1. Bullying Prevention and Positive Behavior Intervention &
Support
A few activities designed to help you think about bullying at your own school
To begin, complete the QUESTIONNAIRE ON BULLYING
Margaret A. Gannon, Southeast PBIS Coordinator
Correy Watkins, Central PBIS Coordinator

2. 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.

3. 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!

4. 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

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

6. 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

7. 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.

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

9. Six Key Features of BP-PBIS (continued)
The correction of problem behaviors using a consistently administered continuum of consequences.
The collection and use of information about student behavior to evaluate and guide decision making.
The establishment of a team that develops, implements, and manages the BP-PBIS effort in a school.

10. 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

11. 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

12. Assumptions / Goals Assumptions Goals
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. 12

13. The Logic: Why 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).

14. Why Invest in School-wide Bully Prevention?

15. 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

16. What do we need?
Bully prevention that “fits” with existing behavior support efforts
Bully PREVENTION, not just remediation
Bully prevention that is sustainable.

17. Bully Prevention in Positive Behavior Intervention & Support: The Foundation

18. What rewards Bullying Behavior?
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

19. 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.

20. A Comprehensive Bully Prevention Model

21. Individual Student Supports
School-wide Behavioral Expectations
Bully Prevention
Individual Student Supports
Teach
All Students
Practice
With
Some
Students
Support
Staff
Important
Bully
Victim
Collect and use data for decision-making

22. 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)

23. 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 23

24. The Stop Signal – A Three Step Response
Walk
Talk

25. 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

26. 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. 26

27. 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.
Include at least one or two examples of when not to use the stop signal:
Kelly makes a suggestion for a game that Fred does not like
Alisha continues to poke Ronnie in line, even after Ronnie has delivered the stop signal

28. 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

29. 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

30. Remember: walking away removes the reinforcement for problem behavior
Remember: walking away removes the reinforcement for problem behavior. Teach students to encourage one another when they use the appropriate response. 30

31. 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.

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

33. Please Note!!
If any student is in danger, the “stop” and “walk away” steps should be skipped, and the incident should be reported immediately.

34. Talking versus Tattling
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 student’s goal is to get the other person in trouble

35. 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”

36. 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”

37. 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 don’t agree with the “stop” 37

38. 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.

39. 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
Practice the 3 step response.
The amount of practice depends on the severity and frequency of problem behavior 39

40. 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. 40

41. Bully Prevention in PBIS
Faculty Follow-Up

42. 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 student’s 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.) 42

43. 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

44. Roles (continued) Reads Manual
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!

45. 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. 45

46. 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.

47. 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?
Review pre-correction strategy and reward staff for its implementation
Do faculty/staff use the review routine when students report problem behaviors?
Re-teach the review routine to staff and reward them for using it with students.
Are there specific settings where BP-PBIS strategies are not used effectively?
Conduct Student Booster in applicable settings.
Do students “at risk” for aggression behave more appropriately?
These students may require more intense individual interventions and a Functional Behavior Assessment

48. To Learn More http://www.wrightslaw.com/nltr/07/nl.0417.htm
J.H. Hoover, R. Oliver, and R.J. Hazler, "Bullying: Perceptions of adolescent victims in Midwestern USA," School Psychology International 13:5-16,1992.
S. Ross, R. Horner, and B. Stiller, Bully Prevention in Positive Behavior Intervention & Support

49. Margaret A. Gannon margaret_gannon@pender. k12. nc
Margaret A. Gannon Correy Watkins