The Orange County Health Care Agency recently sponsored the second annual Bullying Prevention Conference. Held at the Orange County Department of Education, the conference brought together professionals from various county agencies with the goal of educating teachers and other professionals and para-professionals.
Check out the rest of my latest Examiner.com article.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit Wednesday after three northwest Indiana teens were kicked out of school over statements written on Facebook.
The ACLU filed suit against Griffith Middle School in Griffith Indiana for violating the students’ rights to free speech.
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A study conducted by the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center (MARC) looking at the role technology in cyberbullying has shown that students are gaining complete access to the internet at earlier ages. The increased access is occurring at a time when bullying, particularly for young girls, reaches some of its highest levels of incidence.
The study showed that more than ninety percent of children are online by third grade, with most of their time there spent playing games. Further, around twenty percent of the children had their own cell phone. This percentage increases steadily through middle school where around eighty-four percent of children have their own cells. Of that eighty-four percent, ninety percent reported that their phones had texting service and internet access.
Elizabeth K. Englander, PhD, Director of MARC (Credit to article.wn.com)
Elizabeth K. Englander, PhD, the study’s director, uses this information to make some significant recommendations concerning bullying:
Education on cyberbullying and cyber-behaviors needs to begin well before Middle School. Children are all online by third grade and over twenty percent report experiencing problems with peers online.
Elementary school should consider adopting cell phone policies. By fifth grade, forty percent of children reported having cell phones.
Schools need to ensure that their bullying and cyberbullying prevention programs are visible to students. Merely the fact of a program’s existence is a way of impressing upon students the gravity of bullying and cyberbullying.
Greg will be discussing the first two chapters of “How to Bully Proof Your Child” on Sunday, April 15th at 5:00. The show can be listened to live or later at any time. Please click here to listen to the show.
A local San Gabriel boy has produced a two-part anti-bullying film. Check out my story for Examiner.com here.
Gerry Orz
Unless you’ve been living under a rock (or in some tropical island somewhere, and if the latter is the case, lucky you!) you are aware how severe a situation bullying has become not only in our schools, but more recently in our homes.
Bullying today has become such a prevalent problem, that celebrities today have not been shy about jumping on the “anti-bullying” bandwagon. Celebrities from Ellen DeGeneres to Anne Hathaway to Justin Bieber have taken a stand to speak out against bullying.
Continue reading on Examiner.com Celebrities join the war against bullying! – Anaheim relationship counseling | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/relationship-counseling-in-anaheim/celebrities-join-the-war-against-bullying#ixzz1qJrkyoya
Michele Branch and her husband Greg have teamed up to fight bullying through Bully Proofed. Visit their site to learn about what they are doing or visit them on Facebook.
Bully Proofed represents the combined efforts of Gregory and Michele Branch to help eradicate bullying in schools. As a special education attorney in Orange County, California, Gregory found himself frequently turning to his wife Michele to talk over bullying problems that his clients were encountering. Michele is a licensed school counselor, Marriage and Family and Therapist, and Professional Clinical Counselor. Bringing over twenty years educational experience himself as a teacher and school administrator, Gregory still found himself amazed at the extent of the bullying that special needs children face. A long conversation with Michele one evening led to the idea for Bully Proofed. They realized that their combined skills represented a unique combination of talents and experiences. That kitchen table dialog led them to decide to reach out and begin writing the free e-book that will very soon be available to any parent who needs help protecting their child from bullying.