School Bullying Prevention and Intervention: Tips for the School Psychologist

1
School Bullying Prevention and InterventionTips
for the School Psychologist

• NASP Bullying Workgroup

2
Bullying Statistics

• Approximately 30 percent of students are
  regularly involved in bully, either as bullies or
  both (National Resource Center for Safe Schools,
  2001National Institutes of Health, April, 2001).
• Approximately 15 percent severely traumatized or
  distressed and eight percent report being
  victimized at least once a week (Skiba
  Fontanini, 2000).
• Bullying occurs once every seven minutes (Bureau
  of Justice Statistics, 2001).
• 61.6 of students who are bullied are picked on
  because of their looks or speech (U.S. News
  World Report, May 7, 2001).
• Every day approximately 160,000 students stay
  home from school because they are afraid of being
  bullied (Vail, 1999 Banks, 2000).
• Bullying peaks in sixth through eighth grades
  (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
  Prevention, 2001).
• Homicide perpetrators more than twice as likely
  as homicide victims to have been bullied by peers
  (U.S. Department of Education and Justice, 2001).

3
Part One Bullying

• Nature of bullying
• Characteristics of students involved in bullying
• Types of bullying
• Gender differences
• Students who are victimized
• Students who are bystanders
• Empowering bystanders
• Students attitudes about bullying
• Adult responses to bullying
• Impact of bullying on victims

4
Nature of Bullying

• Bullying is a subset of aggressive behavior that
  is
• Intentional, deliberately hurtful
• Violates the rights of others
• Power imbalance between bullies and victims
• Target has hard time defending himself/herself
• Repeated over time
• Creates a hostile climate
• (Hoover and Oliver, 1996 USDOE, 1998)

5
Characteristics of Students who Bully Others

• Impulsive
• Needs to feel powerful, in control
• Believe he/she is superior to others
• Gets satisfaction inflicting injury and suffering
  on others
• Craves attention
• Lacks remorse
• Feels victims provoke attack and deserve
  consequences
• Refuses to accept responsibility for behavior

6
Types of Bullying

• Physical bullying
• punching, shoving, acts that hurt people
• Verbal bullying
• name calling, teasing, making offensive remarks
• Indirect bullying
• spreading rumors
• keeping certain people out of the group
• getting certain people to gang up on others
• Cyber bullying
• sending insulting messages by e-mail, text
  messaging, chat rooms

7
Gender Differences

• Boys tend to be more direct and girls more
  indirect (National Resource Center for Safe
  Schools, 1999 Crick Grotpeter, 1995)
• Boys engage in bullying more frequently than
  girls (Banks, 2000)
• Boys tend to bully both boys and girls (Hoover
  Oliver, 1996)
• Girls tend to target other girls of the same age
  and take the form of teasing and social exclusion
  (Olweus, 2002 Nansel et al., 2001 Underwood,
  2003)
• Girls are more likely to bully in a group
  (Kreidler, 1996)
• Bullying by girls is often more subtle and harder
  to detect (NRCSS, 1999)

8

• Children who are victimized tend to display
  vulnerable behaviors.
• Passive loners, cry easily, and lack social
  skills
• Shy, sensitive, insecure
• Don't pick up on social cues
• Unable to deflect a conflict with humor
• Generally sad, anxious, cautious, suffer low
  self-esteem
• Do not defend themselves or retaliate and tend to
  lack friends
• Juvonen, J. Graham. (2001). Peer harassment in
  school The plight of the vulnerable and
  victimized. New York, NY Guilford Press.

9
Impact of Bullying on Victims

• Reluctant to attend school and often absent
• More anxious, insecure or depressed
• Difficulty concentrating on school work
• Suffer from low self-esteem, negative self-image,
  feeling ashamed and unattractive
• Present physical symptoms
• Victims do not report the bullying to adults/or
  wait a long time before reporting
• Feel shame
• Do not want to worry parents
• Fear retaliation for reporting
• Fear adults cannot/will not protect them
• Grills, A. Ollendick, T (2002). Peer
  victimization, global self-worth, and anxiety in
  middle school children. Journal of Clinical Child
  and Adolescent Psychology, 31, 59-68.

