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Responses to bullying and use of social support

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Article in Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs · May 2010

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Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs · Volume 10 · Number 2 · 2010
doi: 10.1111/j.1471-3802.2010.01146.x
Responses to bullying and use of social support
among pupils with autism spectrum disorders
(ASDs) in mainstream schools: a qualitative study
Neil Humphrey and Wendy Symes
The University of Manchester
Key words: Autism spectrum disorders, bullying, social support and inclusion.
Increasing numbers of pupils with autism spectrum
disorder (ASD) are attending mainstream schools.
However, the available evidence suggests that they
face a number of barriers that may prevent them
from making the most of their education. In particu-
lar, recent research has suggested that they are
more likely to be bullied, and typically report receiv-
ing more inconsistent social support than children
with other or no special educational needs. In light
of this, the aims of the current study were to identify
the role social support plays in determining pupils’
response to bullying and to identify barriers to the
development and utilisation of social support when
bullying occurs. Thirty-six participants with ASD
(age range 11–16 years), drawn from 12 secondary
mainstream schools in the north-west of England,
were interviewed as part of a larger study examin-
ing inclusive education for this particular group of
learners. Data were transcribed verbatim and sub-
jected to thematic analysis, and a theoretical
framework for understanding the responses to bul-
lying and use of social support among pupils with
ASD was subsequently developed. Key themes in
the framework included the role played by potential
advocates and their perceived efficacy in providing
support, pupils’ relationship histories and a lack of
trust in other people. These findings are discussed
in relation to the growing literature on inclusive
education for pupils with ASD.
Introduction
The effective inclusion of pupils with autism spectrum dis-
orders (ASDs) in mainstream schools is acknowledged as
one of the most complex and poorly understood area of
education (Humphrey and Lewis, 2008). Increasing
numbers of such pupils are being educated in mainstream
settings in England (Keen and Ward, 2004) and internation-
ally (Dybvik, 2004), but a growing evidence base suggests
that schools’ capacity to cater for their needs has not kept
pace. For instance, pupils with ASD are much more likely
to be excluded than pupils with other or no special educa-
tional needs (SEN) (Barnard, Prior and Potter, 2000;
Department for Education and Skills, 2006; National Autis-
82
82–90
jrs3_1146 82..90
tic Society, 2003). Furthermore, they are at least three times
more likely to be bullied than other pupils, and report
receiving significantly less social support from parents,
classmates and friends (Humphrey and Symes, in press).
Finally, pupils with ASD in mainstream schools are at sig-
nificantly greater risk of developing mental health problems
(e.g., anxiety and depression) than other groups of learners
(e.g., Barnhill, 2001; Evans et al., 2005). These findings
form a worrying pattern and present a major challenge to
the inclusion movement.
The reasons why pupils with ASD educated in mainstream
settings appear to be at an increased risk for such deleteri-
ous outcomes are numerous. There is often an assumption
that because a pupil is academically able (as is typically the
case with included pupils with ASD), he or she should be
able to ‘cope’ in a mainstream school (Moore, 2007). As a
result, many educators find it difficult to reconcile the aca-
demic talents of pupils with their often severe difficulties in
navigating the social world. Furthermore, the preference
for routine, predictability and low sensory stimulation
expressed by pupils with ASD is at odds with the noisy,
bustling and chaotic environment of mainstream schools –
particularly at secondary level (Moore, 2007; Wing, 2007).
The typical cognitive profile and preferred learning styles of
such pupils also challenge professional assumptions about
teaching and learning more than other groups of learners
(Jordan, 2005).
Social support and bullying
Discourse around the notion of ‘inclusion’ has changed
significantly in recent years in two key ways. The focus of the
term has shifted from referring to those considered to have
SEN to any learners within a school that may be at risk of
marginalisation (Ainscow, 2008). In parallel, inclusion has
evolved from a term describing where particular groups of
learners are educated (e.g., mainstream or specialist educa-
tion) to a much broader consideration of the quality of their
experiences in school (Farrell, 2001). Thus, modern defini-
tions of inclusive education typically refer to the presence,
participation, acceptance and achievement of all pupils in
school (Ainscow, 2007). Within this emergent framework, it
is possible to identify the key indicators of the extent to
which pupils can be considered to be effectively included.
© 2010 The Authors
Journal compilation © 2010 nasen

