In today's NY Times Dr. Perri Klass, a pediatrician, authored an article with some excellent advice on the subject of bullying, and how pediatricians can help parents and schools to recognize problems, and to more effectively combat this problem.
Dr. Klass notes that the American Academy of Pediatrics will publish an updated policy on the pediatrician's role in preventing bullying, and she wrote that the policy will now have a section on bullying including a recommendation that schools adopt a prevention model developed by a research professor of psychology at Norway's University of Bergen.
One of the lead authors of the new policy states, in this article, that the prevention model cited focuses upon the largest group of children in bullying situations, the bystanders, and the second lead author added that one-fourth of all children report that they have been involved in bullying, either as victims or as bullies.
In one of the more revealing statements by Dr. Klass, or perhaps affirming statements (for those parents whose children or whose nieces or nephews or grandchildren have themselves been victims), she notes:
“By definition, bullying involves repetition; a child is repeatedly the target of taunts or physical attacks - or, in the case of so-called indirect bullying (more common among girls), rumors and social exclusion. For a successful anti-bullying program, the school needs to survey the children and find out the details - where it happens, when it happens.”
To take advantage of the insight of Dr. Klass, and the American Academy of Pediatrics' new policy guidelines, and the model developed by the University of Bergen, it will require each school district to be open to new ideas, and to recognize that it can always improve if it does not act as if it is already the source of all wisdom.
This seems another example of the need to be open to a Best Practices philosophy.
Dr. Klass' article, on page D5 of Tuesday's Times, or available on the NY Times website [“At Last, Facing Down Bullies (and their Enablers)], is worth your consideration.
About Me
- Jerry Hannon
- After a thirty year career at Chase, serving as a Managing Director and Global Relationship Manager, I took early retirement in the summer of 2000, and that enabled me to become active in community, school district, and town activities. Since 2004, I have been a member of the Elwood School District's Citizens Finance/Budget Advisory Committee, and since 2005 I have been a member of its Audit Committee, and serve on three other committees of the district. During the 2006/07 school year I was President of the Elwood PTA Council, and I remain active in PTA activities. In the community I serve as EVP for Community Affairs of the Old Chester Hills Civic Association, and served the Town of Huntington as a member of its Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee. For thirty five years, I have been a Director of the NY Council of the Navy League, and currently am Chair of its Audit Committee. A Vietnam Veteran, I retired as a Commander in the US Navy Reserve, and previously commanded two Naval Security Group reserve units.