A Brighter Outlook on Bullying and Vision Challenges
By Hannah Shapiro, Vision Therapist
I think most of us who wear glasses have been called “four-eyes” at one point in our lives, and if you don’t wear glasses, you have most likely directed this classic taunt at one of your friends or family members who does wear them. Glasses are an accessory, and most of the time this jest comes across as playful.
But what do we do when the insults are directed at something that can’t easily be taken away? When they target something like an eye turn or poor reading comprehension, things that can strike someone to their core.
Today’s blog post is going to explore how we at Brighter Outlook Vision can not only help treat your child’s binocular vision dysfunction, but also help them navigate some of the psychosocial implications that this dysfunction may cause.
UNICEF defines bullying as a pattern of behavior, not an isolated event, in which someone intends to cause harm to another person through their actions or words. There have been multiple studies that assess the likelihood and impact that visual impairments have on children and bullying. These studies have found the following:
The good news is that early intervention has been shown to reduce the risk of a child being bullied.
Regardless of when you start, undergoing vision therapy gives your child the best chance at improving their visual system and reducing the potential for bullying related to vision difficulties.
What can we do if one of our patients is being bullied or has been bullied in the past?
In an article published by the NIH, Dr. Debra Pepler of York University suggests a “binocular perspective” to bullying interventions. The article indicates that concern exists for both the children who are being bullied and those who engage in bullying behaviors. Pepler declares that:
The article goes on to explain that the developmental and systemic theories of bullying must be considered simultaneously. The developmental theory focuses on the individual, emphasizing behaviors, motivations, and challenges in order to develop a personalized approach. The systemic perspective examines the relationships children have within their homes and communities to determine whether those relationships influence the bullying that occurs.
Using this binocular perspective, researchers identified two key principles that guide effective intervention: scaffolding and social architecture.
“Scaffolding focuses on providing tailored and dynamic supports for the needs of individual children who bully or who are victimized. Social architecture requires that adults focus on the social dynamics of children’s groups and create social contexts that promote positive peer interactions and dissipate contexts that foster negative interactions.”
The article also provides examples of how these principles can be implemented.
Scaffolding can occur moment to moment. One example is before school, when parents of a bullied child talk through strategies such as staying with friends and avoiding bullies during lunchtime.
Social architecture is described as an “opportunity to structure children’s peer groups to promote positive peer experiences and to deconstruct negative peer experiences.” This can be done in the following three steps:
- Separate the bully from the victim (during this time, scaffolding can be used to redirect negative behaviors into more positive ones so that the bully can eventually be reintegrated into the group).
- Place victimized children in a positive social context.
- Promote a positive, respectful, accepting, and supportive climate within the social group.
We help correct vision issues so that your child isn’t bullied for their strabismus.
Our staff is clinically trained to help restore proper visual system function for you or your child, and we are also deeply committed to creating a safe, non-judgmental space where patients can share their experiences and feel supported throughout the process.
If your child is getting bullied, don’t wait. They can make significant gains that will help improve the aesthetic and function of their eyes!
We are here to support you every step of the way on your healing journey, with Brighter Outlooks ahead.