Two key social indicators of inclusion – bullying and social
support – may be particularly crucial. Bullying is widely
defined as ‘the systematic abuse of power’ (Smith, 2004, p.
98). Pupils with ASD may be at an increased risk of bully-
ing because of their impaired social skills – particularly
during adolescence, when social life becomes more com-
plicated (Wainscot, Naylor and Sutcliffe et al., 2008). Fur-
thermore, their behaviour is often viewed as ‘odd’ or
‘strange’ by their peers, making them easy targets for
bullies (Humphrey and Lewis, 2008). They may be less
likely to report incidents of bullying to school staff because
their social cognition problems can lead them to assume
that others are already aware of what has happened (Moore,
2007) or because they simply do not understand that they
are actually being bullied (particularly with more subtle
forms of bullying – National Autistic Society, 2006).
Research has confirmed that pupils with ASD typically
experience high levels of bullying (Little, 2002; Wainscot
et al., 2008).
Social support can also provide a useful index of inclusion
for pupils with ASD. Defined by Dumont and Provost
(1999) as ‘a multidimensional concept that includes the
support actually received (informative, emotional and
instrumental) and the sources of the support (friends,
family, strangers)’ (p. 345), social support is recognised as
an important resource that protects children from the nega-
tive effects of life stressors (Sandra, Miller and Short et al.,
1989). It is proposed that social support acts as a buffer that
offsets the impact of stress on well-being (Dumont and
Provost, 1999) – a prediction given some credence in
research with adults with ASD (e.g., Muller, Schuler and
Yates, 2008; Renty and Roeyers, 2006).
In relation to pupils with ASD, it is proposed that social
support may help to build the resilience in pupils that they
need to cope with the negative effects of being bullied, and
indeed may serve to reduce the risk of exposure to bullying
behaviour among vulnerable groups. These notions are lent
some support by recent research by Humphrey and Symes
(in press), who found that pupils with ASD experienced
higher frequency of bullying and lower levels of social
support from parents, classmates and friends than either
pupils with other or no SEN. Their analyses examining the
relationship between social support and bullying indicated
that receiving support from classmates was the most impor-
tant means of reducing the frequency of bullying.
The current study
The current study was conceived in response to a number of
interrelated issues. At the most general level, we felt it could
add to the knowledge base about inclusive education for
pupils with ASD – an area where there have been calls for
further research (e.g., Humphrey and Parkinson, 2006).
More specifically, there has been a lack of explanatory
research on the relationship between social support and
bullying among pupils with ASD. The aforementioned
study by Humphrey and Symes (in press) was entirely
quantitative in nature, and so hypotheses about exactly how
different sources and levels of social support relate to bul-
lying among such pupils are necessarily speculative.
© 2010 The Authors
Journal compilation © 2010 nasen
Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, 10 82–90
Our intention was to address these issues by examining the
relationship between social support and bullying from the
perspectives of pupils with ASD. It has become increasingly
accepted that ‘insider accounts’ provide professionals with
a valuable source of information when developing practice
(Billington, 2006), and Carrington and Graham (2001),
commenting specifically on the experience of schooling for
pupils with ASD, stated that ‘more qualitative research in
the field of autism is necessary to achieve in-depth explo-
ration of the real-life experiences of those individuals from
their own perspective’ (p. 47).
Our specific objectives were to (1) identify the role social
support plays in determining the pupils’ response to bully-
ing and (2) identify barriers to the development and utilisa-
tion of social support where bullying occurs. All of the data
reported in this paper were collected during the execution of
a larger project on inclusive education for pupils with ASD
funded by the Economic and Social Research Council
(grant reference RES-061-25-0054).
Methodology
Design
Given the focus upon pupil views and experiences, it is
possible to construe the methodological approach of the
study as phenomenological in nature. In general, phenom-
enological research aims to clarify the situations lived
through by individuals in everyday life (Giorgi and Giorgi,
2003); in this study, the specific aspects of everyday life that
were of interest were social support and bullying. Consis-
tent with this methodological approach (and, indeed, quali-
tative research in general), we sought methods that would
allow us to explore the perspectives of participants and to
examine their experiences in the contexts in which they
occurred. As such, semi-structured interviews were utilised
for data generation (see Method).
Participants
Thirty-six pupils with ASD (age range 11–16 years) partici-
pated in the study. These pupils were drawn from 12 sec-
ondary schools in the north-west of England. The original
sample size was to be 40, but 3 pupils declined participation
and 1 was excluded from school before his interview could
take place. All pupils had a diagnosis of an ASD and were
on their school’s SEN register. Table 1 provides an over-
view of each participants’ age, sex, Gilliam Autism Rating
Scale score, and degree of SEN support provided by the
school. Table 2 provides an overview of each schools’ size,
urban/rural designation, attainment, the socioeconomic
status of its catchment area, and proportion of pupils with
SEN.
Method
Semi-structured interview. Semi-structured interviews are
among the most widely used data collection methods in
educational and psychological research (Banister, 1994;
Hopf, 2004). Interviews, as a research method in studies
involving individuals with AS, provide a voice for partici-
pants and a window into their thoughts, feelings and expe-
riences in a field dominated by impersonal experimental
83
Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, 10 82–90

