Learning to say 'stop' Pupils with learning disabilities are raising awareness about bullying with their own DVD

Caroline RobertsTuesday December 4, 2007
GuardianA series of faces flash up on the screen. Each subject looks directly into the camera and says, "I've been bullied" or "I've been a bully". The faces belong to a group of pupils with learning disabilities who are previewing part of the DVD they are making to explore the issue of bullying. Although they giggle at each other and pretend to cringe when their own image appears, there's obvious excitement at seeing themselves on screen, and pride in their work, which will be used to help raise awareness among mainstream pupils about "disablist" bullying.
The DVD is part of a project funded by a grant from the national lottery and run by Roundabout, an organisation that provides dramatherapy to schools and other social and healthcare settings in the London area. The participants, pupils at Cricket Green School for Children with Diverse Needs in Merton, south London, are on the autistic spectrum or have another form of developmental delay. Like many children with learning disabilities, they have personal experience of bullying.
Physical abuse
Last month, a report by the charity Mencap revealed that eight out of 10 children with a learning disability have been bullied, and for six out of 10 it has involved physical abuse. With 40% of the children saying that the bullying continued even though they told someone, the report raises concerns that their plight is not being taken seriously enough. This may be partly because children with learning disabilities can find it hard to understand what is happening to them and give a clear account of events. "They may take everything literally and have problems reading facial expression and social cues. This can mean that it's very easy for other children to manipulate them and get them into trouble," explains Cricket Green's headteacher, Celia Dawson.
Dramatherapy can be of particular benefit to them, says Lynn Cedar, one of the project leaders. "Many children with learning disabilities find it hard to express their feelings verbally," she says. "Taking on a character in a story allows them to explore those emotions in a safe environment and in a more distanced way."
The weekly sessions use the pupils' own experiences as starting points for dramatisations that help them to explore different outcomes and resolutions.
One of the group, 14-year-old Luke Pillay, who has Asperger's syndrome, suffered bullying at his previous school, where a year of taunts culminated in a vicious physical attack. "This bully put his fist in my face and all his friends pushed me down on the ground and kicked me in my stomach, my head, everywhere," he says. "I was upset and terrified."
Like many of the children in the survey, he had complained about the bullying prior to the attack but felt that little was done to help him. "The teachers always said I hurt them first," he explains.
"He was traumatised and it was painful for me to drop him off at school," says his father, Morris Pillay. "He would say things like 'Dad, I'm going to my death'. The onus was always on him to explain what was going on. My son has speech and language difficulties, but he deserves to be heard." After the attack, Luke's father took him out of school and it was a year before he was able to find a place at Cricket Green, following the family's move to the area.
Position of power
"Pupils often arrive from mainstream schools with their self-esteem at rock bottom," says Dawson. One of the main aims of the dramatherapy sessions is to counteract this. "If they can learn to carry themselves with confidence, they are less likely to be picked on," says Cedar. Even the warm-up activities are designed to allow each pupil their moment in the spotlight. "It's important to give them the experience of being in a position of power within the group," she says.
After the warm-up, two of the pupils explore a confrontational situation in which they are only allowed to use the words "yes" and "no". Eventually, Lewis, who is watching intently, has had enough and gets up to intervene with a forceful "stop it". They all agree that "stop" is a key word.
After the session, the two dramatherapists make notes on each pupil's contribution and responses before deciding on the specific issues to be explored the next week.
When the DVD is completed early next year, it will be used in mainstream schools as a starting point for discussion and workshop activities. As well as giving pupils with learning disabilities a voice and a sense of achievement, those involved in the project hope it will help non-disabled pupils to understand them better. "They need to understand what it feels like to be disempowered by bullying, but also to focus on these pupils' abilities, not their disabilities," says Cedar.
EducationGuardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007