Grade Two, and finally, the end to bullying

[msagara]

When I first started posting about my ASD child, it was indirectly in response to discussions on the internet about bullying in its many forms. I had intended to speak about how one Principal at our school had landed firmly in its midst to put a stop to bullying and its culture

Comments

[msagara]

Thank you for reading :)

[mizkit]

God. I hope the other little boy has grown up okay. Poor kid.

[msagara]

He and my son ran across each other often, but only a handful of times after the kids dispersed to their various junior highs. But...he was always pleasant, and he seemed a lot happier than he had in his first few years of school.

[salanth]

Aye, that's good. The power of early intervention.

[tekalynn]

What a remarkable person and administrator. Bless her.

[la_marquise_de_]

Mr Virk sounds like a fine man, as does the head-teacher. I'm so glad they were there for your son and for this other child.

[nathreee]

This story makes me jealous, I'll just go and admit it. I know first hand what happens when school is not made safe by the principal, what these impossible to punish children become when left unchecked, and how this affects an asd person like your son. The kinder part of me is happy that your son, or any kid in that school, never had to go through what I went through. But most of me is jealous.

[msagara]

Part of the reason - a while ago - I started writing these posts is because I wanted to state clearly why I thought bullying was eradicated in my son’s school. The principal had been brought in because the bullying at the school had reached an intolerable point.

I saw a lot of posts about bullying, about bullying in the school, etc., and many people have assumed that harsher penalties or discipline would cause the bullies to go away, somehow. I probably believed it myself - until I saw the way in which the school reached out and tried to bring all of the kids into a consistent space. It’s easy to label difficult children, and they will own that label if it’s not rewritten in some meaningful way. I don’t think stricter punishment would have changed his behaviour at all - but a different education approach did. He became happier, and his need to lash out slowly vanished