Table 1: Background details for each participant in the current study

Participant School Year Group Sex GARS1 SEN Support2
1 1 7 Male Unlikely –
2 2 7 Male Possibly School Action
3 2 10 Male Possibly Statement
4 3 7 Male – Statement
5 3 7 Male – Statement
6 3 8 Male – SA+
7 3 10 Male – Statement
8 4 9 Female – Statement
9 4 11 Male – SA+
10 5 11 Male Very Likely Statement
11 6 9 Male – –
12 6 8 Male Unlikely –
13 7 10 Male – Statement
14 7 10 Male – SA+
15 7 9 Male – Statement
16 7 9 Male – Statement
17 7 9 Male – SA+
18 7 7 Male – Statement
19 8 8 Male – –
20 8 11 Male – –
21 5 11 Male Very Likely Statement
22 5 10 Male Very Likely Statement
23 5 11 Female Very Likely SA+
24 9 9 Female – Statement
25 9 11 Male – Statement
26 10 7 Male Very Likely SA+
27 10 8 Male Very Likely Statement
28 10 9 Male Unlikely SA+
29 10 10 Male Very Likely Statement
30 10 11 Male Very Likely SA+
31 6 10 Male – –
32 3 7 Male – –
33 3 7 Male Unlikely –
34 3 7 Female Very Likely –
35 11 7 Male Very Likely –
36 12 8 Male Possible SA
1
Scores on the Gilliam Autism Rating Scale allow an overall classification of the likelihood that an individual has autism. It is important to note that all 36
pupils had a diagnosis of an autistic spectrum disorder – the GARS data was collected by the second author.
2
Students identified as having special educational needs in schools in England are classified according to the nature and level of additional provision they
receive as a result of their difficulties. Thus, they can be at School Action (SA), School Action Plus (SAP) or in receipt of a Statement of SEN (SSEN). Pupils
at School Action have their special needs met within the schools’ normal resources. Those at School Action Plus are likely to have additional support from
an external agency (e.g. educational psychologist). Finally, students whose needs have not been met at either SA or SAP will typically undergo a full statutory
assessment of their needs, resulting in the production of an SSEN which legally secures a particular level of resources that can be used to support the student.

studies (Humphrey and Parkinson, 2006). In the current
study, interviews were utilised to permit the authors to
explore some of the complex issues surrounding the pupils’
views and experiences of bullying and social support both
within and outside of school.
Ethical considerations
Informed consent was sought at three levels (school, parent
and pupil), and all other standard ethical considerations in
educational and psychological research (e.g., anonymity
and right to withdraw) were followed. As noted above, this
led to three pupils being excluded from the study after they
declined participation.
The nature of the research topic and participants meant that
other considerations were also relevant. First, bullying is a
sensitive issue. As such, we were acutely aware of the
possibility that participants would become upset or anxious

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 Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, 10 82–90

