No matter what neighborhood you might be in, no matter what grade, no matter how prestigious the district or private school, there were, there are and there always will be bullies.

If your child has dyslexia or any other learning disability, he or she will not be a stranger to such behavior. They might hear things like "hey retard, how's the small van?", "hey kid, hows the stupid school?", etc.

Sadly the bullying does not limit itself to verbal abuse. Like the old adage says, "kids can be cruel." This can happen at any age or grade. What the un-educated do not know is that being dyslexic or having any learning disability does not mean the student has an educationally terminal condition. In fact, most people affected with this have an above average IQ or even superior or genius level.

Students need to be reassured that "names with never hurt them." Reassure them that once they learn how to learn, that success will come. Reassure them that once they learn to learn, they can be what ever they want; a Doctor, a Lawyer, an educator, even the President of the United States of America, just like John Fitzgerald Kennedy. They need to be reassured that there have been so many successes for dyslexic people. Go over the list of famous people with learning disabilities which is HERE. You can see that reassurance is a common word here. Your student will need it.

Physical bullying may take place if the bully's find that the learning disabled student have something called a perceptual visual motor disability whose origin may be due to a mixed dominance issue, ie, right eye, left hand, left foot or any combination of the above. Ergo, coordination is poor, ergo, lack of defense.

While violence never cured violence, it is a known fact, that most bullies back down from those that stand up. The student can take his/her own confidence course to boost this from within. If all else fails, learning to handle oneself will often solve it as well.

With all that in mind, parents and educators need to work together in solving this with their student or child. Be aware of any changes in behavior, including eating, social and sleeping habits. Be aware of any marks, either self or bully inflicted. These are warning signs. Listen to them if they want to cry, console them and REASSURE them that it will be solved. Plans need to be in place in all school systems should the need or incident arise.

Parents have a responsibility to their children and educators have a responsibility to you as parents, the students and the community. Every student deserves a safe learning environment, especially those that have a harder time at it.