10

• Negatively affected when
• bullying occurs
• Become anxious and more fearful
• Could follow a bullys lead in helping to
  victimize another student
• If they do not see negative consequences
• for the bully, bystanders may be more likely
  to use aggression in the future

11
Empowering Bystanders

• We encourage bystanders to
• Speak up to bullies if it is safe to do so
• Band together as a group against bullies
• Not to join in
• Ask adults for help
• Report the bullying
• Reach out as friends to isolated peers, offer
  support
• The whole drama is supported by the bystander.
  The theater cant take place if theres no
  audience.
• Labi, N. Let Bullies Beware. Time online,
  March 25, 2001.

12
Student Attitudes about Bullying

• Varies with ageas students get older, they
  become more supportive of bullying and less
  likely to intervene
• Girls tend to be more supportive of victims, but
  are not necessarily more likely to intervene
• Culture of silence
• Smith, P. (2005). BullyingDont Suffer in
  Silence. Goldsmiths College, University of London.

13
Adult Responses to Bullying

• Adults are often unaware of bullying problems
  (Limber, 2002 Skiba Fontanini, 2000)
• 25 of teachers see nothing wrong with bullying
  or putdowns, and consequently intervene in only
  4 of bullying incidents (Cohn Canter, 2002)
• Students often feel that adult intervention is
  infrequent and/or unhelpful and they often fear
  that telling adults will only bring more
  harassment from bullies (Banks, 1997
  Mullin-Rindler, 2003)

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Part Two A School-wide Approach to Bullying

• Establishing school-wide bully prevention
  programs
• Establishing school-wide anti-bullying policy
• Assessing school climate

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Taking Action Against Bullying

• It is our duty as educators to provide a safe
  school environment for all students.
• By age 24, 60 of identified bullies may have
  criminal convictions (Banks, 2000)
• Children who are repeatedly victimized sometimes
  see suicide as their only escape
• Bullying is the most underrated and enduring
  problem in schools today
• Many adults do not know how to intervene in
  bullying situations, therefore bullying is
  overlooked
• Emotional scars can last a lifetime

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School Psychologists Role

• Assess your schools needs and goals
• Help develop an anti-bullying policy
• Provide training for teachers, administrators,
  and other school staff
• Involve parents
• Identify resources for bullies, victims, and
  families
• Help integrate anti-bullying themes and
  activities into curriculum
• Initiate conversations with students about
  bullying
• Encourage students to report incidents of
  bullying
• Work with students on developing assertiveness
  and conflict resolution skills
• Focus on developing empathy and respect for
  others
• School wide Prevention of Bullying, Northwest
  Regional Educational laboratory, December, 2001.

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School-wide Bullying Prevention Programs

• Focus on the social environment of the school
• Assess bullying at your school
• Obtain staff and parent buy-in and support for
  bullying prevention
• Meet regularly to review findings
• Provide training for school staff in bullying
  prevention
• Establish and enforce school rules and policies
  related to bullying
• Increase adult supervision in hot spots for
  bullying
• Intervene consistently and appropriately when you
  see bullying
• Devote some class time to bullying prevention
• Limber, S. (2004). What worksand doesnt in
  bullying prevention and intervention. Student
  Assistance Journal, 16-19.
• Garrity, Jens, Porter, Sager Short-Camilli
  (1996). Without intervention, bully problems will
  not go away In Bullyproofing your school.
  Longmont, CO Sopris West

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Tips for Selecting Prevention Programs

• Be sure the books, videos, and other resources
  selected for children are developmentally and
  age-appropriate.
• Look for materials that explain and illustrate
  the many forms that bullying can take.
• Select materials that show boys AND girls
  involved in bullying.
• Look for materials that suggest or show
  appropriate and realistic solutions to bullying
  problems.
• Look for materials that have won awards or
  received positive reviews by professionals,
  parents, children, or youth.

