Bullying

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I am a parent of a 17-year-old child diagnosed with Asperger's and am in the process of working on my doctorate in psychology. As a parent, I have personally witnessed how bullying can impact neurotypical children as well as our children diagnosed with ASD. I met Alex Plank at the Love & Autism conference last weekend, and he said it was okay to post a link to my research study on this site. Hopefully this is the correct forum.

I am currently searching for adolescents (in grades 6 - 12) and their parents to take on online survey that asks about bullying experiences as well as the potential psychological impact of those experiences. This online survey requires participation from both the parent and the student. The parent or guardian of the adolescent is required to participate in the study to provide the parent's perspective, collateral information, and to provide consent for the adolescent to participate. This survey should take approximately 25 minutes for each participant (50 minutes for parent and child). Participants can enter a raffle to receive 1 of 3 $50 Amazon gift cards.

October is officially Bully Prevention Month! Please consider taking this survey to help advance research regarding bullying prevalence and to learn more about the impact that bullying can have on adolescents!

Thank you so much for your time!

https://alliant.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=S ... SxIzVcU7HL

I'd like to add a personal narrative regarding what inspired me to study bullying and the impact that it can have on students with ASD.

When my son, who is now 17, attended 5th grade, I remember waiting for him to walk home from school. Our house was only 2 blocks from the elementary school. I still vividly remember standing there watching him run to the house. When he reached the door, he blew past me and said, "Hurry up and shut the door!". When I asked him what was wrong, he said that he was being chased by two students. When he turned around, I saw some kind of orange substance in his hair. Apparently, two boys had chewed up some carrots and proceeded to spit the carrots in his hair and on his clothing.

Things only became worse after that. In middle school he was bullied so badly that we had to place him in a private school. The school failed to keep him safe and was unable to manage the situation. He became quite depressed after that experience. Since he has been in high school, the bullying has lessened but he also has chosen to not talk to any of the students due to concerns that it will start again.

That's our personal story...