Category: News

Almost half of kids with autism are bullied, study shows [ CBS News.com, by Michelle Castillo, 4/9/2012 ].

CBS News
CBS News

(CBS News) Almost half of adolescents with an autism spectrum disorder have been the victims of bullying, according to a new study.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a variety of different neurodevelopmental disorders that often cause social impairments, communication difficulties and restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior, according to the National Institutes of Health. Social interaction is especially difficult for people diagnosed with the disorder. About 1 out of 88 children by the age of 8 will have an ASD, with males four times more likely to have autism than females.

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Survey finds 63% of children with autism bullied

“Many of the defining characteristics of autism are the ones that put them at greatest risk of bullying,” Dr. Catherine Bradshaw, deputy director of the Center for the Prevention of Youth Violence and an expert on bullying at Johns Hopkins University, told the New York Times.

Bradshaw was not involved in the study, but said in her experience kids with an ASD have a hard time picking up on sarcasm and humor, which makes them easy targets.

While there have been spotlights on bullying, very few studies have focused on bullying of kids with ASD. A survey in March conducted by Kennedy Krieger Institute’s Interactive Autism Network (IAN) of 1,200 parents showed that 63 percent of kids with autism had been bullied and they were three times more likely to be bullied than their siblings who did not have the disorder.

This study, published online in September 2012 in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, surveyed 920 parents and discovered that 46.3 percent of adolescents with an ASD had been victimized by bullying. Compared to the national average of 10.6 percent of kids, the number was “substantially higher.”

The rates were similar to the national average when it looked at autistic kids who were bullies (14.8 percent) and kids who were both experienced victimization and perpetration, meaning kids who both are bullied and bully (8.9 percent.)

Victims were more likely to be non-Hispanic ethnicity, have an attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, have lower social skills, have some form of conversational ability and have more classes in general education. The perpetrators tended to be white, have attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and hung out with friends at least once a week. Those who were both bullied and victimized typically were white non-Hispanic, had attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and got together with friends at least once a week.

The researchers wrote that classrooms should increase social integration of adolescents with ASD and help students who don’t have ASD understand, interact and empathize with kids who have ASD and other developmental disorders.

“Future interventions should incorporate content that addresses the core deficits of adolescents with an ASD, which limits their verbal ability to report bullying incidents,” the authors commented. “Schools should incorporate strategies that address conversational difficulties and the unique challenges of those with comorbid conditions.”

“This study confirms what we know,” Dr. Jeffrey Brosco, professor of clinical pediatrics at the University of Miami and associate director of the school’s Mailman Center for Child Development, said to HealthDay. “It’s clear that kids with disabilities are much more likely to be victims of bullying,” he said. “We need to figure out better ways to prevent this — for all children.”

Bullying of autistic kids going unnoticed [ ABCNews, by David Lewis, 21/8/2012 ].

Researchers say autistic children who are bullied at school often do not receive any help until the abuse becomes physical.

A study of 50 autistic primary and secondary school students by Bond University on Queensland’s Gold Coast has found 80 per cent of them have experienced bullying without their teachers knowing.

Dr Vicki Bitsika from the Centre of Autism Spectrum Disorders says it often takes a long time for a child with autism to realise they are being mistreated.

“They won’t pick up on the sarcasm. They won’t pick up on the mimicking or mocking, especially if they’re desperate for friends,” she said.

In many cases, Dr Bitsika says the bullying is only reported to teachers when it is too late.

“The bullying actually has to escalate to something physical,” she said.

Ben Haack is autistic and says his school years were marred by suffering.

“I went through a whole variety of mistreatment. I know I was peed on in grade one, I got bashed up in the toilets by my school football team,” he said.

Mr Haack, now 29, says he was not diagnosed with autism until Year 11.

Before then, he says he struggled to come to terms with why he was so different to the other kids in the classroom.

He says he would hide in the corner hoping he was not noticed.

Mr Haack says when the bullying turned violent, his teachers were forced to take action.

“Funnily enough, the reason why I got diagnosed was because I’d been bullied pretty well through all my time at school but then I started to fight back,” he said.