Table 2: Background details for each school in the current study

Attainment (% Socio-economic status Proportion of pupils with
Size (number of of pupils obtaining (% pupils eligible for SEN (as a % of total
School pupils on roll) Urban/Rural 5 A*-C GCSEs) free school meals) number of pupils on roll)
1 1035 Urban 53 9 21.7
2 1254 Urban 56 12 13.9
3 1270 Urban 68 9 11.0
4 1342 Urban 32 24 27.9
5 1454 Urban 42 14 16.6
6 1477 Urban 56 10 19.4
7 992 Urban 53 15 27.3
8 941 Urban 33 36 23.7
9 1057 Urban 53 5 11.5
10 996 Urban 34 19 16.6
11 772 Urban 47 20 42.0
12 1683 Urban 83 2 5.5

during the commission of the study. In such circumstances,
the well-being of the participant is of primary concern, and
we felt that the only ethical response would be to discon-
tinue the interview and seek support for the pupil from
school staff. However, this contingency was not needed –
indeed, most participants were extremely candid.
Second, we were also aware of the fact that pupils with ASD
are a vulnerable group. In light of the possible anxiety and
stress that an in-depth interview with an individual not
known to a pupil could provoke, the pupil interviews were
conducted at the end of the data collection period in each
school (which lasted 1–3 weeks). At this stage, the research-
ers conducting the interviews were ‘known faces’ – some-
body with whom the pupils are familiar, having been
observed by them during five of their lessons and at break-
and lunchtimes as part of the commission of the larger study
(see above).
A final ethical consideration relates to the intrusiveness of
the research – we were keen to avoid disruption to the
normal working patterns of schools and pupils. As such,
data were collected at a convenient time agreed between the
teaching staff and the pupil, such as during form-group
time, lessons from which the pupils were normally with-
drawn and other appropriate contexts (e.g., break time and
lunchtime).
Analytical strategy
Interviews were transcribed verbatim. These data were col-
lated in NVivo 7, a computerised qualitative analysis pro-
gramme. The six basic phases of thematic analysis outlined
by Braun and Clarke (2006) were implemented, namely, (1)
data familiarisation, (2) generation of initial codes, (3)
searching for themes, (4) reviewing themes, (5) defining
and naming themes, and (6) report production. Throughout
this process, the aims and objectives of the research were
used to guide the organisation and interpretation of data.
Consistent with accepted guidelines for analysing qualita-
tive data, any examples of textual passages that did not
conform to the emergent themes (‘negative cases’ or ‘diver-
gences’) were also noted.
Results
The process of thematic analysis described above led to the
development of a theoretical framework for understanding
how pupils with ASD respond to bullying and their utilisa-
tion of social support. This is presented in Figure 1. In basic
terms, pupils in our sample reported a variety of responses
to bullying behaviour, including drawing upon their own
resources, or seeking help and support from school staff,
friends and/or classmates, and parents/family. Decisions
about how to respond were based upon the perceived effi-
cacy of different responses and the social influence of the
pupils’ ‘advocate(s)’. These processes were, in turn, medi-
ated by the relationship history with key potential
advocates/sources of support. Finally, the utilisation of
social support was hindered by a number of factors, includ-
ing traits associated with ASD and a lack of trust in other
people.
Any names included in extracts below are pseudonyms,
created to ensure that the participants’ anonymity is
protected.
Pupil responses to bullying
Seeking help from teachers. Pupils in the current research
responded to bullying using a variety of strategies ranging
from seeking help from a member of the school staff to less
productive methods, such as resorting to violence. Talking
to a teacher or, in some cases, a teaching assistant, appeared
to be the most common response. Differences arise,
however, when considering which teacher would be told.
For some, a trusted ‘confidant’ (‘My head of house, Miss
Jones’) is the first port of call, whereas for others, conve-
nience is more important (‘The teachers that are teaching
the lesson’ or ‘The closest one that’s closest to me’). Some
pupils presented a hierarchy of who they might seek support

© 2010 The Authors

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Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, 10 82–90

Figure 1: Theoretical framework of processes involved in determining responses to bullying and utilisation of social
support among pupils with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in mainstream secondary schools

Pupils’ response to bullying

Seeking support (teachers,

peers, parents/family)
versus
going it alone

Key factors: perceived

efficacy of response and
social influence of advocate

Mediated by

Relationship history with Barriers to the utilisation

potential advocates of social support
Related
Relationships with teachers to Traits associated with ASD

