Is an ASD child capable of bullying

Hello,

I wonder if anyone has any experience of their ASD child being targeted by another ASD child in SEN school. 

My son is now suicidal after months of name-calling, being targeted in play, threatened with being physically hurt, actually being physically hurt, being excluded from invitations etc, 

School are failing to recognise this behaviour as bullying. They have yet to explain why, but I expect it will be something along the lines of it’s not intentional. The children are high functioning and the class teacher and class staff have tried so much to get the boy to stop. Nothing works. 

So my question is - is this bullying? The effects on my son are the same. He is frightened of this boy and deserves a safe environment. Can a child with ASD really not recognise or learn that their behaviour is wrong and must stop. The boy is also manipulative and tells lies. School know this. 

thanks for reading and for any thoughts. 

Parents
  • I mean it’s posable to be autistic and a jerk. Unfortunately I think generally it takes an autistic person to point out an autistic person is a jerk. Not because only autistic people have the moral authority but because it’s very hard for anyone other than an autistic person to point to the specific point where not understanding the other persons needs crossed into not caring about them instead.

    on the other hand is it posable to be so insensitive, as a consequence of autism, so as to deeply upset someone without realising? Absolutely. And in that case they won’t get each other’s behaviour until they hash it out, face to face, probably with a responsible adult to facilitate the conversation and stop it turning into name calling. Think of this as being an approach a bit like restorative justice.

    your son can get closure by understanding his bully’s motivations. The bully can be rehabilitated by understanding the consequences of his actions and the flimsiness of some of the excuses he’s used to justify it to himself.

    that approach could be quite productive but it might take hours of dialog if they are both stubborn and immature.

Reply
  • I mean it’s posable to be autistic and a jerk. Unfortunately I think generally it takes an autistic person to point out an autistic person is a jerk. Not because only autistic people have the moral authority but because it’s very hard for anyone other than an autistic person to point to the specific point where not understanding the other persons needs crossed into not caring about them instead.

    on the other hand is it posable to be so insensitive, as a consequence of autism, so as to deeply upset someone without realising? Absolutely. And in that case they won’t get each other’s behaviour until they hash it out, face to face, probably with a responsible adult to facilitate the conversation and stop it turning into name calling. Think of this as being an approach a bit like restorative justice.

    your son can get closure by understanding his bully’s motivations. The bully can be rehabilitated by understanding the consequences of his actions and the flimsiness of some of the excuses he’s used to justify it to himself.

    that approach could be quite productive but it might take hours of dialog if they are both stubborn and immature.

Children
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