Bullying Prevention in a Multi Tiered System of Support

Bullying Prevention in a Multi Tiered System of Support Susan Ditch, MSW LCSW Presentation and materials adapted from: Scott Ross, Utah State University & Rob Horner, University of Oregon

Training Objectives By the end of the day, you will be able to: • Define bullying behavior • Understand core features of an effective bullying prevention process within a MTSS framework • Teach faculty and student practices of the Stop, Walk Away and Talk routines • Plan for faculty and student orientation and implementation • Plan for data collection and progress monitoring

Three Words… Introduce yourself to your shoulder partner (name, organization, position). Name three words that you associate with bullying behaviors.

The Logic: Why invest in Bullying Prevention? • The National School Safety Center called bullying the most enduring and underrated problem in U.S. schools (Beale, 2001) • Nearly 30 percent of students report being involved in bullying as either an aggressor or a recipient (Cook, Williams, Guerra, & Kim, 2010; Nansel, et al., 2001; Swearer & Espelage, 2004) • Victims and recipients of bullying are more likely to skip or drop out of school. (Berthold & Hoover, 2000; Neary & Joseph, 1994) • Victims and aggressors of bullying are more likely to suffer from underachievement and sub-potential performance in employment settings. (Carney & Merrell, 2001; NSSC, 1995) • Students on the autism spectrum are more likely to be victimized than their non-disabled peers • (Little, 2002) • Staff are likely to underestimate the extent of harassment and bullying. One study showed: • 58% of students perceived teasing, spreading lies or rumors, or saying mean things to be problems. • Only 25% of teachers perceived these behaviors to be problems. Nanselet al. (2001). Bullying Behaviors Among U.S. Youth. JAMA • 85% of LGBT students report being verbally harassed, 40% report physical harassment, and 19% reported being physically assaulted in the past year because of their sexual orientation (GLSEN, 2009) • 40-60% of students with intellectual disabilities report being bullied. But not at a level of intensity or chronicity that differs from typically developing adolescent ( Christensen, Fraynt, Neece & Baker, 2012)

What is Bullying? “Bullying” is repeated aggression, harassment, threats or intimidation when one person has greater status or power than the another. What Does it Look Like? All bullying behavior is disrespectful, not all disrespectful behavior is bullying • Physical aggression • Repeated acts of isolation • Name calling (race, gender, SES, disability, sexual orientation, etc.) • Cyber bullying • Rumors • Threats

What Reinforces Bullying? • Bullying is behavior, not a trait, or diagnosis, or a person. “Always with the ‘ing” • What rewards Bullying Behavior? • Likely many different rewards are effective • Most common are: • Attention from bystanders • Attention and reaction of “recipient” • Self-delivered praise • Obtaining objects (food, clothing) • Bullying is seldom maintained by feedback from adults

Video clip • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-hUhftD4A4

Language matters… • “When teaching respect to students, we don’t use the “B” word”. • When is it ok to use the word “bullying”? • Just changing the word doesn’t change the fact that the behavior exists.

Let’s start practicing and change the words that we use… • Bully ---------------------- Aggressor • Victim -------------------- Recipient • Bullying ------------------ Disrespectful behavior

Partner Activity • Identify an example of disrespectful behavior you have encountered that may have been referenced as bullying ___________________________________ • What was the: Context/  Disrespectful  RewardingSituation Behavior Consequence ___________________________________ • Identify a problem behavior that would be disrespectful and NOT referenced as bullying

Research Summary: Problems with current Bullying Prevention programs • Problem #1: Many bullying prevention programs focus on only the aggressor and the recipient; ignore role of “bystanders” • Not enough attention on all kids, whole school, all environments • Fails to address the social attention given by bystanders that reinforces the bullying behavior (cheering, gathering, watching) • Problem #2: Inadvertent “teaching of bullying” with possible contraindicated practices • Labeling behavior as bullying rather than being disrespectful; peer mediation; certain “counseling” groups; anti-bullying posters or pledges, etc. • Problem #3: Blame the aggressor • Labeling kids • Over-emphasis on student ‘responsibility’ for change • Problem #4: Initial effects gained without sustained impact • Non-data based decisions & interventions, generic intervention responses, • Do not scale, sustain, and/or generalize – most gone 2 years after implementation • Problem #5: Expensive effort

Team Activity • How has your school (or school individuals) addressed peer aggression and/or bullying? • Compare those interventions to the list of “Problems with current bullying prevention programs.” What do you find?