Peer relationships Lack of trust

Desire for solitude

from, depending upon the nature and extent of the problem:
‘I sometimes go to the form tutor if it’s just a little bit bad,
but if it’s any worse I got to . . . Mrs. Smith’. One pupil,
although believing that teachers were best placed to help
him, wanted ‘the teachers to come to me, instead of me
going to them’.
We might assume that teachers are the people pupils turn to
when they are experiencing a problem, as they are arguably
in the position to most effectively deal with the situation.
They have the power to discipline pupils, for example, or to
make changes in the classroom to minimise bullying. This
is supported by the rationale provided by pupils regarding
why they approach their teachers in response to bullying –
the majority feels confident in doing so based on the
assumption that their teachers will aim to rectify the situa-
tion. Many gave examples of occasions when a teacher was
perceived by them as dealing with bullying effectively, such
as ‘I went and told a teacher and he got in trouble for it’ and
‘I usually tell one person first . . . if I think they’re able to
get the most done about it’. A proactive response from
teachers towards bullying can in turn strengthen the pupils’
belief that their concerns are taken seriously: ‘the school is
quite serious about bullying’.
Further, strengthening this assumption about the perceived
efficacy of this avenue of response, pupils were much less
likely to seek help if they did not think that it would be
useful, or could not predict how the teacher would respond:
‘I’ve not had the best teachers in the world and erm . . . I
just er . . . rather not talk to them, ‘cause I don’t know
whether they’re going to come up with a nice comment or
a horrible comment’. Another pupil was reluctant to go to
teachers for help and preferred to deal with bullying
himself. When asked to remember a time when a teacher
had helped sort out a problem for him, he said, ‘I was so
young at that time, I don’t remember it and that was only
once in my whole life’. He also seemed frustrated in the
advice the school gave him. For example, when speaking of
a recent meeting between himself, his parents and his form
tutor following an incident at school, he said how he was
told to ‘stop getting angry’, on which he commented: ‘I
don’t know how the hell I can do that because I have huge
anger management problems’. This was linked to feelings
of frustration and, subsequently, ambivalence: ‘I don’t actu-
ally care what happens as long as the lesson is finished and
I know that’s it’.
In contrast to the general patterns outlined above, there was
an anomaly in one pupil’s reported help-seeking strategies
in that she sought help from her teachers, despite the fact
that their response was typically negative: ‘I’d put my hand
up and say “sir” or “miss, they’re bothering me” and they
just say “Ellie, just get on with your work” and like . . . “oh
my god, I’m only asking!” ’
Support from friends and/or classmates. Participants also
occasionally reported turning to their friends if they were
experiencing a problem with another pupil. For a few,
friends were perceived as a significant form of social
support: ‘I want a friend that can stick up for me and not just
walk away, just stick with me’. As with teachers, they were
more likely to confide in friends if they thought they would
be able to do something about the situation or had some
social influence over the bully: ‘Like if I have a friend who
knows who they are, they might be able to do something
about it’. Friends are also seen as people to turn to: ‘Then
I’d turn to my friends for advice’.

