University of North Alabama UNA Scholarly Repository
Sociology and Family Studies Master's Theses Department of Sociology and Family Studies
Spring 2016
The Effects of Bullying on Special Needs Individuals and Their Families: A Needs Assessment of a Southern Community to Promote Growth, Awareness, and Community Response
Emma Y. Hazlewood University of North Alabama, [email protected]
Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.una.edu/sfsmt
Recommended Citation Hazlewood, E. Y. (2016). The Effects of Bullying on Special Needs Individuals and Their Families: A Needs Assessment of a Southern Community to Promote Growth, Awareness, and Community Response. Retrieved from https://ir.una.edu/sfsmt/5
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The Effects of Bullying on Special Needs Individuals and Their Families: A Needs
Assessment of a Southern Community to Promote Growth, Awareness, and Community
Response
By
Emma Y. Hazlewood, CFLE Provisional
A.A., Gadsden State Community College, 2012 B.S., University of North Alabama, 2014
A THESIS
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree
MASTER OF SCIENCE
Department of Sociology and Family Studies College of Arts and Sciences
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH ALABAMA Florence, Alabama
2016
Approved by:
Abstract
Research on bullying has increased in the last decade; however, this research rarely focuses on bullying of special needs children and the effect it has on families. This study adds to the existing literature by addressing how bullying affects the special needs population in a southern community. In considering the unique caregiving challenges that special needs families experience, this research examines whether bullying brings added stress to families and caregivers and whether they believe the community can bring awareness, growth, and a sense of belonging to their children and families. Parents or caregivers attending a local rehabilitation center completed a survey regarding their children’s experiences with bullying. Findings suggest that parents and caregivers of children of all ages are susceptible to bullying. Bullying affects families, the child, and the caregiver bringing added stress, which affects all age groups. Further, respondents indicated that they believed communities could offer more social interaction and awareness outside of the school settings.
Table of Contents
List of Tables……..………………………………………………………………………iv
Acknowledgements.………………………………………………………………………v
Dedication……………………………………………………………………………..…vi
I. INTRODUCTION…………………………..…………………………………………1
II. LITERATURE REVIEW...... ……………..……………………………………………1
III. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK………………………………………………...... …8
IV. RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESES……...……………………………9
V. DATA AND METHODS……………………………………………………………..10
VI. RESULTS……………………………………………………………………………16
VII. DISCUSSION………………………………………………………………………24
VIII. CONCLUSION………………………………………………………….…………29
Appendix A. Table 1. Descriptive Statistics of the Parents and/or Caregivers……...... 32
Appendix B. Example of Survey………………………………………….……………..34
REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………..39
List of Tables
Table 1: Descriptive Statistics of the Parents and/or Caregivers who completed the Survey (in Appendix A) ………………………………………………………..….……32
Table 2: Descriptive Statistics of the Special Needs Individuals……………………...... 12
Table 3: Descriptive Statistics of the Frequency of Bullied Special Needs Individuals by both peers and teachers/aides/adults reported by parents and caregivers………………..14
Table 4: Descriptive Statistics of the Type of Bullying Parents and Caregivers Report have Happened to their Special Needs Child(ren)……………………………………….14
Table 5: Average mean of added stress for caregivers, family and child by age……….15
Table 6: One Way ANOVA of Special Needs Individuals (Child 1) Bullied by a Peer..17
Table 7: One Way ANOVA of Special Needs Individuals (Child 1) Bullied by a teacher/aide/adult………………………………………………………………………...17
Table 8: One Way ANOVA of Stress on Parents/Caregivers from bullying of a special needs individual (Child 1)………………………………………………………………..18
Table 9: One Way ANOVA of Stress on the family from bullying of a special needs individual (Child 1)………………………………………………………………………19
Table 10: One Way ANOVA of Stress on the special needs individual from bullying (Child 1)………………………………………………………………………………….19
Table 11: ANOVA – Do you believe that your community encourages and acceptances of disabilities?...... 20
Table 12: ANOVA – Do you believe that your community is offering the services your child needs for social interactions outside of school?...... 21
Table 13: If you community offered the following resources, would you, your family, or special needs child participate?...... 23
iv
Acknowledgements
I would like to take a moment to thank several people for making this study possible. First of all, Dr. Amber Paulk for seeing me from the beginning stages of this idea as an undergraduate until completion. Dr. Andrea Hunt, my advisor and patient guide through the process of pushing through this process. Dr. Yaschica Williams, who rounded out my committee and for offering much needed input. All of these professors help to make up an impressive part of the University of North Alabama Sociology and
Family Studies Program, and without them, I would not be where I am today in academics and profession.
I would also like to thank the staff of the Family Success Center, the United Way,
Success by Six, Children’s Rehabilitation Services, United Cerebral Palsy and the
Children’s Policy Council all of Etowah County for my constant nagging and help with the research. Also a thank you must go out to those families of a League of Our Own
Baseball in Oxford, Alabama for allowing me to pick your brains.
To my family and friends who saw me through this whole thing from beginning to end and helped to be my cheerleaders or just knew that I could do it: Will, Jonathan, Bart,
Adam, Robin, Robbie, Judy, G.W., Jessica and all of the others whom I am forgetting. I thank you all. Your love and support from my first talks of going back to school until the completion of this thesis has shown me that with the right people in your life, anything is possible.
v
Dedications
This paper is dedicated to William and Jonathan Hazlewood. My two special needs teenagers who keep me on my toes. Without them, my life would be empty. They always have a smile, just for me. They are my true heroes in every sense of the word.
Also to my mother, Hilda Goode, whom I lost in 2008 before she ever got to see me walk across a stage and accept a degree but knew I could make it far. To my father,
Rick Goode, whom I lost in 2015. I hate that he was unable to see me finish the job but am so glad that I was there with him until the end. To my niece Hannah Beech, who taught me how much resiliency young people with disabilities have and inspired me every day with my own journey, even though she had no idea. My great niece and nephew, Charlee and Noah Beech, who also inspire me with their strength. Also my brother Tim, who faces great odds and does it with a quick joke and laughter. I am amazed at the strength of all of my family members who face a special need.
