DS8 has dyspraxia and a very, very slight speech impediment. His condition isn’t particularly obvious to others, it’s mainly only noticeable in PE/ football games in the playground and in his written work. He attends mainstream school.
He is very kind and friendly but is increasingly becoming introverted. He loves to join in with others and play but in recent years children in his class and year group have been excluding him from time to time or telling him outright that he can’t play with them in the playground (usually football). He doesn’t have a tight knit group of friends or a ‘best’ friend as such but does get on with children on an individual level. It’s just in groups that the dynamics change and he sometimes gets teased and ridiculed.
He never comes home to tell me each day who said/did what and doesn’t dwell on it too much, but I sense he does internalise it all. I recently suggested he starts a drama club over summer but he told me he’s not very good at drama and that the children at school tell him all the time 😢 so he’s reluctant to join. He used to go to a weekly football club to help him improve coordination but the group was for children aged 7 and under, so when he turned 8 that came to a end. After age 8 the local clubs become competitive so no good to us.
How is it best to deal with this kind of day to day petty behaviour/remarks from other children? DS ignores it in most cases as it not easy to articulate it to the teacher or playground duty staff, it’s very subtle. But the general day to day teasing and laughing at him etc is obviously hurtful and chipping away at his self esteem.
While the school is very good at dealing with specific and targeted bullying etc, I don’t know what they can do to stop children just generally being mean or saying hurtful things. Any advice is most appreciated.