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An interesting paradox in the data was that although the
majority of pupils interviewed reported normally seeking
help from a teacher when they had a problem related to
bullying, it was their friends who are perceived as having
the prominent influence over their well-being, in particu-
lar, feeling safe and secure in school. One pupil, for
example, spoke of how anxious he felt in school when
‘my friends aren’t in’, and another reported feeling happy
in school because ‘[I’ve] got friends that stick up for me’.
Although, as mentioned above, friends are rarely the
primary source of support when a pupil is being bullied, it
would be beneficial to find a way to help pupils better
utilise this relationship with their friends, considering the
influence friendships have on how they feel at school.
Classmates were not seen as a source of support, with
only one pupil providing an example: ‘Sometimes when I
want to be alone, some complete strangers come up to me
and ask me what is wrong. So there are people that do
care for you’.
The role of parents/family. Parents appeared to be the last
resort in terms of support in relation to bullying. Some
pupils were uncomfortable having their parents involved in
their school life, ‘I don’t really like it ‘cause then she [mum]
finds out a few secrets, what I’m up to in school’, and others
did not understand the need for parents to be involved, ‘if
there’s like a bully and they called your parents, I wouldn’t
see the point’. Siblings and other family members could,
however, be a valuable resource for pupils experiencing
problems in school – one spoke of how his sister has ‘stuck
up’ for him. As seen in the previous sections, the decision to
seek help seems to be linked to the belief that the problem
will be resolved: ‘If someone is following me . . . who I
don’t like I ask to see my grandma and then what I do is, I
tell her and what she does is, when they go to lunch she has
a word with them about it’. The reluctance for pupils to
confide in their parents then may not be that they do not
want their family involved per se, but they might not tell
their parents because they do not perceive them as being
able to deal with it directly. This further reinforces the
theory that pupils’ response to bullying in terms of help
seeking is dependent upon the perceived social influence of
advocates and their efficacy in finding a solution to the
problem.
Going it alone. One strategy used by several pupils was to
attempt to deal with the bullying issue themselves, only
seeking help if the problem escalated: ‘[I would] try and
deal with it myself first, then . . . I’d go to a member of
staff’. Approaches to dealing with such problems personally
varied greatly. Some participants attempted to ignore the
bullies (‘I just walk away’); these pupils generally provided
strong justifications for doing so: ‘I just try and ignore them
and that’s the best way to do it and then they’ll just stop
picking on you’. Other pupils, however, dealt with the issue
through violence (‘I don’t really speak to anyone, I just take
my anger out on someone’), often seeing that as the only
course of action: ‘Cause that was just the easiest way for
me, either pay him all the money or get it [bag stolen by
another pupil] back by force, which is what I did’. For some
© 2010 The Authors
Journal compilation © 2010 nasen
Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, 10 82–90
pupils, ‘tit-for-tat’ violence was seen as the only option for
dealing with bullying, even when this strategy had not been
successful in the past. For instance, the pupil quoted above
whose bag had been stolen by another pupil also recounted
another incident where responding with violence had esca-
lated the situation: ‘It was last week actually, this girl was
annoying me, calling me like Simon Cowell and stuff and so
I kicked her one and then she was hitting me loads . . . grab-
bing my hair and pulling it’.
Relationships with potential advocates/sources of support
Relationships with teachers. The processes outlined in the
above theme were mediated by the relationship history
between pupils and their potential advocates/sources of
support. In general, relationships with teachers were
reported positively, with only a very small proportion of
pupils perceiving their teachers in a negative manner, and an
even smaller number reporting not having a close teacher
who they felt they could confide in. A large number of
pupils felt comfortable talking to almost any teacher (‘I get
on with majority of teachers’), suggesting a positive pupil–
teacher relationship throughout the school. One pupil
explained this relationship by saying that the reason that he
gets on well with his teachers as because ‘I’ve got pretty
good teachers’, and another likened his teachers to
‘friends’, suggesting a high level of familiarity and trust.
Teachers also had the potential to make pupils feel good
about themselves: ‘I went to music, I saw the drama teacher
and she said, “hello beautiful” and I was like “oh my god!”
It made me feel really, really happy’. This excerpt illustrates
the importance placed on the pupil–teacher relationship by
pupils with ASD.
Peer relationships. Although some pupils reported positive
peer relationships in school, and indeed spoke in empow-
ering terms about this aspect of their lives (‘I get on with
most people’; ‘I get on with everyone’), the majority of
those interviewed did not have such relationships with their
classmates. Pupils had different reasons for not getting on
with their peers. For some, they are ‘boring’, or difficult to
understand (‘people act strangely’). Others did not like
what classmates said to one another: ‘I don’t like what they
talk about, I think they only talk nasty’. Such perceptions
led to a lack of trust (‘I don’t trust some of the kids’), an
issue to be explored in a later theme. Perhaps, unsurpris-
ingly, discussions of relationships with classmates revealed
further examples of bullying and teasing: ‘Sometimes those
one or two idiots like to throw things at you in the lessons,
or keep shouting your name’ and ‘they’ve been like silly and
wind me up and get on my nerves’. With such fractious
relationships with their peers, it is perhaps not surprising
that pupils did not seek help from their classmates. Even
though, in reality, it may only have been a minority of
pupils involved in bullying and teasing our participants, for
some, their experiences had led them to the point where
contact with any classmates caused emotional distress: ‘It’s
annoying people that come near me, I just get anxious and
