CREATIVE SHORTS

was recently asked by I CAN to write an article for parents on the Talking Point website about communication disability and bullying. This task made me aware of how many opinions I already hold on the topic: bullying is more likely to happen to children with communication disability; bullying happens less often in special school. I was surprised to learn that there is actually very little evidence to back up these assumptions. I did discover some interesting research, however, suggesting that children in language units may fare worse than those in mainstream or special school (Knox & Conti-Ramsden, 2003). I decided to use my position as co-ordinator of speech and language services in one local authority to gather more information. I hoped this would be a pragmatic way of getting some more evidence to answer the questions I had, which would then inform liaison with education staff and priorities for therapy: 1. Do children with communication disability experience more bullying than typically developing children? 2. Does this vary according to school setting (mainstream, language unit or special school)? 3. Is age at school a factor? So far we have interviewed 96 children from Reception to Year 11 in mainstream, infant and junior language units and special schools. We have targeted children with communication disability from our caseload. Each target child was matched with a randomly selected typically developing child from the same form group. Consent was obtained at each location from the head teacher and was readily given as they were generally keen to discover how their anti-bullying strategies were working. The children who were interviewed were told that we wanted to discover how happy they were at school but that their names would not be recorded on the answer sheet. Every child was questioned using a questionnaire My life in school (Arora & Wolverhampton, 1992) about their experiences during the past week in school. This tool was chosen as it was used in a research study investigating bullying and specific language impairment (Knox & ContiRamsden, 2003). It measures the childs own report of how they interpreted an event, rather than attempting to gather objective data on incidences of bullying made known to school authorities. Such data is commonly thought to represent only the tip of the iceberg. There is a danger that self report by children may exaggerate the extent of the problem, however there is strength in investigating how children themselves perceive positive and negative events in school. The questions administered range from happy and positive experiences to those that would be unhappy and negative. Some of the unhappy experiences fit the definition of being bullied. The quiz is quick, taking around 5 minutes including training. The language of the questionnaire is simple and only requires a pointing response to one of three symbols (never / once / more than once). The child is first trained to understand how to answer about events during that week in school (How often did you have lunch this week? = Point to more than once). The test could not continue if children were unable to use concepts relating to time and frequency. This eliminated a few children in Reception. When Knox & Conti-Ramsden used this questionnaire they applied stiff criteria to score items that they consid-

Targeting bullying
ered bullying. We decided to include some more items that we felt were victimisation, such as got a gang onto me. But we only scored events that the child said had happened more than once that week. So far our results give us the following raw data: 1. Under the criteria we used for bullying, the children we interviewed with communication disability did experience more than typically developing children (more than double) see figure 1. 2. The children we interviewed with communication disability experienced most bullying events when in a language unit, but there was little difference between children with communication disability in mainstream and special school see figure 2. 3. We do not have sufficient data yet to draw conclusions about the effect of age; so far we suspect that our junior age children in language units are the most likely to be the victims of bullying. Figure 1 Bullying events related to communication disability
Average number of bullying events

Are children with communication disability targeted disproportionately by school bullies? Does school setting or age make a difference? How might this affect decisions on school placement and support? Catherine de la Bedoyere shares preliminary findings of a study in one local authority area.

There are many ways of looking at the results depending on what is scored as bullying. Narrow descriptors for bullying are tried to kick me or tried to hit me, whilst broad descriptors include called me names or got a gang on me. Broad and narrow descriptions of bullying both showed that the children with communication disability in our sample suffered more bullying than other children. We were only able to look at the older age range (10+) across two special schools as our therapists in these settings were unavailable until the end of term. Also we found it was very difficult to interview controls children without any communication disability - in special school. In the end we selected some children who had primarily physical difficulties or emotional difficulties. It just so happened that these children appeared to be the happiest we talked to! Our results provide clear evidence to support the view that children with communication disability are particuFigure 2 Bullying events related to location
Average number of bullying events

1.4 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0

CD TDC CD = Children with Communication Disability (N = 58) TDC = Typically Developing Children (N = 38)