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School Wide Anti-bullying Policy

• A clear definition of bullying
• A statement that clearly says bullying is
  unacceptable
• Positive conflict resolution, caring and respect
  is valued
• A description of how the school proposes to deal
  with bullies and victims
• Encouragement for students and parents to share
  concerns

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Benefits of an Anti-Bullying Policy

• Schools gain reputation of being safe for all
  children and seen as active partners in taking
  care of children
• Children will know that the school actively works
  to make the learning environment a safe place,
  can feel less worried and devote more attention
  to learning

21
Assessing School Climate

• School climate shapes student behavior and
  learning.
• Identify the components of strong school climate
  and how they affect student behavior and learning
• Change school culture to support productive
  student behavior and effective learning
• Use mentorships and other relationship-based
  strategies to promote productive student behavior
• Develop a school-wide productive behavior system

22
Interventions Designed to Improve School Climate

• School Level Interventions (entire school
  population)
• Establish a bullying prevention coordinating
  committee
• Administer an anonymous questionnaire survey
• Hold a school conference day
• Improve supervision and outdoor environment
• Involve parents
• Classroom Level Interventions (entire classroom)
• Establish classroom rules against bullying
• Create positive and negative consequences of
  bullying
• Hold regular classroom meetings
• Meet with parents
• Individual Level Interventions (specific students
  involved in bullying)
• Serious talks (with possible referral to therapy)
  with students who bully
• Serious talks (with possible referral to therapy)
  with students who are victimized
• Involve the parents
• Change of class or school

23
Potential Pitfalls

• Avoid creating a great deal of extra paperwork
  for teachers and school staff.
• Secure administrative support at both the school
  and district levels.
• Be careful that the bullying program does not
  stigmatize students as bullies or victims or
  bully-victims.
• Effective programs need to be ongoing throughout
  the school, integrated with the curriculum,
  schools discipline policies and violence
  prevention efforts at school.
• Dont expect change overnight.

24
Keys to Success

• Schools need to be serious about implementing the
  program.
• Teachers need to understand that their response
  to bullying makes a difference.
• Children cant do it alone.
• Bullying is not part of normal conflict.
• Playground areas, cafeterias, and bus stops must
  be all supervised.
• Teach children strategies to reduce bullying
  incidents.

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Part Three Practices to Address Bullying

• Identifying victimization and bullying
• Reynolds Scales
• Bully Surveys
• Defusing students who bully others
• Strategies for reducing bullying
• Skill development for students who are victimized

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Reynolds Bully Victimization Scales for Schools

• Bully Victimization Scale (BVS)
• Bully Victimization Distress Scale (BVDS)
• School Violence Anxiety Scale (SVAS)
• Swearer, S. M. Love, K. B. (in press). Review
  of the Reynolds Bully-Victim Scale for Schools.
  In B. S. Plake J. C. Impara (Eds.), The
  Fifteenth Mental Measurements Yearbook. Lincoln,
  NE Buros Institute of Mental Measurements.

27
Bully Surveys

• Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire (Solberg
  Olweus, 2003 Olweus, 1994)
• The Bully Surveys (Swearer, 2001 Swearer Cary,
  2003)
• Overview Furlong, M., Greif, J., Sharkey, J.
  (March, 2005). Assessing violence in our schools
  Bullying. Presentation at annual meeting of the
  National Association of School Psychologists,
  Atlanta, GA.