“It was at that point I think the school recognised what was going on.”

Dr Bitsika says the researchers have heard stories similar to Mr Haack’s many times before.

She says because autistic children may not have the verbal skills to report what is happening to them, teachers need more training so they can tackle the problem in its early stages.

Mr Haack agrees and says more awareness among staff at his school could have spared him a lot of pain.

“A bit more understanding and really listening to the kids that you’re involved in and really looking at what’s going on,” he said.

Cyberbullying: Tips to stay safe online [BBC Radio 1, 8/5/2012]

Cyberbullying can affect any age group says the Beatbullying charity
Cyberbullying can affect any age group says the Beatbullying charity

Social media sites like Facebook are regularly being used to abuse teachers, says a survey.

Of the 1,500 teachers who responded, 42% reported things like insulting comments, allegations of inappropriate behaviour and having photos passed around the internet.

One 27-year-old teacher told Newsbeat how she fell into depression and had to go on medication because of the way she was targeted online.

The problem of cyberbullying can affect any group, says Richard Piggin, deputy chief executive of Beatbullying.

“It doesn’t matter whether you’re 13 or 30,” he said. “The behaviour is still the same and the consequences are still the same.

“It can still hurt just as much and have an impact on confidence and if it takes place in school, your willingness to want to go to school.”

Richard says there’s a big gap between what many people think is acceptable online, compared with the real world.

He says cyberbullying often isn’t taken as seriously as face-to-face bullying and that help can be hard to find.

“Sometime it’s not taken down, sometimes the support networks aren’t in place,” he said.

“Schools are unclear and perhaps don’t have guidance or the confidence to know what they can do and whether they can act.”

He also reckons social networking sites should be quicker to take down cases of online bullying.

CyberMentors, a bullying support website, recommends the following:

Top tips

  • Don’t post personal information online, like your address, your email address or mobile number. Keep personal information as general as possible.
  • Never let anyone have access to your passwords. Check the privacy settings on accounts like Facebook and make sure you know how to keep your personal information private.
  • Think very carefully before posting photos of yourself online. Once your picture is online, anyone can download it and share it or even change it.
  • Never respond or retaliate, as this can just make things worse. It might be difficult, but try to ignore the bullies.
  • Block any users that send you nasty messages.
  • Save and print out any bullying messages, posts, pictures or videos you receive or see.
  • Make a note of the dates and times of bullying messages, along with any details you have about the sender’s ID and the URL.
  • If you’re being bullied repeatedly, think about changing your user ID, nickname or profile.
  • Don’t ignore it. If you see cyberbullying going on, report it and offer your support.
  • Google yourself every now and again. It will show you what is online about you and what others can see and you can make changes if you don’t like what you see.

20% Of Teens Involved In ‘Sexting’ [ redorbit.com, 16/6/2012 ]

Image Credit: Photos.com
Image Credit: Photos.com

Approximately one out of every five teenagers, including some as young as fourteen years old, are sending or receiving sexually explicit photos, claims a new study published online earlier this month in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior.

According to a HealthDay News report published Friday, researchers from the University of Utah interviewed more than 600 students attending a private high school in the southwestern U.S. and asked them about their “sexting” experiences.

Of those who participated in the study, nearly 20% said that they had sent a sexually explicit image of themselves using a cellphone, while almost twice that number report that they had received such a picture. Over one quarter of those who had been the recipient of a sexually explicit photo had forwarded it to someone else, and one-third of those who had sent one said they did so even

though they knew that they could face “serious legal and other consequences if they were caught,” the HealthDay News report added.

The study, which was spearheaded by Utah psychology professor Donald Strassberg, also discovered that students who had sent a picture using their mobile devices were more likely to believe that “sexting” was acceptable behavior, the university said in a press release.

Strassberg and his co-authors said that their findings illustrate the need for increase cell phone safety awareness programs, as well as increased efforts to help teach teens about the “potential consequences” of the behavior.

The Utah study comes one month after a similar report from UK officials, which discovered that teenage girls were under increasing pressure to text and/or email sexually explicit photos of themselves, the AFP reported on Friday.

