Categorizing the new face of cyberbullying

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Today, children are not able to escape from bullying the way they were able to in the past. When I was growing up, the moment you reached home, the bullying stopped. Unfortunately, that is not the case for our children today. In the Internet age, the abuse shoveled upon targets can escalate at home and often dwarfs the bullying they receive at school.

What are the various types of bullying that occurs online?

Flaming: Flames are angry, rude arguments that occur online. It is typically a string of rude, hostile messages that frequently contain vulgarities.

Denigration:  This is the “dissing” someone online by spreading rumors or posting false information.

Outing and trickery: This is when embarrassing, private information is disseminated online. The private information is sometimes obtained through trickery, which is why the definitions are combined here.

Impersonation: This occurs when someone pretends to be someone else and posts material which is damaging to that person’s reputation.

Exclusion: This is a very typical mean girls action in which a person is intentionally excluded from an online group.

Online polls: This is when a polling type question is used hurtfully to encourage others to talk badly and/or speculate about a target. Poll questions such as “How many sexually transmitted diseases do you think Emily has?” will be posted for people at the school to respond to.

Cyberstalking: Here, a person creates fear in their target by sending offensive messages and engaging in harmful online activities.

Text barrages: This is where a single target is literally besieged by text messages night and day. Sometimes multiple classmates will agree to deluge the target with a near ceaseless torrent of hatred and foul comments.

If your child is being assaulted at home or at school by bullying, please contact the Law Office of Gregory R. Branch for help.  714 856-1166 or email at gregorybranch@edrightsadvocate.com

Who should pay special education costs for incarcerated LA young man?

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When a young man who has not graduated from high school and requires special education services is incarcerated in a county jail, who should bear the cost of that child’s education if the individual is between 18 to 22 years? This is the novel question recently certified to the California Supreme Court by the 9th Circuit. Read the rest of my Examiner.com article here.

How to Bully Proof your Child

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I am excited to announce a new project my wife Michele Branch, MFT, and I have started to help address school bullying. “How to Bully Proof your Child” is now on Facebook. We would really appreciate anyone who wants to stand against school bullying going to our page and liking it. On the site we will keep people informed on current bullying issues, help educate parents as to what they can do to combat school bullying, and provide a forum for like-minded people who want to see bullying eradicated. If you want to join our cause, click here.

Some suggestions for IEP goals when your child is bullied

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I am currently in the process of writing an ebook on bullying. This explains the sudden focus of my blog almost exclusively on bullying issues. This modified portion of my book focuses on IEP goals parents should consider if their child is experiencing bullying at school. As we all know by now, special needs children are bullied 2 to 3 times more frequently than their typical peers. As I have mentioned in previous articles, one of the first steps that the parent of a special needs child should take is to request an IEP meeting.

The following are some IEP goal areas and interventions that can directly or indirectly help address student bullying and should be considered at that meeting.

  • Teach to whom the child should report: A child who is experiencing bullying should be provided with a contact person at the school to whom they are to report any further bullying. A goal should be included that the child can identify the person to whom they are to report bullying. Simply possessing the knowledge that there is someone on campus charged with protecting them if bullying occurs can really increase your child’s feeling of personal safety and empowerment on campus.
  • Communicate the difference between tattling and reporting: A goal can be implemented that teaches your child the difference between tattling (bad) and reporting (good). Tattling is telling on someone for the sole person of getting someone in trouble. Reporting is the disclosure of information for the purpose of preventing danger to yourself or someone else. Students should understand that when they are bullied, telling an adult is not tattling but is reporting and necessary.
  • Help other children understand: A goal for the school or class can be implemented that teaches children about a particular disability or need for assistive technology. Children who understand why children are “different” are more likely to be understanding of that difference.
  • Increase self-knowledge: It is important for children to understand their own disability. Self-awareness can increase self-esteem as children learn to appreciate what makes them different and recognizing the work they are doing to be successful. In addition, understanding their own disability will also increase their awareness of how their disability can work for or against them in the social situations they encounter.
  • Teach your child to say “No”: Saying “No!” and meaning it is an important lesson for all children. Children need to be taught how to assertively advocate for themselves when someone is trying to hurt them.
  • Encourage friendship skills: Children who are bullied are more likely to be loners. The kids on the playground who are always off playing by themselves. By teaching your child the values of friendship, and the rules of friendship, they are more likely to develop positive friendships at school and be less likely to become the targets of bullies.
  • Be a part of a social skills group: In social skills groups, children receive invaluable feedback from their peers about their social skills. This occurs in a positive way, rather than the usually harsh ways that kids teach other kids that their behavior is not in line with the norm. Further, as they learn these skills, the friendships discussed above are more likely to develop.
  • Increase pragmatic skills: Pragmatics is about the unspoken rules of social language. Learning to take turns in speaking, paying attention the listener’s body language, speaking differently to different people are all examples of pragmatics. A poor understanding of pragmatics can be a cause of bullying.
  • Allow early exit from class: Where children change classes during the day, a way to reduce the risk of bullying is to allow your child to leave a couple of minutes early so that they can get to their next class without having to interact with all the general education population.
  • Have an aide shadow your child: In more severe situations a parent can request an aide shadow the student when they are out of the classroom. It may even be appropriate to request a one-on-one aide so that the child is never on campus and unsupervised.
  • Consider a change of placement: Finally, a change of placement may even be in order. With regard to this specific issue, the court decisions in this area conflict. For a particularly thoughtful and well-written decision in which it was held a child was denied FAPE (a free and appropriate public education), read “Federal Judge Holds Bullied Special Education Student Denied FAPE.”