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Defusing Bullies

• Intervene immediately
• Isolate the bully from the environment
• Talk to bully/talk to victim separately
• Consult with other teachers and school
  administrators
• Expect denial and inform bully about actions
  taken
• Have clear consequences in place (i.e. replacing
  broken property)
• Keep the focus on the behavior

• Encourage students to report incidents of
  bullying
• Communicate with the parents
• Reassure victims steps will be taken to prevent
  recurrence
• Teach students to monitor their own behavior
• Provide counseling
• Get other students involved
• Follow-up

29
Interventions for Students who Bully Others

• It is important to determine whether intervention
  modules are best delivered in a group format or
  individually. Typically, anti-bullying programs
  deliver interventions in a group format. However,
  research has suggested that homogenous group
  interventions are not helpful for aggressive
  youth and in fact, may be damaging (Dishion,
  McCord, Poulin, 1999).

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A True Story (Newsweek, April 12, 2004)

• People were climbing over seats and started
  fighting about stupid stuff.
• --Woodlawn High School freshman Melissa Parks,
  on the arrests of 11 students and two adults
  after a fight broke out in the Maryland schools
  anger-management assembly.

31
Common Pitfalls in Bullying Prevention and
Intervention

• Debunking the dyadic bias (Espelage Swearer,
  2003)
• Zero tolerance (Get rid of the bullies)
• Group treatment for bullies
• Mediation/conflict resolution
• Simple, short-term solutions (i.e., suspension)
• School-wide interventions WITHOUT 80-100 staff
  support

32
State Statutes to Address Bullying

• Arkansas (2003)
• California (2001)
• Colorado (2001)
• Connecticut (2002)
• Georgia (2002)
• Illinois (2001)
• Louisiana (2001)
• New Hampshire (2000)

• New Jersey (2002)
• New York (2002)
• Oklahoma (2002)
• Oregon (2001)
• Rhode Island (2003)
• Vermont (2001)
• Washington (2001)
• West Virginia (2001)

33
H.R. 284

• Introduced in 2005 by Rep. Shimkus (IL)
• Would amend the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and
  Communities Act to include bullying and
  harassment prevention programs.

34
We need to Change the Climate!Public Information
Campaigns

• HRSAs Take a stand. Lend a hand. Stop
  bullying now. (www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov)
• SAMHSAs Make Time to Listen, Take Time to
  Talkabout Bullying. (www.mentalhealth.samhsa.gov
  /15plus/aboutbullying)

35
Several Strategies for Reducing Bullying

• Steps to Respect (Committee for Children)
• Olweus Bullying Prevention Program
• Bully Busters (Horne et al.)
• Effective Behavioral Supports

36
Skill Development for Victims

• Look at behavior that contributes to bullying
• Improve social skills
• Assertiveness training
• Conflict resolution
• Stress management

37
Part Four Working with Parents

• Involving parents
• Parents reporting bullying
• Parents of bullies and/or victims

38
Involving Parents

• Regular consultation and communication
• Provide information about the effects of bullying
• Advising parents of possible consequences of
  their children bringing valuable items to school
• Inviting parents to plays/drama

39
Parents Reporting Bullying

• Recognize that the parent may be angry and upset
• Keep an open mindbullying can be difficult to
  detect
• Remain calm and understanding
• Making clear that the school does care and that
  something will be done
• Explain the school policy, make sure procedures
  are followed

40
Parents of Bullies and/or Victims

• Involve parents constructively at an early stage
  rather than only as a last resort
• Avoid using parents as a form of punishment for
  bullying
• Use problem-solving approach It seems your
  son/daughter and (other child) have not been
  getting along very well lately

41
Lets take a break!
42
Part Five Activity 2

• Lets get into groups to discuss vignettes

43
Part Six Finding out about Bullying in Your
School

• Survey methods
• Interviews
• Interpreting and presenting data
• Data-based decision-making

44
What are Schools To Do?

• Of the more than 300 published violence
  prevention programs, less than a quarter of these
  programs report outcome data showing that they
  reduce or prevent violence (Howard, Flora, and
  Griffin, 1999).
• Schools face the challenge of determining which
  programs and procedures will work in their
  particular school and community ecologies.

