好英语网自闭儿童易遭校园欺凌
Connie Anderson didn't know what was bothering her 17-year-old son, a Baltimore-area high school senior with Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism. He was usually a diligent student, but his grades began to plummet.
康妮·安德森(Connie Anderson)不知道儿子最近因何烦恼。他今年17岁，在巴尔的摩地区的一所高中上学，患有亚斯伯格综合症（Asperger’s syndrome，自闭症的一种，特征是社交困难，伴随兴趣狭隘和重复性行为。——译注）。他一直是个很用功的学生，可是现在成绩直线下降。
"He was starting to go downhill fast," Ms. Anderson said. "His grades were crashing, and he wasn't able to focus."
“他的状态飞速下滑，”安德森女士说，“成绩一塌糊涂，没法集中注意力。”
At a meeting with school counselors, the teenager finally spoke up, confessing that he was being bullied by students in the cafeteria. Once, they had pulled his pants down to his knees in front of his class.
与学校辅导员会面时，这位17岁的少年终于坦白了实情：他在学校餐厅里被人欺负了。有一次，那些人当着全班同学的面脱他的裤子，一直褪到膝盖。
While the problem of school bullying has received national attention, with many states passing anti-bullying legislation and school districts adopting anti-bullying programs, a troubling new pattern has emerged among victims. Research published on Monday in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine shows that children with autism spectrum disorders, who typically have difficulty in communicating and forming relationships, are far more likely to be bullied than their non-autistic peers.
校园欺凌(school bullying)的问题已逐渐引起美国全国关注，许多州都通过了反欺凌法案，不少学区也开始实行反欺凌计划。然而人们又发现，受害者群体出现了新模式。9月3日刚刚发表在《儿科学与青少年疾病文献集》(Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine)的一项研究显示，患有泛自闭症（Autism Spectrum Disorder, ASD，为广泛意义的自闭症，包括典型自闭症、亚斯伯格综合症、未定义的广泛性发育障碍等。——译注）的孩子比正常同龄人更容易被欺负。
"I would call it a profound public health problem," said Paul R. Sterzing, lead author of the new study and an assistant professor at the school of social welfare at the University of California, Berkeley. "The rate of bullying and victimization among these adolescents is alarmingly high."
“我认为这是个严重的公共卫生问题，”该研究的第一作者，加州大学伯克利分校(University of California, Berkeley)社会福利学院助理教授保罗·R.斯特琴(Paul R. Sterzing)说：“这一类孩子欺负别人和被人欺负的比例都高得令人担忧。”
The children at greatest risk, it turns out, appear to be those who also hold the most promise for leading an independent life. The researchers found that the risk of being bullied was greatest for high-functioning children who end up not in special education programs, but in mainstream classes, where their quirks and unusual mannerisms stand out and they are more exposed to bullies.
最有可能与欺凌事件相关的，正是那些特别希望独立生活的孩子。研究者发现，患有高功能自闭症（high-functioning autism，智商中等或以上的自闭症患者，多有语言能力，学习能力较好，自闭症倾向不明显，但在语言理解与表达力、人际关系方面有困难。——译注）、就读于普通学校而非特殊教育学校的青少年最有可能在学校里被欺负。他们的怪癖和特殊举止在同学中显得如此异常，以至于极易成为校园霸王欺负的对象。
Many parents of children with autism already are well aware that their children are taunted and tormented at school, but the new study suggests the problem is pervasive. Dr. Sterzing's data, collected from a nationally representative sample of 920 middle- and high-school students with an autism disorder, shows that 46 percent have been bullied. By comparison, in the general adolescent population, an estimated 10.6 percent of children have been bullied.
尽管很多自闭症患者的家长早已深知孩子在学校里被嘲讽作弄，但斯特琴博士的研究告诉人们，这个问题简直是太普遍了。研究者在美国范围内调查了920名具代表性的初、高中自闭症患者，发现他们有当中46%的人都被欺负过。比较而言，在整个青少年群体中，校园欺凌的受害者大约为10.6%。
Dr. Sterzing's study also showed that children were at highest risk for bullying if they also had a diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Notably, children with A.D.H.D. also were more likely to display aggressive behavior themselves; however, the rate of bullying perpetrated by children with autism was 14.8 percent, similar to the rate estimated for the general population.
斯特琴博士的研究还指出，若患有自闭症的孩子同时亦有多动症(attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADHD)，那么他们欺负别人的几率最高。很明显，多动症患者尤其倾向于表现出攻击性行为；但如果只有自闭症，则实施欺凌行为的几率是14.8%，与整体平均值相当。
The findings are based on data collected in 2001 from a larger 10-year study of more than 11,000 special education students. Parents of autistic children and school administrators were asked to report on instances of bullying that occurred in the previous year.