To my partner in life, Bart Clapp, for standing by me and showing me that it was okay to push forward, even if I felt like a failure. To Robin Klemm and Adam Hyde for helping keep me sane and never letting me or the boys fall.
Finally, I’d like to dedicate this whole thing to the special needs children and young adults and their families who helped with the study and all others who have gone through the terrible experience of bullying. Please know that you are not alone. This was a personal project for me for many reasons. Continue to stand tall, push forward and be the voice and advocate for your child, for your families and yourselves. Your story may be the one that changes the world. vi
1
I. INTRODUCTION
According to the National Center for Educational Statistics (2013), 1 in 3 students have been bullied in their lifetime. This data focuses on students as a whole and does not indicate whether special needs children are included in this statistic. There is little research on bullying of special needs children, despite the fact that statistics show that these children are more likely than other children to be bullied (Marshall, Kendall, Banks,
& Gover, 2009). Bullying not only affects the child, but can also bring added stress to families and caregivers (Jones, 2012). This is especially salient for families with special needs children who experience unique caregiving demands that combined with bullying can result in added pain, grief, and guilt (Contact a Family, 2012). The current research examines bullying of special needs children and the added stress to families within a southern community and connects this to larger national patterns in bullying.
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
While there is little research on bullying of special needs children conducted in the United States, scholars in the United Kingdom have been very active in disability studies due to national policies. For instance, the United Nations Committee on the
Rights of the Child (UNCRC) set forth standards in the UK stating that children with special needs have the legal right to be safe and have resources to ensure a happy and independent life to the best of their ability. However, despite the information provided and set forth by the UNCRC, this is not always a reality. Mencap’s (2007) findings support this by showing that 7 out of 10 children and young people with a learning
disability in his sample of 507 experienced verbal bullying. These children not only felt
excluded, talked about, picked on, but also experienced physical bullying.
In the United Kingdom, Musil et al. (2014) found that the majority bullied in their
sample had special needs such as: ADHD, Tourette’s, autism, and Asperger’s Syndrome.
Similar to Musil et al. (2014), Sterzing et al. (2012) offered a similar study where most children had been diagnosed with autism. This study reported that 46.3% of the students in the study had suffered from some sort of bullying. Nine-hundred children were
studied and those between the grades of 5th and 8th grade reported the most amount of
bullying and children with autism were more often repeat victims. This begs the question,
are the children between these ages more likely to report bullying than the younger
children? Is it possible that the younger children in this study were unaware that they
were being bullied in the first place?
Black, Lund, Zhou, Kwan, and Benz (2012) analyzed the rate of bullying within
the students with a disability in certain elementary, middle, and high schools. Their
primary focus was on whether these children were likely to be repeat victims. Through
analyzing both the Special Education Elementary Longitudinal Study (SEELS) and the
National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2), they discovered that the children
who were most often being victimized were those children with ADHD, Tourette’s,
autism, and Asperger’s Syndrome.
Little (2002) surveyed middle-class mothers through surveys to parents who had signed up for different internet sites for children with Asperger’s. Ninety-four percent of the children studied were reported to be victims of some sort of bullying by their peers. 2
Many of the children had been physically assaulted while at least 75% had been
“emotionally bullied” (Little, 2002). Several studies show that in regards to elementary and middle school levels, children with autism were more often repeat victims of bullying
(Black et al., 2012; Sterzing et al., 2012). A common finding in most research is that children with autism suffer from physical, verbal, and emotional bullying as well as severe isolation (Black et al., 2012; Little, 2002; Mencap, 2007; Mepham, 2010; Sterzing et al., 2012)All of these studies have a common trend in that similar diagnosis increases the likelihood of those children becoming victims of bullying. What does not seem to be addressed however, is whether these children understood the term bullying or were aware that they were being bullied. Though not much research has been done, the majority of previous studies focus on children with a form of autism or those children who are severely disabled.
Bullying Children with Forms of Autism
Autism is a “neurodevelopmental disorder” that makes it difficult for one to communicate or relate to others (Woodgate et al., 2008). Astor et al. (2004) report that children with autism are often left to feel isolated due to the disorder itself, but also to the social bullying and rejection from their peers because they are different. The communication barriers included limited speech, being nonverbal, and an inability to understand or interpret social cues, which can make children with autism more vulnerable to being bullied. In addition to communication issues, children with autism also struggle with behavioral outbursts that can make them a target (Gray, 2004). Their interests, repetitive behaviors (Carrington & Graham, 2001) and inability to interpret “non-literal 3
languages” such as jokes (Bishop et al., 2008; Hebron & Humphrey, 2014) also makes them a target for teasing and mockery.
In addition, Cassidy (2015) suggests that there are high numbers of children with autism and Asperger’s Syndrome who fall victim to what is coined as “mate crime.”
Mepham (2010) describes this term as children with cognitive or learning disabilities and those with Autism can be manipulated into partaking in inappropriate activities under the pretense that their “friends” are encouraging them to. Mencap, a charity in the UK that specializes in learning disabilities, offered a study in 2007 which also confirms that children with disabilities, including learning disabilities and forms of autism, are often times “easy targets” and that most people are unaware of the amount of long term damage that can come from bullying these children.
Severe and Profound Disabilities (ex. Cerebral Palsy)
According to the Cerebral Palsy Alliance (2015), cerebral palsy is disorder that not only affects posture, but it is also a general diagnosis that refers to a group of different disorders that can hinder one’s movement. It can affect one’s muscle tone, posture and balance. At times, those who have been diagnosed with cerebral palsy may also suffer vision issues, cognitive impairment, learning disabilities, seizure disorders, and speech and hearing issues. It is often times referred to as a severe and profound disability.
Frederickson’s (2010) research demonstrates that children who have more severe and profound disabilities are less likely to be bullied in school while other studies have found that this is not always the case. Olweus’ (1994) findings show that children with 4
visible physical disabilities, such as cerebral palsy and even Down syndrome, are more likely to be called names and excluded from social activities. Dawkins (1996) confirmed in her study using Olweus self-report questionnaire that those with physical disabilities like cerebral palsy were twice as likely to be bullied.
