Gifted Bulletin Board

Welcome to the Gifted Issues Discussion Forum.

We invite you to share your experiences and to post information about advocacy, research and other gifted education issues on this free public discussion forum.
CLICK HERE to Log In. Click here for the Board Rules.

Links


Learn about Davidson Academy Online - for profoundly gifted students living anywhere in the U.S. & Canada.

The Davidson Institute is a national nonprofit dedicated to supporting profoundly gifted students through the following programs:

  • Fellows Scholarship
  • Young Scholars
  • Davidson Academy
  • THINK Summer Institute

  • Subscribe to the Davidson Institute's eNews-Update Newsletter >

    Free Gifted Resources & Guides >

    Who's Online Now
    0 members (), 239 guests, and 35 robots.
    Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
    Newest Members
    streble, DeliciousPizza, prominentdigitiz, parentologyco, Smartlady60
    11,413 Registered Users
    March
    S M T W T F S
    1 2
    3 4 5 6 7 8 9
    10 11 12 13 14 15 16
    17 18 19 20 21 22 23
    24 25 26 27 28 29 30
    31
    Previous Thread
    Next Thread
    Print Thread
    Page 2 of 2 1 2
    Joined: Aug 2013
    Posts: 50
    M
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    M
    Joined: Aug 2013
    Posts: 50
    Originally Posted by Bostonian
    Originally Posted by apm221
    I think this constitutes bullying, but the only response we're getting from the school is that he's doing it for attention and she needs to ignore him (she has talked with her teacher about it daily and I have talked with the teacher once).
    Although the children are being mean, I don't expect the school to use staff to prevent children from killing insects at recess. They could tell certain children not to talk to your daughter.

    The act of killing insects is not the bullying behavior, it is the psychological intent behind it.

    Your DD is being targeted by another child, who has found a way to hurt her psychologically, and is doing so on a regular basis. In my opinion, that is bullying. Doing a certain behavior repeatedly, with the sole purpose of hurting another person, is not something that should be ignored by the school.

    Joined: Mar 2012
    Posts: 100
    R
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    R
    Joined: Mar 2012
    Posts: 100
    Originally Posted by Bostonian
    Although the children are being mean, I don't expect the school to use staff to prevent children from killing insects at recess. They could tell certain children not to talk to your daughter.

    Would you expect them to use staff to prevent taunting, teasing or more classical psychological bullying? If so, how is this any different?

    Joined: Apr 2013
    Posts: 5,244
    Likes: 1
    I
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    I
    Joined: Apr 2013
    Posts: 5,244
    Likes: 1
    Quote
    Although the children are being mean, I don't expect the school to use staff to prevent children from killing insects at recess. They could tell certain children not to talk to your daughter.
    Unfortunately this may not be an infrequent response from a school.

    "Children are being mean." Psychology Today illustrates the difference between being mean and bullying, in this article.

    "I don't expect the school to use staff to prevent children from killing insects at recess." To the degree that staff is not typically used to prevent bullying in the school setting, but rather receive reports or make direct observations, which then result in instruction, and informing of possible consequences, some might say the same could be expected in this situation.

    "They could tell certain children not to talk to your daughter." Since the bullying did not consist of things said, but rather of actions performed, a cessation of verbal interaction does not address the situation. With the bully receiving this type of "consequence" for behavior, the action which constituted the bullying is likely to continue. The perceived imbalance of power is likely to grow, and bullying is likely to escalate into other forms.

    The difference between being mean and bullying is largely intent, and repetition.
    - Instruction to the child in perspective taking may help.
    - Asking the child what he was thinking when he purposefully squashed bugs in front of a particular child may help.
    - Asking the child to considering what he might do differently may help.
    - Hearing that authority figures believe in him and know he can use his "leadership" for positive purposes may help.

    If the child wanted attention, the above steps could provide him with positive attention while providing instruction, reflection, and guidance. He could become very proud of holding himself to a higher standard.

    Joined: Dec 2012
    Posts: 2,035
    P
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    P
    Joined: Dec 2012
    Posts: 2,035
    I would expect teachers to stop children making a game of killing insects or anything else. I would expect the staff to not let children spend all recess pulling leaves/branches off trees, picking flowers and fruit from the school garden,throwing mud at the windows etc too. Why would you tolerate mindless destruction of anything?

    I would also expect the teacher to intervene if acts of unkindness occur.

    Joined: Nov 2013
    Posts: 249
    A
    apm221 Offline OP
    Member
    OP Offline
    Member
    A
    Joined: Nov 2013
    Posts: 249
    Originally Posted by KJP
    The earlier thread was about my son. I'm sorry this is happening to another child. I wrote a longer response but it seems to have been lost.

    I'll wait until tomorrow to see if it pops up before I respond again.

    If you are ever in the Seattle area, PM me. Perhaps our little nature lovers would enjoy meeting each other.

    KJP, my daughter would love that. She doesn't encounter many kids who understand.

    Joined: Feb 2012
    Posts: 756
    K
    KJP Offline
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    K
    Joined: Feb 2012
    Posts: 756
    apm221, How is the bullying this week? DS hasn't had any other problems. He ended up with a powerful ally in his fight against the squisher kids. An older boy with a special interest in insects took up his cause. They have become really good friends and share a lot of common interests.

    Hopefully things have improved.


    Page 2 of 2 1 2

    Moderated by  M-Moderator, Mark D. 

    Link Copied to Clipboard
    Recent Posts
    Testing with accommodations
    by aeh - 03/27/24 01:58 PM
    Quotations that resonate with gifted people
    by indigo - 03/27/24 12:38 PM
    New, and you'd think I'd have a clue...
    by astronomama - 03/24/24 06:01 AM
    For those interested in astronomy, eclipses...
    by indigo - 03/23/24 06:11 PM
    Son 2e, wide discrepancy between CogAT-Terranova
    by astronomama - 03/23/24 07:21 AM
    Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5