Preventing Bullying Students with Special Needs in High Schools

The student with a disability is sad and isolated himself after being bullied in school.

According to Stomp Out Bullying, “When assessing specific types of disabilities, prevalence rates differ: 35.3% of students with behavioral and emotional disorders, 33.9% of students with autism, 24.3% of students with intellectual disabilities, 20.8% of students with health impairments, and 19% of students with specific learning disabilities face high levels of bullying victimization.” This is a shocking statistic that shows how much this affects students' everyday lives that a lot of people don’t see or notice. 

This is a huge problem that a lot of students with special needs face every day while they are walking the halls of their school. They feel they do not belong and tend to isolate themselves because they don’t feel that people will be friends with them for who they are. When many students get bullied it affects their mental and physical health which causes them to hurt and not feel welcome. A lot of students, sadly, become depressed because of what they have to go through every day at school. It's becoming a struggle in all high schools. We want every student to feel cared for in schools and we need to make a change. Together we can prevent the bullying of students with special needs by discussing it more in schools and creating a buddy or support system in high schools in the U.S.  

To help suppress the bullying of students with special needs in high schools we must start talking about it more in schools and holding prevention programs to help students understand the harm it can cause. Studies from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia have revealed, “Structured bullying prevention programs have been shown to decrease bullying by up to 25 percent in schools that provide them.” 

Discussing this topic more in schools helps to bring it to the light of others and it reveals how negatively it can impact a person. Students learn from these programs and know-how to help each other if they do see bullying occurring. This is very beneficial because they grow and understand how much of an impact, they can make by being friends and kind to students with special needs. It also raises awareness of why everyone is different and shows how to encourage others instead of bringing them down.

Chad Rose shares, “Regardless of ability, bullying prevention, and intervention programming needs to target ALL students.” All students need to understand the importance of not bullying others in the school to help prevent it so these programs must be directed at all and presented to every student and not just certain ones to make the biggest difference. 

Also having a support/buddy system in place in high schools would be very beneficial when preventing bullying. This would allow students with special needs to have a group of their peers around them who support and will be there for them whenever they need it. 

In Stop Bullying, it gives a few examples of this peer support. One of them states, “One high school created a weekly lunch program where students with and without special healthcare needs sat and ate lunch together. Several senior students led the group and invited their friends to join. All kinds of students participated. The students got to know each other through question-and-answer periods and discussions over lunch. They discovered things they had in common and formed friendships. A group of them went to the prom together.” 

This peer support group that they have is very good and supports positive relationships between students with special needs and their classmates. As these groups get to know each other they learn more about their differences and also what they have in common. In the end, this helps them respect each other and become friends. This can also be very beneficial because students with special needs who are with others are less likely to be bullied since they are with a friend who can stick up for them. 

Many people may say that you can’t create a system where a student with special needs can have a buddy or peer with them all the time during the school day, especially in high schools. However, you can if you put thought into what students will get to know their peers, respect them, and be friends. You can find a student that is responsible in their classes to stay around them and give them space but also be there to be their friend and encourage them. You can also get teachers or staff to be around them if they need to have a closer watch and for the students that need extra help with their bullying situation.

Some people also may argue that these techniques won’t prevent the bullying situations in high schools because some people don’t care if others are around or what people have to say about it. But I believe that these techniques will create a positive difference because students don’t want to get caught doing something that is against rules, and they don’t want to get in trouble. Also, when they hear the negative outlooks of bullying, they will understand what they should not do which will make a difference. 

In the U.S. too many students are being bullied for having special needs. This is something they can’t control, and they shouldn’t be bullied. In high schools, we must begin discussing this topic more by holding programs about it and creating a buddy/peer support system for them to help prevent this from happening as often as it does today. Preventing the bullying of students with special needs is an important idea that we must take action to. We need to stand up and make a change for these students who are unable to do it themselves.