Lindsay and McPherson (2012) explored how children with cerebral palsy are
verbally and physically bullied at school, not only by peers but also by teachers. Often
times, the children are even physically and socially isolated from other children, making
it nearly impossible to make friends. They also discussed examples of children who were
unable to express how they were being bullied, citing times where certain students had
their communication devices turned off. Other children who were unable to communicate
in traditional terms were left isolated from others with no interaction with anyone
(Lindsay & McPherson, 2012)
Bullying by Adults and Teachers
In addition to an increased likelihood of being bullied by their peers, children with
special needs are more likely to be bullied by adults and teachers as well. Recent
accounts of bullying have been highlighted in the media by journalists. For example,
Stump (2011) relays the story of a 14 year old girl who had been bullied by her teacher
and an aide in the classroom, calling her names and repeatedly asking if she was “dumb.”
Another teacher was caught on someone’s camera phone, openly insulting a special needs
student by drawing a cartoon face with oversized eyes and buck teeth and writing
something derogatory next to the cartoon for the whole class to see. The student, a high
school aged child, was completely humiliated and brought to tears. 5
Hartly, Bauman, Nixon, and Davis (2014) in a study of self-reported victimization
found more verbal bullying from adults and teachers in special education classes than
classes in general education. Findings suggest that children/teens find it difficult to talk
about the physical bullying they endured from adults due to embarrassment and shame
which can lead to fear, depression, and low self-esteem (Lindsey & McPherson, 2012;
Musil et al., 2014). Further, some children may not be able to communicate these issues at all, which means that many cases of bullying often go unreported.
Bullying from adults is particularly detrimental for children with severe and profound special needs who may lose skills that they had once acquired through neglect from an adult or teacher (Lindsay & McPherson, 2012). For example, Lindsey and
McPherson (2012) describe how a child who at one time could use the bathroom with assistance lost that ability upon being in the school system. This was attributed to the impatience, inconsistency, and lack of concern of teachers. Twemlow and Fonagy (2005) report that children with autism or those students who may have behavioral problems may suffer from more outbursts when being bullied by a teacher.
In a study by Cohn and Cantor (2002), nearly 25% of teachers saw little wrong
with bullying and rarely stepped in to prevent incidents or to stop bullying. Mullin-
Rindler (2003) reports that 30% of their surveyed students believe that the adults in their schools did nothing to help bullying. Mepham (2010) offers several examples of how students felt that their teachers were not receptive and/or helpful when told about the bullying that had taken place leaving the victims to often times feel rejected by their own teachers. 6
The Effects of Bullying on the Family
There is little research on the overall feelings and experiences of families who
have special needs children who are bullied. Little and Clark (2006) conducted a study on
some of the worries of raising a child with special needs, more specifically Asperger’s
Syndrome. The parents were concerned for their children’s safety in both school settings
and as their children grow older. In addition to safety concerns, parents also worried
about whether their child’s disability is considered a burden by some teachers (Lindsay &
McPherson, 2012). This concern is not without warrant.
Families often feel helpless and strained under the pressure of the caregiving for a
child with disabilities and the bullying these children often experience in school (Lindsay
& McPherson, 2012). Weiss et al. (2015) suggests that the added stress from a child’s
bullying, especially in the case of children with autism, can make a home situation worse for families. The researchers report anxiety of the bullied child grows worse the more stressed a parent is, particularly the mother.
Martlew and Hodson (1991) compared two different types of school settings - one
that integrates mild learning disabilities with mainstream children and the other a school
just for special needs. They found that the mainstream teacher felt positive about
integration whereas the special education teacher felt the opposite. The students who had
been integrated in the mainstream schools also expressed being bullied more than those
within the special needs school and made less friends, solidifying the special education
teacher’s fears. Similarly, Yude and Goodman (1998) examined some of the problems
with peers for those students who have hemiplegia, albeit through a diagnosis of cerebral 7
palsy or stroke, in mainstream schools. They found that children with hemiplegia were
more often bullied and rejected and had few friends (Yude & Goodman, 1998). Malian’s
(2012) observational study of the different types of bullying and its patterns between both
disabled children and non-disabled children in an inclusive environment demonstrates
that special needs children are bullied more often and that adult intervention was
incredibly lacking in this setting.
III. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Raising a child with special needs is stressful under the best of circumstances for
parents and/or caregivers. The stress process model addresses stressors, the mediators,
and the overall outcome (Pearlin et al., 1981). Stressors can be considered life events and
“chronic life strains” which can possibly be helped with social support (Pearlin et al.,
1981). In this research study, the primary stressor is the child’s disability. The secondary stressor in this situation is the special needs child being bullied. The moderator of stress could be social support from the community that can possibly help to alleviate added stress brought onto the caregivers and families through the primary and secondary stressors. This research will examine how bullying of children with disabilities affects stress in parents and caregivers and if it does, in fact, result in higher amounts of stress.
This research also offers recommendations for more community awareness and involvement and address special needs bullying.
8
IV. RESEARCH QUESTION AND HYPOTHESIS
The stress process model presumes that families and caregivers also suffer the effects of their special needs child being bullied. This results in more stress upon an already stressful situation. This study addressed the possibility that if children and teens
(and even adults) were given the opportunity to be included more within the community, it would bring a sense of understanding to those within the community and a feeling of belonging and support for the special needs individuals and their family. With this in mind, the following questions guide this research. Does bullying affect families and/or caregivers by causing extra family stress? Do families believe there is a way for the community to alleviate bullying? How can the community help with this problem and improve the social the lives of these children and their families while bringing awareness to the larger community? Based on these larger research questions, the hypotheses are:
Hypothesis 1: As the age of the children increases, bullying increases. More
specifically, special needs children between the ages of 8-15 and 16 to 21 are
bullied more than those between the ages of 0-7.
Hypothesis 2: The families and caregivers of older children report higher levels of
stress, which is due to an increased amount of bullying.
Hypothesis 3: The families and caregivers of older special needs children (8-21),
due to higher levels of stress, are more likely to believe that the community is not
offering as many services or promoting awareness.