2 1.5 1 0.5 0
MS LU SS MS = Children with communication disability in mainstream schools LU = Children with communication disability in Language Units SS = Children with communication disability in Special Schools

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SPEECH & LANGUAGE THERAPY IN PRACTICE SPRING 2007

CREATIVE SHORTS / READER OFFER

larly vulnerable to bullying in school, and that special consideration needs to be given to the pros and cons of a language unit placement for the childs overall benefit. In Kingston we have developed inclusion alternatives to language units that have produced good outcomes for the children, both in terms of impairment and social function. Where language unit placement is considered the best option for a child this research suggests that the head teacher has a particular need to enforce all anti-bullying strategies in the school to encourage positive attitudes to disability.

WIN SQUIRREL STORY NARRATIVE ASSESSMENT AND MR GOODGUESS!

Black Sheep Press continues its association with Speech & Language Therapy in Practice by offering two new assessments in a free prize draw.

Positive note
No-one wants any child to experience bullying. But being on the receiving end of a small number of unpleasant occurrences seems to the norm for all children, in whatever setting. On a more positive note our data shows us that: When we include all bullying events, even if they happened just once in the previous week, the average child with communication disability only experienced around three bullying events in a week; typically developing children experienced between two and three. Again when we include all bullying events (one or more in the week), a quarter of the children with communication disability did not experience any. If we apply only narrow descriptors for bullying, this rises to 66 per cent. It is worth remembering that having a communication disability does not, in itself, mean that a child will experience bullying. At no time did my team discover a child whose experiences gave them such concern that they felt it was necessary to take further action to help the child. These are the preliminary findings from just one local authority. We intend to gather more data before reaching firm conclusions and suggesting a practical response. I hope this article has captured your interest and inspired you to help us collect data; if so please contact me for details.

First up is Squirrel Story, a semi-formal narrative assessment to help you with therapy goals and curriculum planning for any child with language needs. It includes instructions and a stimulus booklet and the score sheets are photocopiable. Aimed at children from three to six years, Squirrel Story is not norm referenced although guideline scores are presented from a sample of 100 children. Designed to be administered quickly by therapists, teachers, early years workers and teaching assistants, the resource provides a profile of six key areas of narrative. Squirrel Story normally costs 35 but you have a chance to win one of TWO copies FREE. Simply e-mail your name and address with Squirrel Story offer in the subject line to alan@ blacksheeppress.co.uk. All entries must be received by 25th April. The winners will be notified by 1st May 2007.

References
Arora, T. & Wolverhampton, L. (1992) My Life in School Checklist, in Sharp, S. & Smith, P. (eds.) Tackling bullying in your school. London: Routledge. De La Bedoyere, C. (2006) Dealing with Bullies & Bullying, Talking Point [Online]. Available at: www.talkingpoint. org.uk (Accessed 4 January 2007). Knox E & Conti-Ramsden G (2003) Bullying risks of 11 year old children with specific language impairment: does school placement matter?, International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders 38(1), pp.1-12. SLTP

Mr Goodguess
Next we have Mr Goodguess, a pack of 65 worksheets to help children develop skills in drawing inferences. Five sections cover home, out and about, events, emotions and useful things, and include sheets for home practice. As the name suggests, the tasks involve discussing the illustrated scenarios and considering What Mr Goodguess thinks... Designer Catherine Redmayne suggests the resource is most appropriate for children with a language age between 41/2 and 6 years. Mr Goodguess is available in A4 card format or on a CD-Rom which is licensed for five computers on one site. To win one of TWO copies of the CD version FREE, e-mail your name and address with Mr Goodguess offer in the subject line to alan@blacksheeppress. co.uk by 25th April. The winners will be notified by 1st May 2007. The full range of Black Sheep Press resources is at www.blacksheep-epress.com.

Catherine de la Bedoyere is co-ordinator of speech and language services for East Sussex County Council, e-mail Catherine_ de_la_bedoyere@ hotmail.com.

SPEECH & LANGUAGE THERAPY IN PRACTICE SPRING 2007

Reader offers
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Squirrel Story