Clinic to Benefit Bullies Extended to Area Schools

A Harvard psychologist is creating a comprehensive counseling program for Cambridge and Boston public school children who exhibit overly aggressive tendencies.

Robert L. Selman, an associate professor of psychology at the Graduate School of Education and the Medical School, will adapt the program he has used for the past seven years at the Mannville School for use in local public schools.

At the Mannville School in Boston, Selman employs a "pair therapy" technique which acts to treat children who are excessively aggressive towards their peers. The "pair therapy clinic" groups overly aggressive kids with kids who are unusually shy or withdrawn.

The public school program will aim to prevent youngsters from becoming bullies, Selman said. "It's only this year that I've felt comfortable to shift the emphasis from treatment to prevention," he said.

"We're focusing on kids who are either rejected by other kids or neglected by other kids," Selman said. "Those kids who are rejected tend to become bullies, while those who are neglected tend to become withdrawn."

While in the past, children who were bullies were never thought of as being emotionally-disturbed, recently American psychologists have begun to counsel such youngsters, said Selman.

The results of the pair technique are often suprising, Selman said. "Over a long period of time, the kids begin to develop other strategies. Shy kids often become more self-assured, and the kids learn the importance of collaboration," he added.

Ronald G. Slaby, a psychologist at the Graduate School of Education and the Medical School, agreed with Selman on the importance of such collaboration.

"Most people tend to think in terms of two alternatives: either you stand up for yourself or you are considered a wimp," he said. "I think what's missing is a third alternative: being assertive without being aggressive. That includes refusing to be pushed around, but, at the same time, not submitting to bullying tactics. Being able to change an issue of confrontation to one of negotiation."

The Mannville School, of which Selman is the director, is part of the Judge Baker Children Center in Boston and helps disturbed kids from ages 6-16 cope by providing them with complete psychotherapeutic care, said Principal David Gilmore.

According to Slaby, bullying tendencies, if they are not cured, can manifest themselves later in juvenile delinquency and criminal acts.

"There are habits of thought that guide the individual in his choice of responses, and these habits become more ingrained as we get older and we rely upon them more heavily as we get older," he said. "That speaks in favor of getting to them early."