Core Elements of an Effective Bullying Prevention Effort: • Bullying prevention that is efficient and “fits” WITHIN existing behavior support efforts • Bullying PREVENTION; not just remediation • Early intervention. Establish a positive school culture. Teach pro-social school-wide expectations. Address multiple levels of the student’s ecology (school, peer, family) • Bullying prevention within a SYSTEMS APPROACH that help to make the program sustainable. • Tiered Supports. Consistent reinforcement. Data-based decision making.

School-Wide Systems for Student Success: A Response to Intervention (RtI) Model Academic Systems Behavioral Systems • Tier 3/Tertiary Interventions 1-5% • Individual students • Assessment-based • High intensity • 1-5% Tier 3/Tertiary Interventions • Individual students • Assessment-based • Intense, durable procedures • 5-15% Tier 2/Secondary Interventions • Some students (at-risk) • High efficiency • Rapid response • Small group interventions • Some individualizing • Tier 2/Secondary Interventions 5-15% • Some students (at-risk) • High efficiency • Rapid response • Small group interventions • Some individualizing • Tier 1/Universal Interventions 80-90% • All students • Preventive, proactive • 80-90% Tier 1/Universal Interventions • All settings, all students-SYSTEMIC • Preventive, proactive • Data, Systems, Practices • Faculty implementation • Student use of BP • Decision rules for Tier 2/3 supports Bullying Prevention starts here Illinois PBIS Network, Revised May 15, 2008. Adapted from “What is school-wide PBS?” OSEP Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports. Accessed at http://pbis.org/schoolwide.htm

Quick review: • Bullying is a ____________… not a trait. • When teaching students what the behavior looks like, we want to call it and teach using the word __________ rather than ________. • Bullying behavior happens much (more or less) than we think/see, and is a major barrier to effective education. • Bullying behavior is maintained by ___________. • Disrespectful behavior will continue as long as it continues to be _____________. • When teaching students, rather than calling the student a “bully” we want to use the word _______ .

BP Curriculum at www.pbis.org NEW 2013

The Practices for Implementing BP: Steps for Students • Teach Respect School-wide • Select a stop signal • Orientation and training for all students in four skills/routines: Stop, Stopping, Bystander Stop, Recruiting Help

Teach Respect to All Students • Should be initially taught as part of beginning of the year kick-off. • Students should be able to identify between respectful and disrespectful behavior student to student, student to adult, and adult to student • Note:teach what respect is, not what bullying is

Many ways to say “stop”Many gestures that work • Why a gesture? • Students will find it far more difficult to talk coherently when they are angry or hurt. • Make the message age appropriate and consistent • “enough” “what ever” “knock it off” • Consider gestures that might work in your school • One-hand gestures are more flexible • The Key is to build a social culture where the gesture is valid, and EVERYONE knows

Selecting a Stop Signal Stop signal is agreed upon after getting student voice and input. • For MS/HS: Stop signal is agreed upon after student forum

Student BP Orientation • Conduct a 30 min training in each classroom: • Build a positive social culture • Teach all students core behavioral expectations • One of the core expectations should include: Be respectful of others. What does it look like? What does it not look like? • Teach all students what to do when they encounter behavior that is not respectful. • 1. What do you do if someone is not respectful to you? • 2. What do you do if you encounter someone not being respectful to someone else? • 3. What do you do if someone tells you that you are not being respectful? • Teach removing the rewards that sustain bullying behavior

Student Orientation: Teach Skills, Practice Four Student Skills to Demonstrate and Practice (in groups of three, students should practice each skill at least 3-5 times) • School-wide behavioral expectation: Understanding respect, know what it means to be “respectful” • Stop Routine: when faced with disrespectful behavior • Stopping Routine: if someone tells you to “stop” • Bystander Stop Routine: when observing disrespectful behavior • Recruiting Help Routine: to recruit adult help if you feel unsafe.

