Groupo Maganda Briefing Paper 1

Case Summary:

Abdul is a grade 9 student who has moderate to severe high frequency

sensorineural hearing loss bilaterally. Because of his exceptionality, he wears hearing
aids in both ears to improve his hearing. Lately at school, Abdul is refusing to wear his
hearing aids because he is being teased and bullied about wearing them by one of the
more aggressive grade 9 boys in his class. Without the hearing aids, Abdul has trouble
following along with discussions and instructions in class. What are some strategies we
can use to encourage Abdul to wear his hearing aids confidently and get the other kids to
stop bullying him?

Self-advocacy

There are four main components of self-advocacy: knowledge of self, knowledge

of rights, communication, and leadership. Teachers can build relationships with students
to help them make accommodations for themselves, and they can teach students about the
history of their disability. Teachers can also be intentionally inviting to students.
Another strategy is for teachers to hang up posters with tips on how to deal with bullying,
and they can also invite guest speakers to give presentations about bullying. In Abdul’s
case, we decided on the best options for the teacher to use. The teacher should to be
inviting and build a relationship with Abdul to help him realize the importance of
wearing his hearing aids. The teacher should also hang up the Kids Help Phone Poster in
the class and invite a well-respected member of the community to give the presentation
on bullying from the Deal.org website to the class. This will help Abdul, his aggressor,
and other classmates learn how to deal with bullying.

Raising Awareness

Raising awareness helps students to understand peoples’ differences and

encourage acceptance. This can be accomplished through: class discussion, experiential
techniques, and regular integration of special needs / exceptionalities awareness into the
curriculum. Class discussions involving human diversity develops understanding and
answers questions students may be too afraid to ask. Experiential techniques such as role-
playing and simulation, cooperative learning, and guest speakers, with debriefing periods
are effective ways of developing empathy in students. Having students show their
adaptive devices (such as Abdul with his hearing aids) to the class and explain its
functions and answer questions may be effective in reducing ignorance of students who
are bullying. Regular integration of special needs and exceptionalities into the
curriculum encourages students to critically analyze if people with exceptionalities are
being treated equally and respectfully in the media and literature, for example. Awareness
strategies are useful, but are more of a long-term option as opposed to immediate. They
are most effective if started with young children and when topics are discussed regularly
and consistently. In Abdul’s case, raising awareness may not be the most effective
strategy in putting an immediate stop to the bullying.
Groupo Maganda Briefing Paper 2

In-Class Bullying

Bullying in the classroom can take many forms. Spit balls, name calling, threats
toward others, pulling the chair out from another student or even a tack on a chair. These
threats can be harmless if it is done only once but if the acts continue the chances of long
term damage increases. As teachers, what can we do to become aware of bullying in our
classrooms? Bullying can be very inconspicuous and often the teacher will be unaware
of it. There are many things that we can do to become aware of this. First of all, the
teacher must constantly talk to the students. As much as possible you should ask students
questions, sometimes you can probe the answer out of them. So what can be done to get
these students to talk to you? At the start of the year you must establish rules that create a
positive classroom because a positive classroom is a place where students will feel more
open to share their problems. Enforce a zero tolerance rule for bullying. Educate the
students about the effects of bullying, there are many different long term effects caused
by bullying. If the students know the bullying will not be tolerated, perhaps the bullying
will stop.

Conflict Management

Conflict management teaches individuals concepts and skills for preventing,

managing, and resolving conflicts non-violently. Five conflict management techniques
include: collaboration, compromise, accommodation, competition, and avoidance. There
are advantages and disadvantages for using each technique. It is important to consider
both the advantages and disadvantages of the five conflict management techniques when
deciding which one to use in different situations. Because conflicts are a natural part of
life, conflict management is beneficial for everyone to learn. Teaching Abdul conflict
management skills in dealing with his bullies will build his self-esteem and give him the
courage to stand up for himself and address the issue, rather than avoid it. Conflict
management skills are also important for life beyond the school setting, so teaching an
entire class or school these skills could empower many students dealing with conflict.

School-wide Bullying Prevention

“The Guardians Initiative” is a discreet and secret program which involves no

administration involvement or consequences. It consists of volunteer students (who
demonstrate empathy, integrity, and courage) pairing up with an ally teacher for
guidance.
Guardians’ main purpose is to challenge bullying behaviour in schools and offer
support to students to ensure they don’t feel alienated or alone. They are trained and offer
social-emotional support to victims after incidents, follow-up with victims upon request,
and facilitate interventions to confront offenders and challenge their behaviour.
This scenario could have great benefits for Abdul. He would encounter support and
debriefing after the incidents, and have an ally to facilitate an intervention and challenge
the bully’s behaviour. Were this program to be implemented in Abdul’s school, it would
most likely alleviate the situation – if not end it completely.