That study said that more than one-third of teenagers under the age of 18 were affected by sexting.

“What is a concerned parent to do? Psychology Today magazine recommends talking to your teen about the negative consequences of sexting and outline your expectations by creating a computer/mobile phone contract. You can also opt to have your child take an Internet safety class,” the French news agency said.

“Also, randomly have your teen share with you the photos in their phone or computer, and make sure they understand that once a photo is out there on the internet, there is no

way of retrieving it, even if it’s deleted from the phone or computer,” they added.

Cyberbullying becoming a ‘cultural problem.’ [ Observer-Reporter, by Mike Jones, 15/06/2012 ]

bilde
Cyberbullying

The recent discovery of state Rep. Jesse White’s multiple online personalities making anonymous attacks on his constituents cast a light on the dark reality of the Internet and cyberbullying.

 

The anonymity provided by the Internet oftentimes can be hurtful to those being targeted, but even vicious attacks aren’t necessarily illegal because they’re typically protected by free speech.

 

Cyberbullying, once thought to be a tool utilized mostly by young kids and teens on social networking sites, is becoming an increasingly popular way to attack others or humiliate them.

 

Mary Jo Podgurski, director of Washington Hospital Teen Outreach, said it typically is the product of someone who is “not courageous enough” to have a face-to-face disagreement with an opponent.

 

“It’s a very easy and anonymous way to be a bully,” Podgurski said. “People do really hurt each other. It’s a very vicious cycle.”

 

In her experiences, she’s noticed young people usually stick to sending nasty text messages or posting attacks through Facebook. It’s the adults who are more comfortable with anonymous comments through Internet message boards or even posting lewd photos of an ex.

 

“It’s an underhanded way to slander someone and hit them hard,” she said. “You can make specific insults, and they don’t think it’s traceable.”

 

And, in most cases, it is very difficult for average people who are being attacked on Internet to find their cyberbully.

 

Tracking a cyberbully

All Internet users leave behind a cybersignature that can be traced to a computer or Internet provider, but unlocking that information can be nearly impossible for the average person.

 

When a television station first reported that White was behind anonymous attacks on a Marcellus Shale website, the Observer-Reporter staff began investigating whether his alter egos also left comments on the newspaper’s website. It took hours to match White’s Internet protocol address from his verified account to two messages he posted under the pseudonym of Janice Gibson earlier this year.

 

In most cases, though, people must utilize the courts to reveal information, through which investigators can subpoena Internet records.

 

North Strabane Township police Detective John Wybranowski handles the cybercomplaints in the department and said they’re seeing more cases involving harassment on Facebook than anything else. He said it’s often difficult to determine if a crime has been committed since what a person is permitted to say under free speech laws must be taken into consideration.

 

“A threat of violence we have to take very seriously,” he said.

 

Although the district attorneys in Washington and Dauphin counties are investigating White’s comments, it’s unknown if he broke any laws with his online antics. Prosecuting such crimes can be difficult, Wybranowski said, adding many police departments don’t have the training or resources to handle these investigations.

 

First, an officer needs to obtain a court order to obtain the Internet Protocol number identifying the computer a suspect used to post the information. Next, a search warrant needs to be signed by a judge giving police permission to enter a home and seize electronic devices.

 

“The amount of work needed to investigate cyberbullying is phenomenal,” said Wybranowski.

 

That adds another level of difficulty, he said, because there can be four or five devices in a home, and each would need to undergo a forensic examination.

 

“Then you have to resolve that all the way back to determine who did the posting,” he said, adding that it’s often easier to extract a confession, especially when more than one person has access to computers in a residence.

 

“In Pennsylvania, the laws need to catch up with the technology, and it’s changing so fast,” he said.

 

Making it a crime

There are various bills snaking their way through the state Legislature that would deal with cyberbullying or target online impersonators.

 

House Bill 764 would make it illegal for someone to use another person’s name to create a website, post messages on social networking sites, open an online account or send electronic messages. Ironically, White voted in favor of this bill just three weeks before his online personalities were revealed.