45
Survey Methods

• How frequently students have been bullied
• Ways it which it happens
• How often bullying occurs
• Whom the victims tell
• What action was taken and by whom
• Where bullying takes place (provide maps of the
  school and grounds ask to highlight)

46
Interviews

• Do in private, but visible to others
• Make notes after the interview is over
• Explain the need for disclosure if necessary
• Specify how often bullying is occurring

47
Data-based decision-making (Swearer Espelage,
2004)

• 1. Partner with university researchers to conduct
  an assessment of bullying behaviors
• 2. Conduct a school-wide anonymous assessment of
  bullying behaviors
• 3. Include multiple informants
• 4. Use self-report, other report, observations
• 5. Graph data to create a picture of the scope of
  bullying in your school
• 6. Use data to conduct classroom presentations on
  bullying

48
Data-based decision-making (Swearer Espelage,
2004)

• 7. Use the data to create interventions for
  bullying
• 8. Use the data to establish preventative
  measures to create an antibullying climate
• 9. Share data with parent groups (e.g., PTA)
• 10. Create a data-based decision-making climate
  through the use of individual school data to help
  guide prevention and intervention programming.

49
Interpreting and Presenting Data

• Make comparisons over time
• Report changes as percentages if the two groups
  differ in size
• Check trends against whole-school or part-school
  surveys
• Are there discrepancies between what is reported
  and number of incidents recorded by staff? (If
  so, schools response system will need
  reviewing).
• Espelage, D. L. Swearer, S. M. (2004). Bullying
  in American schools A social-ecological
  perspective on prevention and intervention.
  Mahwah, NJ Lawrence Erlbaum.
• Smith, P. (2004). Bullying-Dont suffer in
  silence. Goldsmiths College, University of London.

50
Points to Remember

• Never ignore suspected bullying
• Listen carefully and openly
• Dont make premature assumptions
• Adopt a problem-solving approach which moves
  students on from justifying themselves
• Follow-up repeatedly, check that bullying has not
  resumed
• Effective and consistent consequences for those
  who bully others
• Develop curriculum which promotes communication,
  friendship, social skills, conflict resolution,
  anger management and assertive skills
• Improve communication among teachers, parents and
  students

51
Summary

• If everyone works together to discourage
  bullying, responds to incidents, and develops a
  greater sense of connection for students to their
  peers, then seeds of respect and acceptance will
  grow.
• Lumsden, L. (March, 2002). Preventing Bullying.
  ERIC Digest 155.

52
Part Seven Wrap-up

• Quiz
• Materials, appendices
• Questions, comments
• Evaluation

53
INDIVIDUALIZE Prevention and Intervention
Efforts---Several Resources

• One size DOES NOT fit all!
• Schools need to implement bullying prevention and
  intervention strategies that fit their school
  ecology and that are empirically validated.

54
The Bullying Prevention Program (Olweus Limber,
1999)

• Meets the criteria for a proven program in the
  Blueprints for Violence Prevention (Elliott,
  1999).
• Successfully replicated internationally (e.g.,
  Whitney, Rivers, Smith, Sharp, 1994) and in the
  United States (Melton et al.,1998).
• Follows a whole-school multilevel approach that
  includes core components targeting several levels
  of the school ecology.
• Implementation issues across different school
  ecologies are discussed.

55
Order Information

• Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence
• Institute of Behavioral Science
• University of Colorado at Boulder
• Boulder, CO 80309-0442
• [phone]
• http//www.Colorado.EDU/cspv/blueprints

56
BULLY BUSTERS
57
Bully Busters (Newman, Horne, Bartolomucci,
2000)

• Intervention and prevention program designed
  specifically for the middle school years.
• Classroom-level program addresses the essential
  components of the school ecology that are
  responsible for change.
• Focus on teacher education and training.
• Differing implementation methods facilitate the
  needs of different school ecologies.
• www.researchpress.com