数据来源于从2001年开始，历时10年的大范围调查；共包含了1100多名接受特殊教育的学生（其中有920名学生做出反馈）。研究人员请自闭儿童的家长和学校行政人员报告了调查前一年间发生欺凌事件的次数。
Children and adults with autism spectrum disorders often are socially awkward and have difficulty communicating and recognizing social cues. Another hallmark of the disorder is a strict adherence to rituals and habits.
患有泛自闭症的儿童和成年人往往有社交障碍，难与人交流，不会识别社交信号。另外一个明显特点是他们会严格遵从某些固定的仪式和习惯。
"Many of the defining characteristics of autism are the ones that put them at greatest risk of bullying,'' said Dr. Catherine Bradshaw, deputy director of the Center for the Prevention of Youth Violence and an expert on bullying at Johns Hopkins University.
“自闭症的诸多特征恰恰就是患者容易被欺负的原因。”霍普金斯大学(Johns Hopkins University)防止青少年暴力活动中心(Center for the Prevention of Youth Violence)副主管、欺凌行为专家凯瑟琳·布拉德肖(Catherine Bradshaw)博士说。
Bullying of children with autism disorders most often occurs as teasing and name-calling, being shunned from activities and hitting.
欺负自闭症儿童的行为通常包括戏弄、辱骂、在集体活动中孤立他们以及身体上的打击。
Dr. Paul A. Law, director of the Interactive Autism Network at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, said middle school can be particularly perilous for high-functioning children with autism who lack social skills, because it represents a time when peers can be especially unforgiving of social missteps.
巴尔的摩肯尼迪·克里格研究所(Kennedy Krieger Institute) 自闭症互助交流网(Interactive Autism Network)主管保罗·A·劳(Paul A. Law)博士表示，对于缺乏社交能力的高功能自闭症患者来说，中学时代尤其凶险。因为那个年纪的孩子最不能容忍其他人在社交上的失误。
"Social interactions are extremely complicated at these younger ages," said Dr. Law. "It doesn't take long sitting in a middle school cafeteria to see that."
“处在这个年龄段的学生，社交关系极其复杂。”劳博士说，“到学校餐厅里坐一小会儿就能看出来。”
Dr. Law said his group has found that children with an autism spectrum disorder are victimized at a rate more than three times that of their non-autistic siblings.
劳博士表示，他的研究组还发现患有泛自闭症的儿童受欺负的概率比他们发育正常的兄弟姐妹高两倍以上。
One mother of a high-functioning autistic teenager in Los Angeles, who asked that her name not be published to protect her son's privacy, recalled that he was routinely bullied by a group of middle-school classmates who would pick on him at the playground or ambush him or throw things as he walked home from school.
在洛杉矶，一名为保护患高功能自闭症的儿子的隐私，而不愿透露姓名的母亲回忆说，儿子在中学里经常被一伙同学欺负。他们在操场上捉弄他、偷袭他，或在他走回家时朝他扔东西。
"They knew that a little thing would throw him off his regimen," she said. "If you stole his book or stole his homework, to him it would literally be a disaster. He would run around the schoolyard yelling, 'Who's got my homework?' He didn't have the skills to cope with that."
“他们知道一点点小事就足以摧毁他的生活习惯，”她说：“如果你偷了他的书或作业，他就会把此事当作彻头彻尾的灾难。他能在校园里一边狂奔一边大叫‘谁拿了我的作业？’他没有处理这种事情的能力。”
To avoid the harassment, he began taking a car home from school, but one day the bullies pounced on him as he waited for his ride. The school intervened, punishing the bullies, and two of their parents called the boy's mother to apologize.
为躲避骚扰，她的儿子开始坐车回家。可有一天坏孩子们还是趁他等车的时候突袭了他。校方介入惩罚了那群学生，其中两人的家长还给她打电话表示了歉意。
Because children with autism have limited communication skills, many may struggle to talk about bullying even to their parents. Others with impaired social skills may not always realize when they are being harassed.
因为自闭症患儿交流能力有限，很多人都难以诉说自己被欺负的事情，甚至是对父母也是如此。另一些孩子由于社交技能不佳，经常被别人侵犯了都意识不到。
"Children with autism spectrum disorder aren't very good at picking up on things like sarcasm and humor," said Dr. Bradshaw. "They can be set up and made fun of in front of groups and not understand it."
“有泛自闭症的孩子感觉不出讽刺和幽默，”布拉德肖博士说：“他们不能理解自己已经被下了套、被当众取笑。”