Caring & Courageous Kids was created by Dee DiGioia for the purpose of  increasing a climate of caring & kindness at Mammoth Elementary School while empowering students with the courage to reduce the problem of bullying.

It is a potpourri of the best ideas gathered from others who are promoting positive and proactive ways to guide children to coexist peacefully. 
 
When kids learn that the power of standing up to bullying takes away the power of the bully, they also learn that they have the power to break the cycle of bullying and can help make a big problem much smaller. That takes caring and courage.

"We don’t expect students to learn algebra on their own... Yet somehow we think children can learn how to get along with each other merely by being thrown together at school… many more students would get along if schools made human relations part of the curriculum: teaching children to recognize and understand their emotions… helping students develop greater empathy for others… giving students the tools to resolve conflicts…actively teaching the students the skills to make friends." (Elliot Aronson 2000; Stan Davis)

About Dee DiGioia
(pronounced "di JOY uh")

I am the Speech-Language Therapist at Mammoth Elementary School (Mammoth Lakes, CA), and creator of Caring & Courageous Kids*. All too well I know the affects bullying can have, as I recently went through a period of being bullied by an “ex”. At that time, I had been doing a lot of research on the topic of bullying for an upcoming court date (in hopes of getting a restraining order).** Meanwhile, I began to hear that some of my students were experiencing bullying at school!  I knew that I needed to do something to help them. In our first year of the program (2009-2010 school year), I learned that most of the students in our school were affected by bullying, not just those with disabilities or special needs, and all were craving to learn what to do about it!!! I am committed to helping our children develop the tools they need to empower themselves when bullying occurs, and to prevent them from becoming lifelong victims of bullying!

Recent research is finding that children with disabilities and special needs are at higher risk for being bullied by their peers. This includes those with learning disabilities, attention deficit disorders, autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, medical conditions that affect appearance (ex, cerebral palsy), speech deficits (ex, stuttering, apraxia), hearing impairment/deaf, etc. But it doesn’t stop there—others are targeted on the basis of race or religion, sexual preference, amount of intelligence (even the gifted), and body appearance (short, tall, obese, skinny, etc). What these targeted children need to learn is that it is not their fault--they aren’t bullied because of their disabilities, or because of their shape of their body, or any of the aforementioned reasons. They are bullied because the bully made the choice to be mean! Many researchers believe that bullying involves an imbalance of power – either physical or emotional. Join me and learn how to help break the cycle of bullying through a commitment to peaceful strategies.

**PS. I never was granted the restraining order due to “lack of evidence”. Hmmm. Research shows that most bullying occurs “under the radar”!

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Site updated on 8/28/10.