Did You Know...

Teasing and Bullying:

• Affects 82% of school children who stutter
• Can be physical e.g. punching
• Can be verbal e.g. mimicking (pretending to stutter)
• Can be emotional e.g. excluding people from groups or activities
• May affect your feelings about yourself e.g. you may feel embarrassed, emotional or ashamed about your stuttering4

Teasing and bullying is not acceptable. Don't make excuses. Teasing and bullying should not be excused regardless of the place, the time or type of teasing and bullying4.

What You Can Do If You Are Teased or Bullied

There are lots of things you can try. Whatever strategy you use, remember to be confident. You can show confidence through the tone of your voice, good eye contact and other strong body language. Try some different ways of reacting to a bully. You could brainstorm and practise some strategies with a friend or adult33.

Strategies to deal with being teased and bullied include:

• Avoiding
• Ignoring
• Confronting
• Making a joke of it
• Talking to an adult or friend about it33

A combination of strategies may work best for you. Confrontation and using jokes are better strategies because they make you feel good about yourself for standing up to the bully. You will feel more confident and the teasing and bullying may reduce.

Avoiding

You may avoid a person or situation so that you are not teased or bullied,
e.g. take a different route home from school, sit somewhere different at lunchtime, stay within sight of teachers in the schoolground.

Although avoidance is an easy strategy to use, you may be missing out on things you want to do and places you want to go to avoid being teased or bullied.

Ignoring

If you ignore a bully, it shows them that their teasing and bullying doesn't bother you. Sometimes this strategy works, but not all bullies will lose interest - some may keep teasing and bullying you.

Confronting

You can confront the bully at the moment he/she teases you.

Bully: You're stupid- you stutter.
You: So what? Stuttering doesn't make me stupid.

Bully: What's wrong with you?
You: Nothing, sometimes I stutter.

This strategy works well because you stand up for yourself, which will make you feel confident and good about yourself.

Making a joke of it

You can make a joke in response to being teased or bullied.

Bully: Hi, St- St- St- Stan!
You: Oh, do you stutter too?

Bully: You stutter!
You: Yes, I do stutter. Congratulations, do you want a trophy?

Talking to an adult or friend

This strategy is one of the best. Read on...

Who You Can Talk To

It is important to talk to someone about being teased and bullied. You shouldn't have to put up with teasing and bullying on your own.

You could talk to your:

• Parents
• Teachers, principal, school nurse, counsellor or chaplain
• Speech pathologist, family doctor, social worker or psychologist
• Adult relatives or adult friends you trust
• Friends or class mates

Friends can be very helpful because they know you well and care about you. Friends can "protect" you from bullies, e.g. by ensuring you are not alone in the schoolyard.

Adults can be very helpful by listening to your concerns and helping you to think of ways to deal with being bullied and teased.

If you don't have an adult to talk to, or you just want to talk to someone anonymously, contact one of these organizations. You don't have to say your name:

Lifeline 13 11 14
www.lifeline.org.au

Kids Help Line - (5-18years)
(free call) 1800 55 1800
www.kidshelpline.com.au
Email: counsellor@kidshelp.com.au

For more information on bullying, check out this website:
Anxiety Disorders Association of Victoria
www.adavic.org/bullying

If You are Feeling Sad or Depressed...

Some people who stutter can feel sad, lonely, isolated or depressed. Other people can feel like hurting or harming themselves. If you experience any of these feelings, it is very important that you talk to someone about how you feel. You don't have to deal with things on your own, so please seek help.

Please talk to an adult you trust, or contact Lifeline or Kids Help Line using the details listed above.

For more information about depression, check out these sites:

Head room
www.justask.org.au

Reach out
www.reachout.com.au/home/asp

Beyond Blue
www.beyondblue.org.au