9
V. DATA AND METHODS
This study was conducted within the offices of the local Children’s Rehabilitation
Services in a rural southern community. Within this office, participants were recruited
from several different clinics for special needs children and teens: autism clinic, hearing clinic, seizure clinic, seating/wheelchair clinic, augmentative communication clinic, cerebral palsy clinic, cystic fibrosis clinic, neurology and neuromotor clinic to name a few. Participants were also recruited through the local Family Success Center and
Children’s Policy Council.
Procedures
While waiting in the lobby of the Children’s Rehabilitation, participants were
presented with a survey from the staff. If staff were unavailable, a flyer was posted on
the entrance doors alerting participants to the location of the survey. The survey was
placed on a table that provided reading literature for families. The survey also provided
an online link to those families who did not wish to complete the survey while waiting in
the clinic but wished to provide information online at a later and more convenient time.
The online option through Qualtrics was offered in hopes of increasing the response rate.
While visiting the cerebral palsy clinic at the Family Success Center, a
representative offered families the same paper survey. They were also given the chance
to utilize the Center’s computer lab to complete the survey online, or to take a postcard to
complete the survey at a more convenient time. A link to the online survey was also
posted on the Children’s Policy Council website. During different speaking
engagements, the survey was promoted and mentioned to parents and/or caregivers who 10
had children with special needs who met the requirements for the survey. The survey
remained open for two months while data were collected. Paper surveys were manually entered into Qualtrics.
Measurements
The participants of this survey were parents and/or caregivers for children
between the ages of birth and 21 years of age. Overall, 103 surveys were completed.
Parents were asked to indicate their gender, age, relation to child, how many children
they have, how many special needs children they have, and household income. They
were also asked their special needs children’s ages and diagnoses. Of the respondents,
77% were mothers, 11% were fathers, 9% were grandparents, 1% step-parents, and 1%
siblings. Twelve percent of those who took the survey were between the ages of 17-29,
54% were between the ages of 30-45, 26% were between the ages of 45-60, and 8% were over the age of 61 years of age. Most of the respondents were white (78%), 19% were
African American and 3% were Latino/Hispanic.
All of the participants had at least completed high school. An additional 24% of
the survey respondents had completed some college, while 23% had an Associate’s
Degree (2 year degree), 20% had completed a Bachelor’s Degree (4 year), 8% completed
a Master’s Degree, and only 1% had completed a Ph.D. or Professional Degree. Of those
who responded, 67% were married. Most respondents (83%) cared for one special needs
child, whereas 7% of the respondents were caring for two special needs children and 4%
were caring for three or more special needs children (see Appendix A for Table 1 for
descriptive statistics of the parents and/or caregivers who completed the survey). 11
The descriptive statistics showed that 36% of the kids were between the ages of 0-
7, 52% of the children were between the ages of 8-15, and 18% were between the ages of
16-21. There was also a wide variety of disabilities among the children in the study. The highest percentages included: learning disabilities (41%), cognitive impairments (37%), cerebral palsy (37%), autism (33%), anxiety (33%), and epilepsy (30%). Some of the other disabilities indicated by parents and caregivers were: blind or vision loss (17%), brain injury (15%), deaf or hearing loss (15%), central auditory processing disorder
(12%), Down syndrome (5%), spina bifida (3%), stroke (1%), muscular dystrophy (1%) and spinal cord injury (3%). Around 16% of the children are listed as having an “other” disability. Overall, 92% of the special needs children are reported to have two or more disabilities (see Table 2).
Table 2. Descriptive Statistics of the Special Needs Individuals Ages 0-7 Ages 8-15 Ages 16-21 Ages 21+
Autism 10 18 6 3 (9%) (16.2%) (5.4%) (2.7%)
Anxiety 4 14 8 2 (3.6%) (12.6%) (7.2%) (1.8%)
Blind/Vision 7 6 5 1 Loss (6.3%) (5.4%) (4.5%) (.9%)
Brain Injury 6 7 4 -- (5.4%) (6.3%) (3.6%)
Central 4 4 4 1 Auditory (3.6%) (3.6%) (3.6%) (.9%) Processing Syndrome 12
Ages 0-7 Ages 8-15 Ages 16-21 Ages 21+
Cognitive 14 15 10 2 Impairment (12.6%) (13.5%) (9%) (1.8%)
Down Syndrome 2 1 2 -- (1.8%) (.9%) (1.8%)
Epilepsy 12 13 4 1 (10.8%) (11.7%) (3.6%) (.9%)
Hearing 5 8 2 -- Loss/Deaf (4.5%) (7.2%) (1.8%)
Learning 8 28 8 1 Disability (7.2%) (25.2) (7.2%) (.9%)
Muscular -- 1 -- -- Dystrophy (.9%)
Spina Bifida -- 3 -- -- (2.7%)
Spinal Cord -- 1 2 -- Injury (.9%) (1.8%)
Stroke 2 -- 1 -- (1.8%) (.9%)
Other 4 8 5 2 (3.6%) (7.2%) (4.5%) (1.8%) *The whole number is the actual count with percentages below.
The parents and caregivers were asked whether or not their child had been bullied by a peer and/or bullied by a teacher/aide/adult. The parents and caregivers were also
13
asked what sort of bullying the special needs individuals suffered from. According to the
descriptive data, 55.3% of the special needs children in this study have been bullied by a
peer and 32.5% have been bullied by a teacher/aide/adult (see Table 3). Parents and
caregivers also reported that 59% of the children suffered from verbal bullying, 30%
suffered from some sort of physical bullying, 31% of the children suffered from
emotional bullying and 17 of the children suffered from mental bullying (see Table 4.)
Table 3. Descriptive Statistics of the Frequency of Bullied Special Needs Individuals by both peers and teachers/aides/adults reported by parents and caregivers Bullied by a Peer Bullied by a Teacher/Aide/Adult Yes 63 37 (55.3%) (32.5%)
No 38 66 (33.3%) (57.9%) *The whole number is the actual count with percentages below.
Table 4. Descriptive Statistics of the Type of Bullying Parents and Caregivers Report have Happened to their Special Needs Child(ren) Physical Verbal Emotional Mental
Yes 33 65 34 19 (29.7%) (58.6%) (30.6%) (17.1%)
No 78 46 77 92 (70.3%) (41.4%) (69.4) (82.9%) *The whole number is the actual count with percentages below.