 

Joseph Schwerha, an associate professor of business law and technology at California University of Pennsylvania, said it might be difficult to enact laws and enforce them when free speech is so important for our society. He pointed to other countries that crack down on radical beliefs many would consider offensive but must be allowed here.

 

“We’ve always protected speech at the cost of illegitimate opinions,” Schwerha said. “There are parts of the world where there are hate speech laws, which we protect in the U.S.”

 

But Schwerha, who has worked on cybercrimes and online identity theft for two decades, said the anonymity of the Internet sometimes brings out the worst in people. What he found most interesting about White’s situation is that he created an army of faux online personalities to support his opinions and push forward his agenda.

 

“When people don’t have to reveal their true identity, they seem to say or do things they wouldn’t otherwise because they can shield their reputation,” Schwerha said.

 

Online culture

Online message boards attached to news articles offer readers an outlet to express themselves, but also an opportunity to launch attacks against their foes.

 

When the Observer-Reporter redesigned its website in November, Editor Liz Rogers said they hoped the new commenting feature would engage readers and produce energetic conversations. Instead, she said, it spawned a “mob mentality” of nasty comments that were nearly impossible to police by the staff.

 

“It degenerated into a bunch of name-calling and insults,” Rogers said. “It just got downright nasty.”

 

The newspaper pulled the plug on the commenting feature in March after one reader – not Jesse White – continuously posted lewd comments and personal attacks aimed at staff members despite attempts to block him from the site. Rogers said the newspaper could eventually restore the message board, but only if it can implement a system that requires readers to register using their real names and email addresses.

 

“We were extremely disappointed about how it turned out,” Rogers said. “It wasn’t constructive. We hoped the dialogue would be something that would benefit both the community and staff.”

 

Podgurski isn’t surprised that the comments quickly turned ugly. She pointed to a recent online cereal advertisement that featured a biracial family. Despite receiving many supportive comments, it had to be censored because of the unrelenting attacks by a few users.

 

“Sometimes they’re just so flat out disrespectful that you don’t want to post them,” Podgurski said. “We’re suppose to have the Golden Rule.”

 

Ultimately, she thinks that the online discourse displayed by Internet users is just an indication of the times.

 

“They see a lot of anger in the political theater and on the media. I think it’s cultural,” Podgurski said. “We have a cultural problem with respect, and cyberbullying is a part of that.”

 

Staff writer Scott Beveridge contributed to this story.

TD’s son one of four pupils expelled for bullying teacher [ Irish Examiner, by Niall Murray, 18/5/2012 ]

The problem of students bullying teachers is another issue to be tackled in schools, according to Education Minister Ruairi Quinn

He was commenting after it emerged that four fifth-year students have been expelled from a Dublin secondary school for running a Facebook page that carried malicious comments about at least two teachers, including remarks of a sexual nature.

One of the students expelled from Oatlands College in Stillorgan is a son of independent Wexford TD Mick Wallace.

When contacted yesterday by the Irish Examiner, the school did not make any comment. “It’s the policy of Oatlands College not to make any comment concerning any student in the college,” said deputy principal Caroline Garrett.

The Facebook page was open for less than 24 hours in mid-March, and more than 20 other students who hit the ‘Like’ button on the page served a Saturday detention after it was found by a staff member. The student who set it up and three others who were listed as administrators of the page were initially suspended for 20 school days.

However, following an investigation, they were expelled after a board meeting this week. Their parents can appeal the decision under a procedure open to them to refer the expulsions to a committee to be set up by the Department of Education.

Mr Quinn said the bullying of teachers is quite a problem, although he would not talk about the incident when asked by RTÉ News yesterday.

“I would say it is an unusual occurrence and obviously I can’t comment on the details of this particular case,” he said.

“The teacher unions and management bodies have indicated to me that in some cases this can be a two-way street and pressure on teachers can be enormous in some areas.”

The issue of cyberbullying was a significant topic at the Anti-Bullying Forum hosted by Mr Quinn’s department.

Mark Caffrey, the equality officer of the Irish Second-level Students’ Union, said the department needed to provide all schools with a clear policy on the use of social networking sites by students and staff.

“I believe the best way to reduce bullying of staff online is to have zero interaction between staff and students on sites like Facebook and Twitter that have anything to do with non-academic items.

