Did you know that kids with ADHD may be targeted more often than their peers for bullying? But, you’re asking, how could their peers be picking on them for their ADHD? It’s not exactly the ADHD itself, but the behaviors ADHDers tend to exhibit that are relatively easy to target. Things like being clumsy and walking into things more often (did you even know ADHDers sometimes struggle with spatial matters?), struggling academically, violating others’ boundaries, and sometimes impulsively saying inappropriate things.
My son once experienced social media bullying when a classmate misinterpreted a comment he’d made about the song I Don’t Like Mondays by Boomtown Rats. The classmate was convinced it meant our kiddo was bringing a gun to school and planning something devastating. The student should have talked to a teacher about it, but instead posted about it on SnapChat and it spread like wildfire until a parent got hold of it, notified the administration, and I got a frantic phone call. My son’s comment was probably inappropriate, but he didn’t deserve to be so publicly raked across the coals for what was a total misunderstanding of his original comment.
Read more on bullying and ADHD here: https://www.drakeinstitute.com/add-and-bullying