Preventing Bullying

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Bullying Prevention and Positive Behavior
Intervention Support
Margaret A. Gannon, Southeast PBIS
Coordinator Correy Watkins, Central PBIS
Coordinator
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What is Bullying?
Bullying is when a person is picked on over and
over again by an individual or group with more
power, either in terms of physical strength or
social standing.
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Range of Approaches Taken by Schools to Address
Bullying

• Nothing
• Awareness-raising efforts
• Reporting, tracking
• Zero tolerance (school exclusion)
• Individual treatment

• Group treatment
• Self-esteem enhancement for bullies
• Mediation, conflict resolution programs
• Curricular approaches and

COMPREHENSIVE APPROACHES such as PBIS!
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PBIS and Bullying Principles

• It is critical to develop a school climate that
• Is supportive of racial, cultural, and other
  forms of diversity
• Is warm
• Has clear expectations for students and staff
  that are taught and reinforced
• Has consequences for unacceptable behavior
• Has positive interest
• Has involvement from adults
• Addresses hate crimes and conflicts in school and
  the community

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The goal of Bully Prevention-PBIS (BP-PBIS) is to
reduce peer maintained problem behavior outside
of the classroom
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BP-PBIS

• Requires only a small amount of additional
  resources from the school
• Schools are required to first maintain effective
  SW systems to at least 80 on the SET
• Having SW PBIS already in place will likely
  increase community buy-in, resource allocation,
  and on-going professional support

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BP-PBIS (continued)

• Focuses on improvement of behaviors that are
  specific, observable, and measurable.
• Behavior definitions will not speculate on
• The intent of the behavior
• The power of the individuals involved
• The frequency of its occurrence
• Single incidents of problem behavior between
  children of similar power will be responded to in
  an equal manner.

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Six Key Features of BP-PBIS

1. The use of empirically-tested instructional
   principles to teach expected behavior outside the
   classroom to all students.
2. The monitoring and acknowledgement of students
   for engaging in appropriate behavior outside the
   classroom.
3. Specific instruction and pre-correction to
   prevent bullying behavior from being rewarded by
   victims or bystanders.

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Six Key Features of BP-PBIS (continued)

1. The correction of problem behaviors using a
   consistently administered continuum of
   consequences.
2. The collection and use of information about
   student behavior to evaluate and guide decision
   making.
3. The establishment of a team that develops,
   implements, and manages the BP-PBIS effort in a
   school.

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School-Wide Interventions

• Train all school personnel to recognize signs of
  bullying
• Develop school expectations regarding against
  bullying (e.g., safety)
• Use consistent consequences
• Increase supervision in hot spots
• Hold staff discussion groups
• Actively involve parents

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Interventions at the Classroom Level

• Teach, post, and discuss school expectations and
  rules
• Teach lessons on topics, such as gossip,
  inappropriate remarks, and cyber bullying
• Consistently use positive reinforcement and
  consequences
• Incorporate bullying themes across the curriculum
• Hold regular class meetings

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Assumptions / Goals

• Assumptions
• School is implementing at the Universal level
  (behavioral expectations)
• Bullying continues to be a problem
• Goals
• Define why bullying is worth addressing
• Provide a comprehensive model for bully
  prevention
• Provide description of core elements of UNIVERSAL
  level bully prevention
• Provide data demonstrating (a) reduction in
  bullying and (b) improved perception of school
  safety.

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The LogicWhy Invest in Bully Prevention?

• The National School Safety Center (NSSC) called
  bullying the most enduring and underrated problem
  in U.S. schools.
• (Beale, 2001)
• Nearly 30 percent of students have reported being
  involved in bullying as either a perpetrator or a
  victim.
• (Nansel, et al., 2001 Swearer Espelage, 2004).
  
• Victims and perpetrators of bullying are more
  likely to skip and/or drop out of school.
• (Berthold Hoover, 2000 Neary Joseph, 1994)
• Victims and perpetrators of bullying are more
  likely to suffer from underachievement and
  sub-potential performance in employment settings.
• (Carney Merrell, 2001 NSSC, 1995).

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Why Invest in School-wide Bully Prevention?
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Most bully prevention programs focus on the bully
and the victim

• Problem 1 Inadvertent teaching of bullying
• Problem 2 Blame the bully
• Problem 3 Ignore role of bystanders
• Problem 4 Initial effects without sustained
  impact.
• Problem 5 Expensive effort

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What do we need?

