I cannot think of a specific time, so I asked a family member about a time when she witnessed an adult reprimand or silence a child after he/she pointed out someone they saw as different. She told me that one day that her eight years old nephew has a problem with stuttering when he talks, so her son and him was playing the video game and when they were talking he started stuttering when her son began laughing and mocking him telling his mom this how he be talking. So, she stopped her son right than and there and had a talk with him by telling him that is not nice to make fun of how he talks because he had his cousin crying and she made him apologize for it. Afterwards, her husband came over to her nephew and gave him some advice by telling him to stop talking so fast and take his time talking, so he started to talk slow and it helped him with his speech.
One message that might have been communicated to this child by the adult's response is that his cousin was made to apologize for laughing and mocking at the way he talks. Another message would be that people do care about him even though he has a speech problem. The last message is that if he take his time to speak, then he can stop stuttering.
An example of how an anti-bias educator might have responded to support the child's or classroom's understanding is by having a discussion to make clear to the students that laughing or mocking a child with a speech problem or disability will not be tolerated in the classroom.
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