Parents/caregivers were asked to indicate the steps they took to handle the
bullying. Twenty-nine people stated that they spoke directly to the bully, 36 spoke to the
parents of the bully, 51 people stated that they spoke to the teacher, whereas 35 said they
spoke to a school administration. Some parents/caregivers took more extreme steps, 10 14
changed schools and 6 decided to homeschool. One parent even called the police.
Despite the steps taken, 67 parents/caregivers were not satisfied with the overall results.
On a scale ranging from strongly disagree to completely agree, the parents were asked if the bullying of the special needs individual added stress to the caregiver, 62% of the respondents agreed. When asked if stress was added to the family, 60% of the respondents agreed. When asked if being bullied added stress to the special needs individual, 67% of the respondents agreed (see Table 5).
Table 5: Average mean of added stress for caregivers, family and child by age. Ages N Mean Std. Deviation Stress added to 0-7 17 4.65 .493 Caregiver 8-15 35 4.49 .781 16-21 14 4.29 1.44 >21 3 5.00 .000 Total 69 4.50 .885
Stress added to Family 0-7 16 4.19 .750 8-15 34 4.18 .904 16-21 14 4.14 1.41 >21 3 5.00 .000 Total 67 4.21 .978
0-7 16 4.69 .479 Stress added to Special 8-15 34 4.62 .817 Needs Child 16-21 14 4.36 1.45 >21 3 5.0 .000 Total 67 4.60 .906
Parents/caregivers reported different side effects of bullying for their families and special needs child. Some of the side effects listed included: fighting within the family
(33%), feeling helpless (56%), short tempers (51%), financial issues (16%), depression
(44%), anxiety (52%), lack of sleep (33%) and lack of appetite (23%). Parents were also
15
asked whether they believed that their community encourages awareness and acceptance
of disabilities. Overall, out of 101 responses, 20 (18%) strongly disagreed, 36 (32%)
disagreed, 24 (22%) neither agreed or disagreed, 18 (16%) agreed, and 3 (3%) strongly
agreed. The following were the responses to the question, “Do you believe that your
community is offering the services your child needs for social interactions outside of
school?” Of 100 participants who answered, 33 (30%) strongly disagreed, 35 (32%)
disagreed, 14 (13%) neither agreed nor disagreed, 17 (15%) agreed, and 1 (1%) strongly
agreed.
IV. RESULTS
Quantitative Results
A one-way between subjects ANOVA was conducted to test whether there was a
significant difference in bullying by age by a peer. The results indicate that there was not
a significant effect of bullying based on age at the p<.05 level for the three conditions
[F(3, 97) = .391, p = .073] (see Table 6).1
Table 6: One Way ANOVA of Special Needs Individuals (Child 1) Bullied by a Peer Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Between Groups 1.632 3 .544 2.391 .073 Within Groups 22.071 97 .228 Total 23.703 100
1The survey separated the ages of special need children by “child 1, child 2, child 3 and child 4.” Child 1 and child 2 are analyzed separately. There was not enough information for child 3 and 4 to analyze.
16
A one-way between subjects ANOVA was also conducted to compare if child 2
had a significant difference in bullying by age. There was not a significant effect of
bullying based on age at the p<.05 level for the three conditions [F(2, 9) = 3.00, p =
.100].2
Next, data were analyzed regarding the bullying of special needs children by teachers/aides/adults. A one-way between subjects ANOVA was conducted to compare if child 1 was being bullied by an adult based on the following age groups: 0-7, 8-15 and
16-21. There was a significant difference in the effect of bullying based on age at the p<.05 for the three conditions [F(3, 98) = 4.18, p = .008]. Post hoc comparisons using the Tukey HSD test indicated that the mean score of age group 0-7 (M = 1.76, SD = .044) is not significantly different from age group 8-15 (M = 1.69, SD = .47). However these two age groups are significantly different from the age group 16-21 (M = 1.29, SD = .47} suggesting that younger children are bullied more often by teachers/aides/adults than children between the ages of 16-21. (See Table 7)
Table 7: One Way ANOVA of Special Needs Individuals (Child 1) Bullied by a teacher/aide/adult Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Between Groups 2.676 3 .892 4.182 .008 Within Groups 20.903 98 .213 Total 23.578 101
A one-way between subjects ANOVA was also conducted to compare if child 2
was being bullied by an adult based on age groups: 0-7, 8-15 and 16-21. In this group,
2 The results of the hypotheses tested for “child 2” will not be represented by tables. 17
there was no significant difference in the effect of the bullying based on age at the p<.05
for the three conditions [F=2, 9) = .955, p =.42].
The second hypothesis focused on whether parents/caregivers and families of
older children who have been bullied suffer from more stress than parents/caregivers and
families of younger children who have been bullied. A one-way between subjects
ANOVA was conducted to compare the effect of stress on the caregiver of a bullied
special needs child based on age of the child one. There was not a significant effect on
the amount of stress on the caregiver at the p<.05 level for the three conditions [F(3,65) =
.742, p = .531] (See Table 8).
Table 8: One Way ANOVA of Stress on Parents/Caregivers from bullying of a special needs individual (Child 1) Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Between Groups 1.764 3 .589 .742 .531 Within Groups 51.482 65 .792 Total 53.246 68
A one-way between subjects ANOVA was used to compare the effect of stress on
the caregiver of a bullied special needs child based on age of the child two. There was
not a significant effect on the amount of stress on the caregiver at the p<.05 level for the
three conditions [F(2,7) = .465, p = .646].
A one-way between subjects ANOVA was conducted to compare the effect of
stress on the family of a bullied special needs child based on age of child one. There,
again, was not a significant effect on the reported amount of stress on the family at the
p<.05 level for the three conditions [F(3,63) = .681, p = .567] (see Table 9).