stressed’ and ‘[other pupils] make me feel stressed all the
time’. In such cases, solitude was seen as the only solution:
‘I hate them anyway and just avoid them at all costs, so it
87
Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, 10 82–90
really doesn’t bother me’. These excerpts provide an inter-
esting counterpoint to the views of another pupil for whom
being with classmates was synonymous with enjoyment
within school: ‘Sometimes you can enjoy yourself at
school, like having a laugh with your friends at break’.
Barriers to the utilisation of social support
Traits associated with ASD. At the surface level, pupils’
attributions for their difficulties in establishing positive
relationships with others are external (e.g., difficulties with
classmates were attributed to the fact that they are ‘annoy-
ing’). However, deeper probing revealed a number of inter-
nal traits considered to be barriers, many of which are
commonly associated with ASD: ‘I’m just naturally shy’;
‘I’m a bit of a quiet character, I sort of struggle to . . . join in
with groups of people’; and ‘I just stay upstairs because I
don’t really go out for break because in school I don’t really
like crowds’. Some pupils explicitly mentioned their ASD
in this regard, suggesting that it ‘restricted who I can’t talk
to and who I can get on with and that’, and that it meant that
they ‘find it hard to make friends and keep ‘em’. Other
pupils reported more subtle difficulties in utilising social
support that may be attributed to their ASD: ‘I just can’t
explain it [the problem] that well’.
Lack of trust. Pupils’ experiences in school – particularly
involving their classmates – appeared to have led to a
general distrust in other people. As mentioned above, one
pupil stated, ‘I don’t trust some of the kids’. Others felt the
same way about teachers: ‘I don’t trust. . . the teachers who
are just dead boring’. This issue recurred throughout many
of the interviews. For example, one pupil spoke of how he
was reluctant to make friends because he could not be sure
of his peers’ intentions: ‘I’ve learnt not to be their friend
because if I tell them something personal. . . like about my
mum, then they can just switch back to being the bully and
use that as ammo against me and they know where it hurts’.
Another pupil, discussing to whom he had disclosed his
ASD diagnosis, spoke of being wary of ‘people who might
. . . take advantage of it’.
Desire for solitude. For some pupils, the lack of positive
relationships (and, subsequently, difficulties in utilising
social support) within their school life was, in part, because
of their perceptions of how important these relationships
are, and whether or not they were interested in establishing
them. One pupil, for example, felt that the ‘academic level’
of school was more important than having friends, and
another ‘just can’t be bothered’ to socialise with his peers.
In such pupils, a desire for solitude was evident: ‘I just like
being by myself’. Such statements raise an interesting
quandary. It is important that the pupils’ desire for solitude
is acknowledged. However, it is perhaps these pupils that
then become the most vulnerable to bullying and teasing –
having few or no established social networks to call upon
for support.
Discussion
This qualitative investigation of responses to bullying and
use of social support among pupils with ASD yielded
88
several key findings. First, responses to bullying varied
among pupils, from seeking help from potential advocates
(such as teachers) to meeting the problem with violence.
Second, decisions around how to respond were made pri-
marily on the basis of the perceived efficacy of the response
(based upon previous experience). Third, the likelihood of
seeking help from peers, teachers and other potential
sources of support was mediated by the pupils’ relationship
histories – these largely dictated whether they felt that there
was someone whom they could call upon. Finally, a number
of distinct barriers to the utilisation of social support –
namely, traits associated with ASD, a lack of trust in others
and a desire for solitude – increased the pupils’ isolation in
school and, therefore, their vulnerability to bullying and
teasing.
Teachers appeared to be the most common source of social
support in response to bullying. This finding resonates with
the quantitative study that took place alongside this work, in
which support from teachers was ranked higher than any
other potential source (e.g., classmates, parents and friends)
by pupils with ASD (Humphrey and Symes, in press). There
is also synergy with the findings of Robertson, Chamberlain
and Kasari (2003), who found generally positive teacher–
pupil relationships in their study of children with ASD
included in elementary schools in the USA. Interestingly,
these authors also found that the quality of the teacher–
pupil relationship was associated with children’s peer status
in the classroom (i.e., children, rated more negatively by
their peers, were also reported as having more problematic
relationships with their teachers). This suggests that there
may be a subset of pupils with ASD who are particularly
vulnerable to isolation and bullying as they have problem-
atic relationships with both teachers and peers. We propose
that early identification of such individuals should be an
important element of teachers’ monitoring of included
pupils with ASD. Furthermore, we suggest that it is vital
that each pupil should be able to access an adult ‘confidant’
in school who has experience of, and expertise in, ASD
[given McGregor and Campbell’s (2001) finding that main-
stream teachers with experience of ASD felt better able to
support this group of learners than their more inexperienced
colleagues].
The fractious relationships with peers reported by many in
the current sample support both our previous work in this
area (Humphrey and Lewis, 2008; Humphrey and Symes, in
press) and that of others (e.g., Chamberlain, Kasari and
Rotherham-Fuller, 2007; Frederickson, Simmonds and
Evans et al., 2007). For instance, Chamberlain et al.’s (2007)
quantitative investigation of the social networks of children
with ASD in mainstream classrooms showed that they expe-
rienced lower centrality, acceptance, companionship and
reciprocity in their peer relationships than typically devel-
oping children. However, the children in their study did not
report greater loneliness – perhaps reflecting the desire for
solitude expressed by some participants in our study.
Taken together, these findings have crucial implications for
the future development of inclusive education for pupils
© 2010 The Authors
Journal compilation © 2010 nasen

