Students learn effects, ways to combat bullying from Sam Houston Council for Exceptional Children

Chad A. Rose, Ph.D., assistant professor in the department of language, literacy and special populations, who specializes in researching bullying, highlighted the effects of bullying on K-12 students and several ways for educators to counter bullying.

Rose identified key ways in which teachers can fight bullying when they see it including empowering bystanders to influence minority to stop bullying, establish anti-bullying alliances, and incorporate social skills into their curriculum.

"All of these students are pre-service teachers and will be in the classroom soon," Rose said. "They need to be equipped with this information to be prepared for the classroom."

For education students in attendance, the information was beneficial to apply in the classroom.

"It’s good to reinforce this information [about bullying] because academics are pushed so much in schools and teachers are expected to teach so many things," Stevie Mellado, senior education major, said. "Sometimes bullying is overlooked because of it."

However, Rose said the effects of bullying and how to stop it is important, not just for education students, but for everyone to know due to growing cases of bullying in other places.

"[Bullying] is impacting every community," Rose said. "There are cases where it happens at work, and even to adults. These things about stopping it are important for parents, schools and communities to know."

According to Rose, three kids committed suicide in Texas in 2010, including one near Huntsville.

He added that with such recent cases, it’s important to establish self-worth, belonging to provide more options to not hurt themselves, a view shared by some students in attendance.

"This message goes outside education majors because it happens in schools and gets passed down to our kids," senior education major Casey Bayless said. "The video we saw today showed that if more people stood up about it, it would help students."

The seminar was a part of a monthly meeting of the Sam Houston Council for Exceptional Children, an organization that provides professional development opportunities for education students and keeps them updated on research and service in the field.

For more information, visit the SCEC online at www.shsu.edu/~org_shcec/.