18
Table 9: One Way ANOVA of Stress on the family from bullying of a special needs individual (Child 1) Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Between Groups 1.982 3 .661 .681 .567 Within Groups 61.093 63 .970 Total 63.075 66
A one-way between subjects ANOVA was conducted to compare the effect of stress on the family of a bullied special needs child based on the age of child two. There, again, does not appear to be a significant effect on the reported amount of stress on the family at the p<.05 level for the three conditions [F(2,7) = .331, p = .729].
A one-way between subjects ANOVA to compare the effect of stress on the special needs child themselves based on their age, the first analysis is for child one.
Again, there does not seem to be a significant effect on the reported amount of stress on the special needs child at the p<.05 level for the three conditions [F(3, 63) = .573, p =
.635) (see Table 10).
Table 10: One Way ANOVA of Stress on the special needs individual from bullying (Child 1) Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Between Groups 1.43 3 .479 .573 .635 Within Groups 52.681 63 .836 Total 54.119 66
A one-way between subjects ANOVA to compare the effect of stress on the special needs child themselves based on their age, the next analysis is for child two.
Again, there does not seem to be a significant effect on the reported amount of stress on 19
the special needs child at the p<.05 level for the three conditions [F(2, 7) = .420, p =
.673).
The third hypothesis tested whether parents or caregivers of older children believe that their community does less in regards to promoting growth and awareness as opposed to those who care for younger children. Findings from the one-way between subjects
ANOVA show that there is not a significant effect of the satisfaction of community services based on the age of child at the p<.05 level [F(2,97) = 2.04, p = .113] (see Table
11).
Table 11. ANOVA – Do you believe that your community encourages and acceptances of disabilities? Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Between Groups 7.078 3 2.359 2.041 .113 Within Groups 112.150 97 1.156 Total 119.228 100
The next analysis is that parents/caregivers of older children would be more likely to say that the community did not offer the services needed for their child to interact outside of the school as opposed to parents/caregivers of the younger children. A one- way ANOVA was conducted to compare whether a parent or caregiver did believe that their community did not provide the services needed for social interaction outside of school for their child based on the age of the child. There does not appear to be a significant effect on the satisfaction of community social interactions based on the age of the child at the p<.05 level [F(2,8) = .250, p = .785] (see Table 12).
20
Table 12. ANOVA – Do you believe that your community is offering the services your child needs for social interactions outside of school? Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Between Groups .513 2 .256 .250 .785 Within Groups 8.214 8 1.027 Total 8.727 10
When comparing the original hypothesis with the data analyzed, the results indicate that special needs children in this community are indeed bullied. However, the bullying happens to those of all ages. There does seem to be a slight elevation in the occurrence of bullying in those over the age of 8 years until the age of 21, but only slightly. Nearly all of the parents/caregivers who reported that their child had been bullied, all reported some signs of stress with themselves, the special needs child, or the family as whole. It was not localized to the just the parents of the older children as believed. These parents and caregivers rated feeling helpless as the biggest stressor.
Qualitative Results
Parents were then asked open ended questions about whether there were any other stressors that they themselves, the family unit, or the special needs children had suffered.
The answers were then grouped into similar themes and tallied. Some mentioned that because of bullying, there was now a fear of going to school. Some families had to make the change to homeschooling, which resulted in financial difficulties. Communication barriers were also listed and school work suffered. There were feeling of isolation and anger, and one participant even acknowledge that their family has “broken up” because the stress suffered at the hands of bullying.
21
Finally, given that all age groups are affected, the families and caregivers of older special needs children are not the only ones who believe the community lacks in offering services as previously believed, due to higher stress. This is the case for those parents and caregivers of younger special needs children as well. Several parents of younger children listed there were simply not enough activities for their children to participate in.
The participants were also offered the chance to express what they believe would be beneficial for promoting growth of the special needs community and acceptance from the outside. Some of the common trends were that there was nothing for their children to do during the summer and that their children feel isolated from others. Even more expressed the need for summer programs and better accessibility for children to participate in such things as sports leagues and the utilization of playgrounds. Many parents/caregivers expressed a need for better funding for teachers and aides to get the proper training needed in order to help their children. Others suggested offering
“buddies” for special needs children.
Many of the comments from parents were expressing their frustration of lack of activities for their children in comparison to other counties. Several mentioned that they travel out of town, which can hurt their financial situation. Others mentioned that due to financial restraints, they were unable to travel out of town for activities for their children.
With all of this in mind, 68 out of 100 participants believe that this community does not offer enough opportunities for social interaction outside of schools. The
22
participants were asked if the community offered different options of resources, would
they participate with their special needs child (see Table 13).
Table 13: If you community offered the following resources, would you, your family, or special needs child participate? # of Participants who answered yes Support Groups 44 Summer Day Camps 86 (Music, Arts, Theater) Specialized Sports Leagues 76 Specialized Playgrounds 55 Teen Dance/Prom (that may 51 include families) Family Park Day 51 Education Classes to 40 Promote Growth and Awareness to non-special needs members of the community.
Surprisingly, the two options that participants seemed the least interested in were
support groups and educational classes to non-special needs members of the community.
Not surprising however, families and caregivers would be interested in getting their children involved in summer day camps and specialized sports leagues. Nearly half of the participants were interested in having more specialized playgrounds, would attend a family park day, or help their special needs child attend a dance or prom.
Making friends and the chance for their children to participate in such things as
sports leagues, having dances, and help to prepare for the future was also important. One
mother expressed concern over the idea of their child only making “friends” for a short
23
amount of time, but disappearing once school started. She wants to find ways to make lasting bonds.
Parents and caregivers reported how activities, like sports and summer programs can bring families together who may not know any other families who understands what they go through. Many of the parents/caregivers go out of county for activities for their children to be involved in. Despite enjoying the fact that their children are involved, the children go back to their community without really knowing anyone new that could become a long lasting friend.
VII. DISCUSSION
Based on previous research, it was hypothesized that there would have been a greater amount of bullying for older children than younger children. The findings, however, of this study show no significant difference in the amount of special needs children who are bullied based on age by peers. It did show a significant difference in the age group of 8-15 by teachers, suggesting that middle school aged children were more likely to be bullied. The participants of the survey show that overall bullying does spans across all ages groups. In addition, this automatically affected the remaining two hypotheses. Though all of the participants who stated their child had been bullied suffer extra stress, it was not more common among older children.