with ASD. It appears that the central crux of the difficulties
faced by such pupils in mainstream environments is their
peer group. Indeed, as Ochs, Kramer-Sadlik and Solomon
et al. (2001) suggested, ‘the practice of inclusion rests pri-
marily on unaffected schoolmates rather than teachers’ (p.
399). After all, although learners with ASD present a chal-
lenge to typical assumptions about teaching and learning
(Jordan, 2005), most teachers report both an acceptance of
the principles of inclusion and a willingness to undergo
further training to make this a reality (McGregor and Camp-
bell, 2001). Promoting acceptance and understanding
among the peers of pupils with ASD may be a more sig-
nificant challenge.
Perhaps, unsurprisingly, the literature on developing peer
acceptance for pupils with ASD is currently somewhat
sparse, but some examples follow. Gus (2000) reports on
the success of a ‘Circle of Friends’ model in promoting peer
understanding in relation to a pupil with ASD. A key
element of this was a sensitively handled disclosure of the
pupil’s diagnosis, with the implication that other pupils
were more likely to accept the differences they saw if they
had been educated about the cause of the said differences.
This proposition is evidenced in Humphrey and Lewis’
(2008) report on the experiences of pupils with ASD in
mainstream secondary schools. Consider the following
excerpt from a pupil interview: ‘the more they [other pupils]
learn about Asperger’s, the more sympathetic they feel’ (pp.
40–1). However, not all pupils feel the same way: ‘People in
my class know about my autism at school, that’s why they
likely pick on me’ (p. 34). Thus, the issue of ‘diagnosis
disclosure’ is clearly an important element of developing
peer acceptance and understanding, but is far from straight-
forward; we will address it in more depth in a future paper
(Humphrey and Symes, forthcoming).
The various barriers to the utilisation of social support
reported in the current study (traits associated with ASD,
lack of trust and desire for solitude) appear to be closely
linked to one another. The pupils’ characteristic difficulties
in social interaction and understanding make it difficult for
them to establish and maintain positive relationships with
their peers (Kasari, Chamberlain and Bauminger, 2001). As
a result, forays into the complex social world of secondary
school often have negative outcomes (Humphrey and Lewis,
2008) – perhaps leading to the lack of trust expressed by the
pupils in our sample. In turn, this leads to a strong preference
for solitude. Under these conditions, it is easy to see how
such pupils become more vulnerable to bullying and teasing.
The challenge for those working in this area is to find ways of
halting what is most likely a cyclical process (i.e., the more
pupils experience bullying, the less likely they will be to
attempt to develop friendships with their peers, making them
more vulnerable to bullying in the future).
Conclusion
Previous work in this area (Humphrey and Symes, in press;
Wainscot et al., 2008) has demonstrated that pupils with
ASD are more likely to be bullied than those with other or
no SEN, and also report receiving less social support from
© 2010 The Authors
Journal compilation © 2010 nasen
Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, 10 82–90
classmates, parents and friends. This paper has extended
that work by considering the role social support plays in
determining pupils’ response to bullying and by identifying
barriers to the development and utilisation of social support
where bullying occurs. Our findings re-affirm the proposi-
tion that more needs to be done to promote the effective
inclusion of pupils with ASD in mainstream settings
(Barnard et al., 2000). As Ochs et al. (2001) have stated,
‘physical placement of children [with ASD] . . . in inclusive
educational settings alone is not sufficient’ (p. 400). More
specifically, our data suggest that future work should focus
primarily upon developing peer acceptance and understand-
ing, as this may have the most crucial influence on the
success or failure of inclusion for this particular group of
learners.
Address for correspondence
Wendy Symes,
School of Education,
Ellen Wilkinson Building,
The University of Manchester,
Oxford Road,
Manchester M13 9PL,
UK.
Email: Wendy.symes@manchester.ac.uk.
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