• Bully prevention that fits with existing
  behavior support efforts
• Bully PREVENTION, not just remediation
• Bully prevention that is sustainable.

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Bully Prevention in Positive Behavior
Intervention SupportThe Foundation
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• Bullying behavior occurs in many forms, and
  locations, but typically involves student-student
  interactions.
• Bullying is seldom maintained by feedback from
  adults
• What rewards Bullying Behavior?
• Likely many different rewards are effective.
  Most common are
• Attention from bystanders
• Attention and reaction of victim
• Access to resources (materials, activity)
• Self-delivered reward

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• Consider the smallest change that could make the
  biggest impact on bullying
• Remove the pay off (e.g., praise, attention,
  recognition) that follows bullying.
• Do this without
• teaching bullying or
• denigrating children who engage in bulling.

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A Comprehensive Bully Prevention Model
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School-wide Behavioral Expectations
Collect and use data for decision-making
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Teach All Students

• Teach school-wide expectations (include be
  respectful)
• Teach students to recognize respectful versus
  non-respectful behavior.
• Teach the pay off for not being respectful
• You get attention (which comes in many forms)
• You get materials/activities
• Teach what to do if you experience non-respectful
  behavior.
• Stop
• Walk Away
• Talk (Get Help)

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Why Does Non-respectful Behavior Keep Happening?

• Discuss why kids exhibit problem behavior outside
  the classroom
• Peer attention comes in many forms
• Arguing with someone that teases you
• Laughing at someone being picked on
• Watching problem behavior and doing nothing
• The candle under a glass cup

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The Stop Signal A Three Step Response

• Stop
• Walk
• Talk

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The Stop Signal (The entire school must use the
same stop signal)

• Teach the school-wide stop signal for problem
  behavior
• Model the use of stop signal when they experience
  problem behavior or they see another student
  experiencing problem behavior
• Practice and review how the Stop Signal should
  look and sound
• Firm hand signal
• Clear voice

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Teach the Stop Signal

• If someone is directing problem behavior to you,
  or someone else, tell them to stop.
• Because talking is hard in emotional situations
  always include a physical signal to stop.

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Examples of When to Use the Stop Signal

• Alisha pokes Ronnie in the back over and over
  while in line
• Daniel steals the ball away from Noah when they
  are not playing a game that involves stealing.
• Roberta teases Rachel and calls her a derogatory
  name.

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Walk Away

• Sometimes even when students tell others to stop,
  the problem behavior will continue. When this
  happens, students are to walk away from the
  problem behavior

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Walk Away

• Model walking away when students experience
  continued problem behavior or when they see
  another student experiencing continued problem
  behavior.
• Walking away removes the reinforcement for
  problem behavior
• Teach students to encourage one another when they
  use the appropriate response
• Practice walking away with student volunteers
• Give examples of when to walk away and at least
  one of when not to walk away

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Remember walking away removes the reinforcement
for problem behavior.Teach students to
encourage one another when they use the
appropriate response.
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Talk Report Problems to an Adult

• Teach students that even when they use stop and
  they walk away from the problem, sometimes
  students will continue to behave inappropriately
  toward them. When that happens, students should
  talk to an adult.

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Talk

• Model the talk technique students should use when
  they experience continued problem behavior or
  when they see another student experiencing
  continued problem behavior.

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Please Note!!

• If any student is in danger, the stop and walk
  away steps should be skipped, and the incident
  should be reported immediately.

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Talking versus Tattling

• Talking
• When the student has tried to solve the problem
  him/herself and has used the stop and walk steps
  first
• Did the student request stop?
• Did the student walk away?

• Tattling
• When a student does not use the stop and walk way
  steps before talking to an adult
• When the students goal is to get the other
  person in trouble

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Talk

• Describe to students how they should expect
  adults to respond to talk
• Adults will ask you what the problem is
• They will ask if you said stop
• They will ask if you walked away calmly
• Practice talk with student volunteers at the
  front of the class.
• Be sure to use examples of how to talk and at
  least one example of when not to talk

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Review Stop/Walk/Talk

• Test students orally on how they should respond
  to various situations involving problem behavior
• Include questions that involve each possible
  scenario
• Using Stop, Walk, and Talk
• Responding to Stop, Walk, and Talk

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Teaching a Reply (What to do when YOU are asked
to stop)

• Eventually, every student will be told to stop.
  When this happens, they should do the following
  things
• Stop what they are doing
• Take a deep breath
• Go about their day (no big deal)
• These steps should be followed even when they
  dont agree with the stop

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Extra Practice with Some Students

• For students with high rates of physical and
  verbal aggression.
• Pre-correction
• On-site practice
• For students who are more likely to be victims
  who reward physical and verbal aggression.

