Prevalence of School Bullying Among Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Expect about half of students with autism to be bullied, mostly through verbal taunts—screen at every intake.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Maïano et al. (2016) pooled 17 smaller studies. They wanted one clear number for how often kids with autism are bullied at school.
The team only used studies that asked students, parents, or teachers about real victimization events. They left out studies that just guessed or used tiny samples.
What they found
Across all 17 studies, 44 out of every 100 students with autism were bullied. Verbal teasing and name-calling happened most.
That rate is much higher than for typically developing classmates. The number gives you a quick rule of thumb: almost half.
How this fits with other research
van Roekel et al. (2010) ran a single survey and saw a wide range: 6–46%. The meta-analysis tightens that scatter into one solid 44%.
Buse et al. (2014) showed special-school placement can lower risk. Christophe’s big number still includes those safer kids, so your district’s rate may be higher in full inclusion rooms.
Adams et al. (2016) adds a warning: the same victimization that shows up in Christophe’s count also predicts lower grades and more absenteeism. Prevalence data now link straight to academic harm.
Why it matters
You now have a bench-mark: expect roughly half of your clients with autism to face peer victimization this year. Use the 44% figure when you write justification for social-skills groups, peer-training, or playground monitoring in IEPs. Start every intake by asking, “Have other kids picked on you at school?” and keep the question on your re-assessment list each quarter.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Add one bullying question to your caregiver intake form and review it during the first session.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
The true extent of school bullying among youth with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) remains an underexplored area. The purpose of this meta-analysis is to: (a) assess the proportion of school-aged youth with ASD involved in school bullying as perpetrators, victims or both; (b) examine whether the observed prevalence estimates vary when different sources of heterogeneity related to the participants' characteristics and to the assessment methods are considered; and (c) compare the risk of school bullying between youth with ASD and their typically developing (TD) peers. A systematic literature search was performed and 17 studies met the inclusion criteria. The resulting pooled prevalence estimate for general school bullying perpetration, victimization and both was 10%, 44%, and 16%, respectively. Pooled prevalence was also estimated for physical, verbal, and relational school victimization and was 33%, 50%, and 31%, respectively. Moreover, subgroup analyses showed significant variations in the pooled prevalence by geographic location, school setting, information source, type of measures, assessment time frame, and bullying frequency criterion. Finally, school-aged youth with ASD were found to be at greater risk of school victimization in general, as well as verbal bullying, than their TD peers. Autism Res 2016, 9: 601-615. © 2015 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2016 · doi:10.1002/aur.1568