Even though the hypotheses were not supported, the survey brought forth useful information. First, special needs children are not only being bullied by peers (55.3%), but some are even being bullied by adults (32.5%). Despite several instances of physical and emotional bullying, and even a smaller amount of emotional bullying, verbal bullying 24
is extremely common among the participants. This bullying and feeling of helplessness
seemingly adds extra stress to the parents and caregivers. Part of this could be because
some of the parents do not feel satisfied with results from attempting to address the
problem. Perhaps it could also be because many of the special needs families feel do not
have support within their community.
It could also be said the added stress that families feel is because the special needs children are not getting the chance to learn how to cope with the bullying. Vessey and
O’Neill (2011) analyzed bullied students with disabilities who reported that after intensive support groups, they had learned techniques and ways to handle being bullied or teased and believed that they were becoming more confident and less inclined to be bothered. If the special needs children in this community who are able to learn such coping skills, some of the stress levels could be lowered within the child which could
then lead to lower stress levels within the family.
Suggestions and Approaches to Bullying Within Schools and Communities
Lindsay and McPherson (2011) discuss bringing about social awareness and
inclusion for students with disabilities. They interviewed 15 different children with
cerebral palsy and discussed such things as bullying and how they felt around their peers.
Ultimately, the children gave suggestions in ways to improve understanding among their
peers. Some of these suggestions were to create awareness by fully disclosing about the
disability a child may have as well as bringing about more awareness in regards to
25
bullying. The children believed that building self-esteem among those with disabilities is
key in being able to handles social exclusion.
Sterzing et al. (2012) offers the advice that children with special needs, especially
autism, should be included in more activities. This can not only build self-esteem but can
also bring about more empathy from their peers. The authors believe that in order to help
with future bullying, schools need to address the issue of communication. Perhaps
through conversational skill practice and education among the normal functioning
students, perhaps there could be an increase in prevention. However, if the schools are
unable to provide this, communities could provide some opportunities for these
suggestions.
Several of the studies previously mentioned believe that better inclusion and
participation in schools could help to curb the problem of bullying. Coates and
Vickerman (2010) discuss the psychological, social, and physiological benefits of
physical activity. Their findings showed that children with special needs enjoyed PE as it
was a way to release negative emotions from bullying and feel as if they were more
including in mainstream school activities.
It is not a surprise that their study also showed that teachers need improvement in
their ability to manage bullies. However, PE teachers were ranked among the most favorable. The authors also suggest the need to develop more methods to help children with special needs in PE, especially those who are not able to communicate verbally as well as other children. They believe that it is a healthy way for all kids to feel included.
26
This is consistent with Frederickson’s (2010) idea of explaining to typical functioning
students the reason why special needs individuals have certain behaviors, and could lead
to an overall better understanding among students.
Overall, typically functioning children can have a clear understanding of the child’s disability. The relationship between the special needs child and his or her peers should be nurtured by the school, teachers, and even families. With this in goal in mind, special needs child can often times be presented with the chance to have a more productive life and a better chance of friendship and inclusion within their schools
(Frederickson, 2010).
These studies show that all children with disabilities could benefit from more
social inclusion in not only schools but in the community as well. It gives a chance to
build friendships, to raise awareness to non-disabled community members and could
possible build self-esteem. It is a reasonable belief that with higher self-esteem and more friends and a greater understanding of the disabilities, that bullying may not be as prevalent as it currently is. It is also reasonable to believe that families who suffer extra stress due to bullying may not feel as helpless if they had more opportunities for their children to be more active and to be around other families who understand what they are going through.
The activities suggested in the current research give special needs children the
chance to participate in activities that they may not have been able to otherwise. It also
gives the community a chance to rally around these families and children through
27
volunteer opportunities and promote acceptance. Specialize sports leagues are not uncommon in the United States, though this community does not have one. Perhaps if these children were given the chance to work with volunteers and participate in physical activity, they could gain more confidence while simultaneously spreading awareness to the community.
After reviewing the comments from the survey left by the parents and/or caretakers, it was discovered that they have hope for their children to be more involved.
Even the parents who did not have children who were being bullied still wished for more activities in this community for their children. The remaining participants who were happy with the social interaction provided by the community were small, but were adamant that things were going well for their children. However, it might have been more prudent to differentiate if their child’s disability was considered mild in comparison, or asked the parent/caregiver to expand on what services they were receiving. Some parents bragged on their church families as helping their children remaining involved.
Limitations and Possible Future Research
Despite finding out needed information about this community, this research had several limitations that could be improved upon in the future. First, a future research study should expand its scope for gaining more participants, by perhaps entering into the school system. A lack of school access was definitely a disadvantage for this research study as there was a large population of individuals who were missed that could have supported the hypotheses or give a more accurate representation of this county. 28
With more participants, there might have been a way to analyze by disability and, to see if there is a particular disability that is being bullied more than another in this community. It would be interesting to note if more severe disabilities were more likely to be bullied than less severe disabilities. Perhaps it could uncover that children with autism are the most likely victims, just as it shows in former studies done in the U.K.
Another avenue that future researchers should examine is the effects of bullying on the child, more importantly the bullying from an adult. Though this survey did address whether it was happening to some of this community’s children, it did not expand on it. Some parents noted their disdain and disgust of adult bullying upon a special needs child, but more research could be done on this topic to bring to light the issue.
Another area for future research is to offer the same sort of survey to a community that has more social interactions for their special needs community. It would be interesting to compare if having the chance to utilize such services as specialized sports leagues and support groups has brought stress levels down among families.
Further, it would be interesting to see if the children who have those opportunities suffer from less bullying.
VIII. CONCLUSION
Given previous studies, it was expected that the children who were bullied would be older. Despite there being a slight elevation in those numbers of children over the age of 8 and through 21, it was not significant enough to note in the data analysis. This research study did however validate that the sample of children in this community are indeed falling victim to bullying. The majority of the children sampled had learning 29
disabilities, autism, or cerebral palsy, which could be because of the recruiting process.