“Students must be given advice about proper usage of sites, or reminded of how to act properly online.”

Ruairi Quinn says teachers are worried about cyber-bullying [ RTE.ie, 17/5/2012 ]

Ruairi Quinn says the internet has made 24/7 bullying possible
Ruairi Quinn says the internet has made 24/7 bullying possible

Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn has said that teachers are increasingly becoming the victims of cyber-bullying by pupils.

Mr Quinn was responding to reports that a school in Dublin was forced to expel four students after they posted abusive remarks about their teachers on Facebook.Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, Minister Quinn said the case underlined the growing problem of bullying on social networking sites. He said there is “a problem with bullying in schools in Ireland and cyber-bullying is now a reality”. He added that this can “allow for, in effect 24/7 bullying”, which he said, in some extreme cases, had led to suicide.The minister pointed out how the current department guidelines on bullying had been in place since 1993 (before the internet age) and things had “changed dramatically”.He said a working party has now been set up to look at ways to tackle the problem; the first phase will concentrate on homophobic bullying.
Submissions will be accepted up until 29 June and will go towards forming new policy in the area. Fitzgerald commends youths who oppose bullyingMinister for Children and Youth Affairs Frances Fitzgerald has spoken of her admiration for young people standing up against homophobic bullying.Minister Fitzgerald and the Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairi Quinn, are hosting the National Anti-Bullying Forum today to bring stakeholders together to help tackle bullying.Minister Fitzgerald said she had been impressed with how young people are leading the way on challenging attitudes and breaking down stereotypes against homophobic bullying.Today is the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia.

Schools combat bullying through awareness, prevention programs [ UT Sandiego.com, by Karen Kucher, 7/5/2012 ]

Students at Hilltop High School earlier watched a bullying documentary base on a true story and then followed up with a classroom discussion. Students in Louise Fericelli classroom listened as students offered their observations of bullying on and off campus.
Students at Hilltop High School earlier watched a bullying documentary base on a true story and then followed up with a classroom discussion. Students in Louise Fericelli classroom listened as students offered their observations of bullying on and off campus. — Nelvin C. Cepeda

“All the time.”

That’s how often a 10th-grader at Hilltop High School said she was being tormented by a classmate during PE.

How she reported it was discrete but direct: She dropped a note into a “bully box,” one of two metal lock boxes on campus that are a physical symbol of the school’s broad effort to combat bullying among students.

With the acclaimed documentary “Bully” in theaters and a new anti-bullying state law poised to take effect, the persistent problem of bullying in school remains at center stage these days.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, more than one in four students in middle and high schools reported being bullied at school in 2009 and 6 percent reported being cyberbullied, the latest statistics available. In a survey of San Diego County students in 2009, 32 percent said they had been made fun of because of their looks or the way they talk while 23 percent of eleventh graders said they had been targeted by cyberbullies.

“It is more people seeing it for what it is,” said Mara Madrigal-Weiss, a project specialist with the county Office of Education who works on bullying prevention and intervention. “There is concern about what can happen.”

Starting in July, schools in California must have anti-harassment policies in place that ensure that all reports of bullying, including those involving harassment based on perceived or actual sexual orientation, are taken seriously and addressed quickly. Dubbed Seth’s Law, the legislation was in response to the suicide of a gay 13-year-old in Tehachapi who was bullied at school.

Another new state law made posting harassing, threatening or bullying messages on social network sites an act that can result in suspension or expulsion.

Bullying in schools can take many forms – from name calling and taunting to acts of physical violence to cyberbullying, where the tormentor uses texts or social media sites to target a victim. School administrators say cyberbullying presents its own challenges because it often happens off-campus and gives bullies a way to cause far more harm than just tormenting a classmate during recess.

Madrigal-Weiss described the difference this way: “Five people see me shamed on the playground. My entire class sees me shamed online.”

Many local schools are expanding their bullying-prevention efforts. The San Diego Unified School District in 2011 beefed up its anti-bullying policy to extend protections to transgender students who might be targeted.

