if necessary advocacy of your case.

In the very rare case where pupils are involved in serious and frightening bullying of your child that the school has failed to prevent, you do have the option as a last resort of contacting the police. It is usually at secondary school level that such a step may need to be taken, as bullying at this stage has occasionally been known to have overtones of criminal behaviour

The following websites provide detailed information on bullying:

Bullying UK (formerly Bullying Online): Charity providing an email advice service for children and young people as well as lots of online help and information, for schools as well as pupils. www.bullying.co.uk

ChildLine: Provides a 24 hour telephone helpline for children and young people. Website features help and advice on bullying. www.childline.org.uk

Kidscape: Charity committed to preventing bullying and child sexual abuse. Produces resources, offers training, provides a helpline and carries out research. www.kidscape.org.uk

Cherry can be contacted by phone or email - see Cherry's contact details.

From the Summer 2009 issue of Speaking Out, page 10.