Over half of these children have fallen victim to peer bullying while over 30% of them had been bullied by an adult/teacher/aide. These numbers are shocking and should be addressed. Verbal bullying is the most common within this sample, but some children suffered all forms including physical, mental, emotional, and verbal bullying.
Though some parents believed that this community is providing exactly what their child needs, other families are feeling the stress of not having much support. There is definitely an increase of stress among parents/caregivers and family units because of bullying without a way to solve for it. However, all age groups were affected, and not simply the older children as expected. Parents believe that the lack of support from within the community plays into their added stress.
Parents and caregivers do believe that by offering more social activities and more social inclusion that there could be a relief of stress and perhaps less bullying. By allowing their child to feel included in something and have the chance to make lasting friendships, it is believed by many parents that perhaps their children may not have the same sort of fears of going to school. Previous research shows that an increase in social activities, including physical activities also brings about greater self-esteem. This community currently does not have opportunities that are long lasting outside of the schools that children of special needs may partake in. Many families currently travel out of town, adding the burden of extra costs to an already tight financial situation.
More research should be done and expanded into the school system to get a more accurate picture, to compare to previous research. It would also be beneficial to compare 30
another county that has resources for special needs families to see if their bullying is as
prevalent as this county could be interesting. Although the research did not support all of
the hypotheses, it is still important to bring awareness to the special needs children in this
community who are being bullied and that bullying is becoming an important topic for many schools and communities that cannot be overlooked. With an increase in the number of children diagnosed with some sort of special need, there should be an increase
in community support for them and their families.
31
APPENDIX A.
Mothers Fathers Grandparents Other N=76 N=11 N=9 (Stepparent, (70.3%) (9.9%) (8.1%) Sibling, etc.) N=3) (2.7%) Age: 12-29 11 6 -- 1 (9.9%) (5.4%) (.9%) Age: 30-45 45 5 -- 2 (40.5%) (4.5%) (1.8%) Age 45-60 20 -- 1 -- (18%) (.9%) Age: 60-+ -- 8 -- (7.2%) White 62 8 6 3 (55.9%) (7.2%) (5.4%) (2.7%)
African 13 3 3 -- American (11.7%) (2.7%) (2.7%)
Hispanic/Latino 3 ------(2.7%)
High School 16 4 -- Diploma (14.4%) (3.6%)
Trade 5 -- 1 -- School/Technica (4.5%) (.9%) l School
Some College 20 2 -- -- (18%) (1.8%)
Associate’s 19 3 -- -- Degree (17.1%) (2.7%)
Bachelor’s 10 6 1 3 Degree (9.0%) (5.4%) (.9%) (2.7%)
32
%)Master’s 7 -- 1 -- Degree (6.3%) (.9%)
Mothers Fathers Grandparents Other N=76 N=11 N=9 (Stepparent, (70.3%) (9.9%) (8.1%) Sibling, etc.) N=3) (2.7%) PhD or 1 ------Professional (.9%) Degree
Married 47 8 4 3 (42.3%) (7.2%) (3.6%) (2.7%)
Not Married 25 1 5 -- (22.5%) (.9%) (4.5%)
1 Special Needs 71 9 8 2 Individual cared (64%) (8.1%) (7.2%) (1.8%) for
2 Special Needs 3 2 1 1 Individuals (2.7%) (1.8%) (.9%) (.9%) cared for
3 or More 4 ------Special Needs (3.6%) Individuals cared for *The whole number is the actual count with percentages below.
33
Appendix B
Example of Survey Survey for Parents of Special Needs Children Ages Birth to 21 Do you have or care for a child/teen/individual with special needs?
o Yes
o No Relationship to individual:
o Mother
o Father
o Step-Parent
o Sibling
o Grandparent
o Caregiver
o Other: Are you Married?
o Yes
o No Number of children in household Please use numerals
Number of individuals/children with special needs Please use numerals
Your Age
o 17-29 34
o 30-45
o 45-60
o 60+ Age of individual(s) with special needs Only answer for the number of individuals with special needs in your household 0-7 8-15 16-21 21+
1st Individual
2nd Individual
3rd Individual
4th Individual Household income
o $0-$15,000
o $15,001-$22,000
o $22,001-$30,000
o $30,001-$45,000
o $45,001-$60,000
o $60,001-$75,000
o $75,001+ Race
o White
o Black/African American
o Latino/Hispanic
o Asian/Pacific Islander
o Native American
o Other: 35
Special needs of each individual Please mark all that apply
o ADD/ADHD
o Autism
o Anxiety
o Blind/Vision Loss
o Brain Injury
o Central Auditory Process Disorder
o Cerebral Palsy
o Cognitive Impairment
o Down Syndrome
o Epilepsy/Seizures
o Hearing Loss/Deafr
o Learning Disorder
o Muscular Dystrophy
o Spina Bifida
o Spinal Cord Injury
o Stroke
o Other: Has your special needs child/children ever experienced bullying by a peer?
o yes
o no Has your special needs child/children ever experienced bullying by a teacher/aide/adult??
o yes 36
o no What type of bullying occurred? Mark all that apply
o Physical
o Verbal
o Emotional
o Mental What steps did you take to handle your child experiencing bullying? Mark all that apply
o Speak to the bully
o Speak to the parents of the bully
o Speak to the teacher
o Speak to the Administration
o relocated child to different school
o removed child in favor of home school
o nothing
o Other: If action was taken, were you satisfied with the results?
o Yes
o No If your child was bullied, when you found out, did it bring extra stress onto: Definitely Somewhat Somewhat Definitely Neutral Yes Yes No No
You
Your Family Do you believe that your community is offering the services your child needs for social interactions outside of school? 37
o Yes
o Somewhat
o Neutral
o No Do you believe that your community encourages awareness and acceptance of disabilities?
o Yes
o Somewhat
o Neutral
o No
If your community offered the following resources, in which would you, your family, or special needs child become involved? Please mark all that apply
o Support Groups
o Summer Day Camps (music, arts, theater)
o Specialized Sports Leagues
o Specialized Playgrounds
o Teen dance (including families)
o Family Park Day
o Education Classes to Promote Growth and Awareness
o Other: Do you have any suggestions that you believe your community could do to bring more awareness and more social inclusion for your special needs children?
38
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