A preliminary analysis of teaching children with autism spectrum disorder self‐protection skills for bullying situations
A short BST package plus a pocket-sized prompt card teaches autistic children to report, confront, and leave simulated bullying.
01Research in Context
What this study did
MByiers et al. (2025) worked with five autistic children.
The team used Behavioral Skills Training plus a small card that listed the steps.
They practiced three moves: tell an adult, say "Stop, that is not okay," and walk away.
All drills happened in a pretend bullying scene set up by the therapists.
What they found
Every child started using the three moves during the fake bullying scenes.
Two kids mixed up when to act, so the trainers added quick discrimination drills.
After that, all five children kept the skills without the prompt card.
How this fits with other research
Ulu Aydin et al. (2024) taught the same kind of skills with Power Cards built around a child’s favorite hero.
Both studies got good results, but MJ used a plain text card instead of a hero story.
Suarez et al. (2022) also used BST and a worksheet to teach conflict solving.
Their worksheet worked like MJ’s text card: a short visual cue that later fades.
Together, the papers show BST plus any simple prompt card can teach self-advocacy skills to autistic children.
Why it matters
You can copy this package in one afternoon.
Run the BST steps: explain, model, practice, and give feedback.
Hand the child a small card that reads: tell, state, walk away.
After a few rounds, take the card away and keep testing in new places.
The skill set is short, clear, and easy for teachers to cue later.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder are at high risk of being bullied, but research on teaching children with autism self-protection skills for bullying situations is scant. We taught five children self-protection skills for two types of bullying (threats and unkind remarks) and consecutive bullying occurrences. We first evaluated behavioral skills training and a textual prompt to teach children to report threats of physical or material harm, provide a disapproving statement after a first unkind remark, and occupy themselves with an activity away from a bully after a second unkind remark. Additional tactics were necessary to aid in the discrimination of bullying situations for two children. There were increases in the self-protection skills with all children. Results further support that an active-learning approach is efficacious in teaching responses to bullying in simulated situations. Considerations for teaching these skills while maintaining trust and rapport with children and caregivers are discussed.
, 2025 · doi:10.1002/jaba.2938