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When the child did it right

• Adults initiate the following interaction with
  the Perpetrator
• Reinforce the student for discussing the problem
  with you
• "Did ______ tell you to stop?"
• If yes "How did you respond?" Follow with step 2
• If no Practice the 3 step response.
• "Did ______ walk away?"
• If yes "How did you respond?" Follow with step 3
• If no Practice the 3 step response.
• Practice the 3 step response.
• The amount of practice depends on the severity
  and frequency of problem behavior

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Rewarding Appropriate Behavior

• Effective Generalization requires the prompt
  reinforcement of appropriate behavior, the FIRST
  time it is attempted
• Look for students that use the three step
  response appropriately and reward
• Students that struggle with problem behavior
  (either as victim or perpetrator) are less likely
  to attempt new approaches.
• Reward them for efforts in the right direction.

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Bully Prevention in PBIS

• Faculty Follow-Up

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Supporting Staff Behavior

• When any problem behavior is reported, adults
  follow a specific response sequence
• Reinforce the student for reporting the problem
  behavior (i.e., "I'm glad you told me.")
• Ask who, what, when and where.
• Ensure the students safety.
• Is the bullying still happening?
• Is the reporting child at risk?
• Fear of revenge?
• What does the student need to feel safe?
• What is the severity of the situation
• "Did you tell the student to stop?" (If yes,
  praise the student for using an appropriate
  response. If no, practice)
• "Did you walk away from the problem behavior?"
  (If yes, praise student for using appropriate
  response. If no, practice.)

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Roles of BP-PBIS Implementation at Your School

• PBIS Team
• Takes the lead with implementation
• Determines a School-wide Stop Signal
• Develops schedule for student BP training
  (initial and follow-up)
• Plans ongoing support of administrators and
  teachers
• Evaluates student outcome data (ODRs)
• Implementation Checklist
• Faculty Follow Up
• Working with the district to maintain efforts

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Roles (continued)

• Teachers
• Reads Manual
• Delivers Initial Lessons and Follow up lessons
• Incident Reports
• Practice with Students
• Reinforce Appropriate Behavior
• Give feedback to PBIS team

• Administrators
• Reads Manual
• Practice with students
• Check-ins
• Incident Reports
• Reinforce!

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Practice

• Break up into groups of two and
• For three minutes, practice the stop response,
  along with how to reply when someone uses the
  stop response on you. (Make sure that each person
  is able to practice each roll)

• Next, break up into groups of four and
• Practice the entire SWT response Separate roles
  into Supervisor, Perpetrator, Victim, and
  Bystander. Try to find situations where
  Stop/Walk/Talk may not be enough.

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BP-PBIS Effectiveness Survey

• Staff survey
• Can be completed weekly, monthly, etc., depending
  on the needs of the school
• Decision making flow chart
• Can assist in meaningful decisions that impact
  the outcomes of the program.

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PB-PBIS Decision Making Flowchart
Questions Responses
Do students know the SW expectations and the stop signal? NO Re-teach SW expectations and the stop signal.
Yes
Do faculty/staff use of pre-correction strategy with students? NO Review pre-correction strategy and reward staff for its implementation
Yes
Do faculty/staff use the review routine when students report problem behaviors? NO Re-teach the review routine to staff and reward them for using it with students.
Yes
Are there specific settings where BP-PBIS strategies are not used effectively? NO Conduct Student Booster in applicable settings.
Yes
Do students at risk for aggression behave more appropriately? NO These students may require more intense individual interventions and a Functional Behavior Assessment
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To Learn More

• http//www.wrightslaw.com/nltr/07/nl.0417.htm
• http//www.pbis.org
• http//www.ryanpatrickhalligan.org
• J.H. Hoover, R. Oliver, and R.J. Hazler,
  "Bullying Perceptions of adolescent victims in
  Midwestern USA," School Psychology International
  135-16,1992.
• S. Ross, R. Horner, and B. Stiller, Bully
  Prevention in Positive Behavior Intervention
  Support

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Margaret A. Gannonmargaret_gannon_at_pender.k12.nc.u
sCorrey Watkinscwatkins_at_wcsk12.org
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