Stop and Stopping Routines

Skill #1: Teach the “Stop Signal” • What to do, When to do it. • If someone is directing problem behavior to you, ask them them to “stop.” • Gesture and word • Practice how the stop signal should look and sound • Hand signal • Clear voice • What is a non-example? • View Video clip example

Skill #2: Teach Stopping: how to respond if someone says ‘Stop’ • Eventually, every student will be asked to stop. When this happens, they should do the following things • Stop what you are doing • Take a deep breath • Go about their day (no big deal) • These steps should be followed even when you don’t agree with the “stop” message. • Show Video clip example

Practice:Student Skills #1 (Stop Signal), and #2 (Stopping) Student A: Aggressor Student B: Recipient “I am being disrespectful toward you” Say and show “Stop” Stop, Breathe, Leave Take turns until everyone has practiced each role 3x

Skill #3: Bystander Stop Routine: Saying stop when someone else is being treated disrespectfully • Remember: Even if all you do is “watch” a bad situation, you are providing attention that rewards the disrespectful behavior. • If you see someone else being treated disrespectfully: • Say and show “stop” to the person being disrespectful • Offer to take the other person away for a little bit. • If they do not want to go, that is okay…just walk away. • Show video clip example.

Practice: Skill #3 (Bystander Stop Routine) Student B: Recipient “I am being disrespectful toward you” Do nothing Say and show “Stop” Offer to take student B away Go with student C Stop, Breathe, Leave Take turns until everyone has practiced each role 3x Student A:Aggressor Student C: Bystander

Let’s Practice: Skill #3: Bystander stop routine • Divide up into groups of 3 or 4. • Students A, B, C, D • Practice #1: • Student A says “I am being disrespectful to you” to Student B. • Student C says, “stop” and moves Student B away • Student A stops, takes a breath, and turns away. • Student D walks away • Take turns until everyone has been in each role at least three times.

Skill #4: Getting Help Routine: “walk away” Sometimes, even when students tell others to “stop”, problem behavior will continue. When this happens, students are to "walk away" from the problem behavior. • Remember that walking away removes the attention for problem behavior • Encourage students to support one another when they use the appropriate Stop  Walk  Talk response

Skill #4 con’t: Getting Help Routine: “Talk to an Adult” Even when students use “stop” and they “walk away” from the problem, sometimes someone will continue to behave inappropriately toward them. When that happens, students should "talk" to an adult. • Report problems to adults • Where is the line between tattling, and reporting? • "Talking"is when you have tried to solve the problem yourself, and have used the "stop" and "walk" steps first: • Tattlingis when you do not use the "stop" and "walk away" steps before "talking" to an adult • Tattling is when your goal is to get the other person in trouble KEY: Students must know what to expect from adults if the student reports an instance of behavior that is not respectful

Elaboration, how will adults respond? • What will adults do when you report a problem? • 1. Adults will ask if you said “stop” and walked away • 2. If you did not say “stop” adults will ask you to practice that skill • 3. If you did say “stop” adults will talk to the other student. • 4. If you were asked to “stop” and did not, teachers will help you practice that skill. • It is important to all adults in this school that you are both treated respectfully, and feel safe. • Remember that the real way to reduce disrespectful behavior is to stop attending to it, and stop talking about it to other students. Tell adults.