Also, I welcome additional suggestions. Please email me at gregorybranch@edrightsadvocate.com.

If your child is experiencing bullying at school, please contact my office for a consultation. You may use the email address above or call me at (714) 856-1166.

www.edrightsadvocate.com

An unexpected victim of bullying

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 As followers of my blog know, I have always had an interest in bullying law and protecting our children from bullying. Over the course of writing about school bullying, I have too often had to write about teen suicides for which the victims claimed that the cause was incessant bullying at school. All these stories are tragic enough to break anyone’s heart. Here though, is another tragic aspect to the costs of bullying for our society.  Read the story of what bullying can do here.

What is a manifestation determination meeting?

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If you are seeking out this information, your child is likely in trouble with his school district. Additionally, your child is in special education, because this issue deals with children under the umbrella of special education. A manifestation determination meeting is very serious because it means that the school district is attempting to change your child’s placement or place your child on a lengthy suspension .

What is an manifestation determination? If a school district wishes to force a change of placement or suspend a child for an amount greater than 10 days, it must conduct a manifestation determination. The term itself means that the district must decide (determination) if the conduct which was the reason for the sought after discipline was a result (manifestation) of the child’s disability. If it was not, then the suspension/change of placement may proceed. If it was, then it may not. The reason for this is simple. If the behavior was caused by the child’s disability, i.e. impassivity, then the child was really not in control of their actions and the discipline would be unwarranted.

What is the process? A manifestation determination looks like an IEP team meeting, although there will likely be more school district personnel in attendance.

How will the decision be made? The district will investigate the incident itself. In order to do this, it will look at evidence, talk to witnesses, interview any victims, talk to the administrators and school personnel who have knowledge of the incident and its surrounding circumstances. Second, the district will review relevant information regarding the child and his disability already known to the district. In other words, they will review the student’s educational records, including the child’s cumulative file, their special education documentation, any information from  Student Study Team meetings and the like. Once this step is completed, the IEP team must then make its determination.

What questions are asked to determine if the behavior is a result (manifestation) of the child’s disability?There are two questions that must be answered.

(I) if the conduct in question was caused by, or had a direct and substantial relationship to, the child’s disability; or

(II) if the conduct in question was the direct result of the local educational agency’s failure to implement the IEP.

If the local educational agency, the parent, and relevant members of the IEP Team determine that either subclause (I) or (II) is applicable for the child, the conduct shall be determined to be a manifestation of the child’s disability.

(F) Determination that behavior was a manifestation.–If the local educational agency, the parent, and relevant members of the IEP Team make the determination that the conduct was a manifestation of the child’s disability, the IEP Team shall–

(i) conduct a functional behavioral assessment, and implement a behavioral intervention plan for such child, provided that the local educational agency had not conducted such assessment prior to such determination before the behavior that resulted in a change in placement;

(ii) in the situation where a behavioral intervention plan has been developed, review the behavioral intervention plan if the child already has such a behavioral intervention plan, and modify it, as necessary, to address the behavior; and

(iii) except where there are special applicable circumstances, return the child to the placement from which the child was removed, unless the parent and the local educational agency agree to a change of placement as part of the modification of the behavioral intervention plan.

Are only special education children subject to manifest determination requirements? No, in limited circumstances, children not in special education may also be protected.  If the district has knowledge that the child has a disability, then a manifestation determination is necessary before a lengthy suspension or change of school placement.

When does a school district have knowledge that a non-special education student is disabled? A district is attributed such knowledge under three circumstances: 1) when a parent has in writing expressed to the district that the child needs services; 2) when a parent has made a written request for special education testing for the child to the district; and 3) when school personnel have expressed specific concerns about a problematic behaviors directly to the director of special education for a district or supervisory personnel.

If your child has an upcoming manifestation determination meeting, it would be wise to consult with an attorney in order to protect your child’s rights. You may contact The Law Office of Gregory R. Branch at its website, by email, gregorybranch@edrightsadvocate.com, or by phone at (714) 856-1166.