“We took a look at an issue that needed addressing and started implementing the changes long before the law took effect, based on incidents that were happening,” said district spokeswoman Linda Zintz.

So far this year, the district has suspended 117 students for bullying, about 1.4 percent of all suspensions. This is a new category on the district’s record-keeping on suspensions so prior year comparisons aren’t available, Zintz said.

At Allen Elementary in the Chula Vista Elementary School District, students start each day promising to be “bully busters,” reciting a pledge to treat others with kindness and respect and promising to tell an adult if they notice someone being bullied. The pledge ends, “Being a buddy begins with me.”

Principal Toni Faddis said students are reminded about good citizenship and character traits frequently at the K-6 school She uses student surveys to identify problem areas and respond. This year, she said she put additional supervisors on the playground and has staff systematically check on restrooms after seeing survey results.

She said incidents of bullying have decreased in the five years she’s been at the school.

Faddis and others say parents sometimes confuse bullying with other types of inappropriate behavior, such as when a child is pushed down on the playground by a classmate. To fall into the category of bullying, educators say the action needs to be repeated, intentional and involve a social or physical power imbalance between the bully and the victim.

Even young children can be victimized by bullying. Girls, in particular, tend to engage in rumor spreading, gossip and exclusion to target other students, teachers and anti-bullying experts say.

At one local school, a second grader endured bullying daily during lunch when she went to find a seat. She would go to sit at a table and classmates would tell her to keep going, that there wasn’t a place at the table for her, recalled Madrigal-Weiss, who was conducting anti-bullying training at the school.

“She was pushed out from the social circle and isolated in a way that was causing suffering for her,” said Madrigal-Weiss. A teacher ended up talking to the girls in the class about how hurtful their actions were.

Hilltop teachers say a long-running mentoring program that pairs freshmen with upperclassmen is helping to identify bullying at its earliest stages. The school created a bullying prevention committee this year that pulls together 29 teachers, administrators, staff and students for monthly meetings focused on the issue.

Many classrooms sport small signs declaring Hilltop is a “safe zone” where hurtful words are not acceptable. Because of its ongoing anti-bullying efforts, the campus soon will be designated a “No Place for Hate” school by the Anti-Defamation League.

“I feel there is a national bullying awareness movement,” said Elizabeth Hernandez, an English teacher who heads the school’s anti-bullying committee.

School leaders try to find way to reinforce the message. Last month, many students watched a film titled “Bullied” about a gay student’s legal battle against a Wisconsin school district in 1996 and teachers led classroom discussions on the topic.

Madrigal-Weiss said anti-bullying efforts need to go beyond the one-day assembly and become a message carried throughout the school with staff, parents and students receiving training and rules and policies being enforced to be effective. Students need to feel safe and respected and know they can go to teachers if there’s a problem.

“It can’t just be posters. It can’t just be a school newsletter,” said Madrigal-Weiss. “Bring it up. If we want our children to learn math, we spend time talking about math. We should focus some class time on bullying prevention.”

Hilltop teacher Louise Fericelli, who supervises the Connect Crew program, said having older students intervene with peers allows the school to address problems in the early stages. “The first time the Connect Crew hears about a ninth-grader being bullied by a 10th-grader we will have a senior go talk to the 10th-grader in a calm, reasonable way and the 10th-grader will stop,” she said.

Hilltop also has dealt with cyberbullying involving students creating Facebook pages with false names with the goal of tormenting specific students.

“We had a case last year where a number of senior girls were targeted and people were writing hateful things about a group of girls who were quite popular,” Fericelli said. “… That kind of thing spreads like wildfire and it can be difficult to find the culprit and to stop the damage.”

Students sometimes are in tears at school over things written about them on the Internet, said Hilltop senior Elizabeth Eisermann, in her second year in the Connect Crew. “When people take it to Facebook, it really does affect them,” she said.

Fericelli said administrators talked to the teen who was suspected of creating the page and teachers spread the word to students that it was “not cool” to look at the site.

“It took a week or two but eventually we were able to at least get people to move on to something else.”

