Bullying incident handled properly

[joesteph]

I didn't find out until I opened my autistic children's school bags after karate class today that there was an incident at their grade school.

During lunch, first-graders were sitting behind my boys, who are in second grade. One of the girls decided to call David "crazy," which he immediately protested. Others sitting with her participated, and Patrick defended David verbally. I look at this the same as "No! Stop!"--taught to them as the first step by their karate teacher--and am glad that the boys didn't sit there suffering silently. Teachers stepped in, there was no physical altercation, and those first-graders were given a talking to, will not be permitted to eat lunch with the other students on Thursday and Friday, and their parents are receiving a letter about the incident.

Although nothing physical occurred, I feel confident that David and Patrick could have defended themselves, which they have had to do in the past. After we saw "The Karate Kid" on Tuesday, we even went over what their teacher, Master Lago, showed us in case of bullying. Tonight, as they were going to bed, Patrick remembered and quoted the autistism awareness fundraiser T-shirts they have, "Be a Buddy, Not A Bully."

I'm proud of them and am glad that school personnel acted quickly and firmly.

[GeoGiant]

Wow, good for them!.

That is a tough age. Unfortunately i think most kids are willing to join in on heckling someone just because they are glad they are not the focus.

[DWx]

Good for them Joe, you should be proud of them

[bushido_man96]

That's great to see. More needs to be done about bullying, that is for sure.