Bullying and teasing are terms that refer to specific types of social interaction that can cause difficulties for individuals with communication disorders. Bullying involves unwanted, repeated, aggressive, and hurtful behavior that can cause emotional, social, or physical harm; it often involves a power imbalance between the person who engages in bullying and the person who experiences it. Teasing involves good-natured fun or joking between friends and is not meant to cause discomfort.

Although the terms are often used interchangeably, bullying and teasing are better defined as being distinct from each other to highlight the inappropriate nature of bullying. The distinction becomes less clear, when teasing causes hurt feelings or when the intent of the teasing is to cause harm or exploit a power imbalance. Such inappropriate ...