This study involved perceptions of bullying in six Year 7 children attending a speech and language base part-time and the perceptions of their mainstream peers without speech and language problems. Base-taught children and mainstreamed peers completed a bullying questionnaire and a social inclusion survey. Base-taught children with language difficulties rated themselves three times more likely to be bullied than mainstream peers. Half of these base children, however, rated bullying as rare. These two sub-groups differed on the number of peers willing to "hang out" with them, suggesting language difficulties and attendance at a segregated language base together are a "risk factor" for bullying whereas peer-acceptance may be a "protecting factor". An intervention helping children to use a "fogging" technique did not reduce bullying perceptions. It is suggested that inclusion-oriented ecological interventions are more likely to encourage friendships and social acceptance among the wider peer group and thus may be the most effective interventions to prevent bullying.