Practice: Skill #4 (Walk away, talk to an adult) Teacher Student B: Recipient “I am being disrespectful toward you” Say and show “Stop” “I am still being disrespectful toward you” Walk away “I am still being disrespectful toward you” Go to teacher, “I said stop, and he/she didn’t’ stop.” “Thank you…” Take turns until everyone has practiced each role 3x Student A: Aggressor

Review ?’s • Students should be taught to identify difference between respectful and ________ behaviors. • It is important to get ________ voice when selecting the stop signal. • There are four routines to teach students. They are: a)_______ (What to do when you are being disrespected) b) _______ (What to do when you are asked to stop) c) _______ (What to do if you observe disrespectful behavior) d) _______ (What to do if the disrespect does not stop) • How often will students be taught these routines? • Why do we teach students to walk away? • _________ is when you have tried to solve the problem yourself using the Stop Routine. _________ is when you did not tell the person to stop and your goal is to get the person in trouble. • To ensure that students know what to expect when getting help, it is important that all adults respond _________ to students.

Data Collection • Do we have a respect problem? • Other sources? School climate surveys, student, and staff perception surveys

Staff BP Implementation Survey v1.1 Disagree..…Agree 1. Students are able to identify our school-wide expectations. 1 2 3 4 5 2. Students ask peers to stop in response to disrespectful behavior. 1 2 3 4 5 3. Students stop their own disrespectful behavior appropriately when prompted by peers. 1 2 3 4 5 4. At least two times a week, staff pre-correct both students who chronically demonstrate disrespectful behavior, and students who are chronically the recipients. 1 2 3 4 5 5. All staff use the same predetermined response when students report disrespectful behavior. 1 2 3 4 5 6. In the past six months, there has been a decrease in disrespectful behavior. 1 2 3 4 5 7. Our students perceive our school to be a safe setting. 1 2 3 4 5 Available at: http://www.pbisillinois.org/curriculum/bullying

Student Respect Climate Survey v1.1 In my school… DISAGREE…………AGREE 1. I feel safe. 1 2 3 4 5 2. Other students treat me respectfully. 1 2 3 4 5 3. I treat other students respectfully. 1 2 3 4 5 4. Adults treat me respectfully. 1 2 3 4 5 5. I treat adults in your school respectfully. 1 2 3 4 5 In the past week… 6. How many times have other students treated you disrespectfully? 0, 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10+ 7. How many timed did you see someone else treated disrespectfully? 0, 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10+ 8. How many times did you ask someone else to “stop”? 0, 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10+ 9. How many times did someone ask you to “stop?” 0, 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10+ 10. How many times did you help someone walk away from disrespectful behavior? 0, 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10+ Available at: http://www.pbisillinois.org/curriculum/bullying

Simulated Survey Responses4 weeks before BP and 4 week after BP Mean Student Response N = 235 Peers Treat You You Treat Others Adults Treat You Treat Adults Respectfully Respectfully You Respectfully Respectfully

Student Forum (MS/HS) • Design: • 8-10 students selected for positive peer leadership/contribution • 30-90 min, 4x per year • Introduction and Logic: • School should be a safe and welcoming place. • Disrespectful behavior is maintained if (a) it results in attention from students, and (b) is not addressed by adults. • Content of discussion: • 1. Is disrespectful behavior a problem? What is the impact of disrespectful behavior on ability of others to succeed in school. • 2. Disrespectful behavior typically keeps happening because it results in attention from peers. • 3. We need common (school-wide) socially acceptable routines for: • A) Stop Routine (What would be an acceptable word/gesture to indicate “stop?”) • If someone is disrespectful toward you • If you encounter someone being disrespectful toward others (bystander) • Cyberspace • B) Stopping Routine (what should someone do when asked to “stop?”) • C) Recruiting help routing (what is the appropriate way to get help or report a problem?) • 4. What would be best way to introduce/train these routines?

