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Beogradska defektološka škola
2007, iss. 2, pp. 211-230
article language: Serbian
Review Paper
Children with disabilities as bully victims
University of Belgrade, Faculty of Defectology

Abstract

Bullying relates to the persistent, repeated and social unacceptable behavior that could cause intentional harm to another in relationship of unbalanced power. Almost all definitions of the bullying incorporate three distinctive features mentioned above: harassment of the victim occurs over the extended period of time; bullies intentional cause physical and (or) emotional harm to the victim; imbalance of the power is apparent. There is no much information on peer-victimization of the children with disabilities. However, it seems that students with disabilities have a greater likelihood of being bullied than non-disabled students. It is not clear at this point whether an overt disability could be seen as a predisposing factor for peer victimization. Some other factors such as: few numbers of friendship relations, withdrawnness, oversensitivity to verbal violence and insufficient social cognition (i. e. lack of the theory of mind) could easily put disabled children into position of bully victims. Prevention and reduction of peer victimization should be carefully planned in the specific program directed to the children with disabilities.

Keywords

bullying; children; disability; peer victimization

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