58
Steps to Respect (Committee for Children)

• When all three phases are in place, your school
  will have
• Clear school policies and procedures for
  addressing bullying.
• Staff who are trained to recognize and deal with
  bullying when it occurs.
• Students who have learned how to recognize,
  refuse, and report bullying.
• Impressive outcome data (Developmental
  Psychology, 2005 School Psychology Review, in
  submission)

59
Order Information

• Call Committee for Children toll-free
  800-634-4449, ext. 6223800 a.m.430 p.m.
  Pacific Time, MondayFriday
• http//www.cfchildren.org/str/strindex/

60
Second Step A Violence Prevention Program
(Committee for Children, 1997)

• Research-based program research-based modules
• Includes a module on bullying
• User-friendly
• Buy-in issues are addressed first
• Comprehensive Grades 1-3 4-5 6-7 7-88-9
• U.S. Department of Education Office of Safe and
  Drug-Free Schools Exemplary Program.

61
Order Information

• Second Step A Violence Prevention Curriculum
• 2203 Airport Way South, Suite 500
• Seattle, WA 98134
• [phone]
• http//www.cfchildren.org

62
The Peaceful Schools Project (Twemlow, Fonagy,
Sacco, Vernberg, Twemlow)

• A philosophy, not a program.
• Essential components discipline plan, positive
  climate campaign, gentle warrior, reflection
  time.
• Includes parent workshops.
• Addresses the schools unique ecology.
• Impressive outcome data.

63
Order Information

• The Peaceful Schools Project.
• http//www.backoffbully.com

64
R.E.S.P.E.C.T. 2(www.respect2all.org)

• Relationship Empowerment for Students, Parents,
  Educators Community Through Theatre
• Mission
• bring together a community collaboration to build
  healthy relationships among children and youth
  through theatre

65
Another Resource

• Bullying Behavior Current issues, research, and
  interventions. Edited by Geffner, R. A., Loring,
  M. T. Young, C. (2002).
• Published by The Haworth Press, Inc.
• 10 Alice Street
• Binghamtom, NY 13904-1580
• 1-800-895-0582
• www.HaworthPress.com

66
Teacher/Counselor Resource

• Bullying, Peer Harassment, and Victimization in
  the Schools. Edited by Elias, M. J. Zins, J. E.
  (2002).
• Published by The Haworth Press, Inc.
• 10 Alice Street
• Binghamtom, NY 13904-1580
• 1-800-895-0582
• www.HaworthPress.com

67
Teacher/Counselor Resource

• Resilient Classrooms. Doll, B., Zucker, S.,
  Brehm, K. (2004).
• Published by The Guilford Press.
• 72 Spring Street
• New York, NY 10012
• www.guilford.com

68
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates http//www.erlbaum.com
69
Books for Parents

• And Words can Hurt Forever How to Protect
  Adolescents from Bullying, Harassment, and
  Emotional Violence (2002).
• By James Garbarino and Ellen deLara. The Free
  Press.

70
Books for Parents

• Sheras, P. L. with Thompson, A (2002). Your
  Child Bully or Victim? Understanding and Ending
  School Yard Tyranny. New York Fireside (Simon
  Schuster).

71
A Video Resource

• Bully Dance video
• Bullfrog Films
• Box 149
• Oley, PA 19547
• [phone]
• Web www.bullfrogfilms.com

72
Web Resources

• http//www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov
• http//www.targetbully.com
• http//www.backoffbully.com
• http///www.pta.org/bullying/
• http//www.dac.neu.edu/cp/mspa/html1/mspa32.html
• http//www.nea.org/schoolsafety/bullying.html
• http//www.clemson.edu/olweus/index.html
• http//www.mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/15plus/aboutbul
  lying.asp

73
NASP Bullying Workgroup Members

• Preston Bodison
• Carly Cornelius
• Susan Eldred
• Marolyn Freedman
• Lillie Haynes
• Ian MacLeod
• Elizabeth Rivelli
• Bryony Rowe
• Peter Sheras
• Karen Sternat
• Susan M. Swearer (Chair)