Review and Monitor Pre-Implementation Data • ODR Data • SWIS: harassment/bullying, fighting, physical aggression • Student Respect Climate survey • Staff BP Implementation Survey (pre-) • Illinois 5Essentials Survey for Students • How safe do you feel… • Faculty/family reports • Make sure school is maintaining any reports from faculty or family members about bullying

Building Consensus through Data Collection • Collect Student Respect Climate Survey data pre-implementation • School wide Tier 1 team monitorsschool-wide data monthly, acknowledges strengths, and coordinates re-teaching of school-wide expectations as necessary • SWIS Categories: PhysAgg, Fighting, Bullying/Harassment • Hold student Forums for MS/HS • Different formats possible • Share results with whole student-body

Review ?’s • Before kicking off bullying prevention, you will want to facilitate a survey of both _______ and ________ to help build consensus and establish baseline data. • Don’t forget to share the results of these surveys with _______, ________, and ________. • Student forums should be held at MS/HS level. Do not use the word _______ at these forums and you want to select students who are _______ for this group. • What data sources can be used to progress monitor?

The Practices for Implementing BP: Steps for the Staff • Team is trained in BP-PBIS bullying prevention strategies. • Read and Analyze BP-PBIS Curriculum. • Consider current behavior teaching system in place and its capacity to effectively integrate BP within the system.

Faculty Orientation; Logic; Response Procedures • Faculty can define logic for BP-PBIS • Common “stop” signal adopted for whole school • Faculty can teach “student training” skills • Faculty reward/recognize student use of BP “stop” routine • Faculty manage “student reporting” routine • Faculty can deliver “booster training” • Faculty can deliver “pre-corrects” • Faculty collect and use data for decision making

Faculty Response Procedure • When any problem behavior is reported, adults follow a specific response sequence: Ensure the student’s safety. • Is the aggression still happening? • Is the reporting child at risk? • What does the student need to feel safe? • What is the severity of the situation? Determine if “stop” response was used • If “stop” used…praise the student, and then connect with aggressor • If “stop” response was not used, practice the Stop-Walk-Talk routine with the student. Determine if “walk away” was used • If not, practice how to walk away. Determine if aggressor used “stop” • If “stop” not followed, practice how to stop when asked.

Faculty Response Procedure (con’t) Faculty Response Procedure for when students “talk” When a Student reports disrespectful behavior: "Did you tell ______ to stop?" • If yes: "How did ____ respond?” • If no: Practice stop-walk-talk. "Did you walk away?" • If yes: "How did ____ respond?” • If no: Practice stop-walk-talk. “Okay, I will take it from here.”

Practice: Staff Responding Routine, practice with recipient Teacher “He/She was disrespectful to me” “Thank you for telling me” Assess for safety “Did you tell him/her to stop?” “No” “OK.” Take student aside and practice. “Remember we need to take attention away from behaviors we don’t like. Let’s practice. I’m being disrespectful to you, now what do you do?” Say and show “Stop” “Good! Now do that when someone is disrespectful.” Student A: Recipient

Practice: Staff Responding Routine, practice with aggressor Student C: Aggressor Teacher “He/She was disrespectful to me” “Thank you for telling me” Assess for safety “Did you tell him/her to stop?” “Yes” “Thank you, I’ll take it from here” Talk with aggressor: “Did he/she tell you to stop? “Yes.” “Did you stop?” “No.” “Let’s practice. I’m going to say and show ‘stop,’ and you will stop, breathe, and leave. Ready?” Say and show stop. Stop, breathe, leave Student A: Recipient “Good! Now do that when someone says ‘stop’.”

Build your BP curriculum and teaching plans • Use National PBIS Center’s BP-PBIS Curriculum: • Ross, S., Horner, R., & Stiller, B. (2008). Bullying prevention in positive behavior support in Elementary Schools/Middle Schools. OSEP Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports. Eugene, OR. Available at: www.pbisillinois.org/curriculum/bullying • MS/HS: National PBIS Center’s Expect Respect curriculum • Develop your own behavioral lesson plans

Faculty/Staff BP Orientation: Booster • Schedule 1-2 staff boosters • Within two months after initial student training, hold a brief review of Stop-Walk-Talk routine with staff. • Select examples that are like three problem events that been reported. • Four months after initial student training, consider holding another brief review of Stop-Walk-Talk routine.

Bullying Prevention in a Multi Tiered System of Support