As for the sophomore who filed a complain in the bully box, the situation resolved itself. The girl told a counselor she had talked it out with the bully. “You know how that happens sometimes, as time goes by you decide, ‘I’m going to actually talk to that person’ and it all comes out OK.” Hernandez said.

 

Minister reacts to Herald expose on boy’s bully terror [Evening Herald, by Kevin Doyle, 6/4/2012]

CHILDREN’S Minister Frances Fitzgerald has reacted with shock to the fact that a 10-year-old boy was forced out of school by Facebook bullies.

The minister said that the expanding phenomenon of cyber-bullying needs to be stamped out by schools.

Commenting on this newspaper’s frontpage story from yesterday, Minister Fitzgerald said: “God that’s very upsetting. This is extremely upsetting. There is a very serious situation.”

She said that cyber-bullying is now becoming a significant problem for schools.

“It’s as insidious and prevalent as bullying in the schoolyard or anywhere else. It’s quite serious in Ireland. It’s common and we need to tackle it,” she said.

The Herald revealed how a young boy was terrorised out of his school by child bullies who targeted him on Facebook.

Classmates set up a cruel internet campaign against the youngster and also physically hit him in school.

The bullying started six months ago when the schoolboy was punched in the face.

His parents, Gerry and Liza Dalton, spoke openly about how their lives had been affected by their son’s ordeal.

The situation escalated, culminating in the boy being victimised on Facebook and targeted at his home.

The shocking incident comes in the wake of the Phoebe Prince tragedy in 2010.

The 15-year-old Irish girl took her own life after suffering a campaign of bullying in the US.

Minister Fitzgerald told the Herald today that she is determined to help schools and parents tackle cyber-bullying.

“I think schools will have to be very aware of online bullying and they will have to deal with it in the same way that they deal with other bullying. There has to be a mechanism,” she said. “It’s coming up everywhere. The figures are quite high, the numbers that say they are being bullied online as well as face to face. What you have here are parents who aren’t as tuned into the new technology as their kids are.”

She said that parents need help to learn about new technologies so that they can react more quickly.

“I think there is a message in this for schools to be sensitive to cyber-bullying,” she said.

“There are lots of different programmes going on to help parents. Boards of managements are going to have to familiarise themselves with it.

“Schools need to be very clear about what they do with bullying. They have to tackle it, have guidelines in place and guidelines have been issued by the National Education Welfare Board,” she added.

Student guilty in gay cyber-bullying case [ABCNews, 18/3/2012]

Mr Clementi committed suicide days after the images were spread.
PHOTO: Tyler Clementi committed suicide days after the images were spread. (AFP)

An American court has convicted a former student for using a web cam to spy on his gay roommate’s love life and then sharing the images with fellow students.

Days later, in September 2010, the room mate Tyler Clementi killed himself.

Dharun Ravi, 20, has been found guilty of invasion of privacy and will be sentenced in May.

He faces a hefty prison term and possibly deportation to his native India.

Ravi’s lawyer had argued the student was guilty only of a prank gone wrong when he filmed roommate Tyler Clementi kissing a man, before he Tweeted friends about what he had seen and then invited them to watch a live webcam video.

At a news conference, Tyler Clementi’s father Joe urged students to be tolerant.

“To our college, high school and even middle school youngsters I would say this: you are going to meet a lot of people in your lifetime. Some of these people you may not like. But just because you don’t like them does not mean you have to work against them,” he said.

“When you see somebody doing something wrong, tell them: that’s not right, stop it. You can make the world a better place. The change you want to see in the world begins with you.”

Ravi was never accused in Clementi’s death, but he faced a string of charges accusing him of being motivated by anti-gay bias. The jury returned mixed verdicts on that aspect of the charges.

The New Jersey-based Homosexuals rights’ group Garden State Equality welcomed the verdict, saying it showed that Ravi was motivated by bias.

“Ravi has been convicted and will now face the appropriate societal consequences,” the head of Garden State Equality, Steven Goldstein, said in a statement.

“We do believe this verdict sends the important message that a ‘kids will be kids’ defense is no excuse to bully another student.”

In addition to the raft of guilty verdicts on invasion of privacy, Ravi was also found guilty on all charges related to attempting to hinder the prosecution.