Ms. Jones wanted Marcus to learn to respond to bullying appropriately across settings and peer groups. Bullying was most likely to occur during passing periods, before school, and after school while Marcus waited for the bus. These activities had the least supervision, which made bullying more likely to occur.

Specifically, there was a group of 8th grade boys who occasionally teased Marcus. Their comments often upset him. They’d make fun of Marcus’s favorite NFL football player. The peers found it amusing to upset Marcus.

In conversation with Marcus’s IEP team, Ms. Jones operationally defined two outcomes that indicated her generalization lessons were effective:

 

• When a peer says something Marcus perceives as mean or insulting, Marcus will walk away from the peer and engage in another activity (e.g., socialize with another peer group, look at his cell phone, read a book), without verbally responding to the peer or making eye contact on 9/10 opportunities.
• When a peer says something Marcus perceives as mean or insulting, Marcus will report the incident to a trusted adult within 24 hours on 9/10 opportunities.

Ms. Jones chose an instructional setting that would allow Marcus to role play with peers and avoid stigmatizing him. Because she felt small group instruction about bullying could be stigmatizing, Ms. Jones decided large group instruction would be appropriate. She worked with Marcus’s English teacher, Ms. Weber, who agreed to set aside class time for Ms. Jones to teach a series of short lessons on bullying using role play.

 

• Instructional Setting: Large group instruction
• Instructional Method: Role play

Ms. Jones wanted to observe Marcus’s responses to bullying to make sure the skills had been generalized, but she wanted to do this covertly. Ms. Jones decided that peer coaching could help Marcus remove himself from bullying situations and avoid bullies in the future. These trained peers would create an embedded opportunity by engaging Marcus in reinforcing activities. During situations when bullying was more likely to occur, safe peers would engage in preferred activities. If bullying did occur, these embedded opportunities would help draw Marcus away from the bullying.

 

• Generalization Tactic: Embedded opportunities
• Support Strategy: Peer coaching

Ms. Jones’ Lesson on “Dealing with Bullying and Unappreciated Behavior”

 

Implementing the Large Group Instruction lesson

Ms. Jones began the large group instruction lesson by giving the class an overview of the lesson activities. She started by defining bullying for the class. She explained that bullying is when someone intentionally mistreats another person. Ms. Jones explained that although some people bully so they can get access to an item (e.g., the classic lunch money example), people often bully others so they can get a reaction from them. At the beginning of the year, she taught the class the three-step response to bullying she had taught Marcus (ignore, walk away, and tell a trusted adult).

Developing the Role Play

Ms. Jones then asked the class to think of bullying scenarios. She elicited responses from specific students, and wrote scripts for four short bullying scenarios on the board. Each role play scenario involved four students: three played bullies and one played a bullying victim. Ms. Jones split Marcus’s class into two groups of eight, and students took turns playing different roles in each of the scenarios. Ms. Weber worked with one half of the class and Ms. Jones worked with the other half.

Following the role play, Ms. Jones asked the whole class to identify other situations in which bullying might occur. She asked the class to think about different ways students might use their words and actions to bully others. She encouraged the class to think of ways they could help other students who were being bullied. For example, if students observed bullying in the lunchroom, they could ask the bullying victim to sit with them. Ms. Jones emphasized that bullies often target individuals, and are less likely to bully groups of people.

 

Recruiting Peer Support

Next, Ms. Jones decided to recruit and coach peers to be safe people. The peers help Marcus avoid bullies during the targeted times of day. She asked peers if they would be interested in helping Marcus avoid and respond to bullies. Interested peers were taught to include Marcus to help him avoid bullies and to invite Marcus to join them when they witnessed him being bullied or leaving a bullying situation.

For transitions, Ms. Jones recruited peers with class schedules that aligned with Marcus’s schedule. She told peers they could walk with Marcus during transitions between classes to avoid bullies. She told peers they could also look out for Marcus and invite him to their groups to better help Marcus avoid bullying situations.

Ms. Jones knew that brief small talk during transitions would be relatively easy for Marcus, but she was concerned about the longer periods of time before and after school. She knew Marcus had somewhat limited interests and extended conversations could be difficult. Before school, Ms. Jones also noticed that many students played games or participated in activities. After school, students generally congregated outside and talked as they waited for their busses. Ms. Jones asked a couple peers with interests similar to Marcus if they would be willing to include Marcus in their conversations and activities. This would help create embedded opportunities that would prevent bullying and reinforce positive socialization.

 

Reinforcing Skills with Marcus

Finally, Ms. Jones met with Marcus individually and reminded him that he should tell her or his paraprofessional, Mr. Park, when he felt he had experienced bullying. She told Marcus that sometimes people would do things that felt like bullying, but were not intended that way. However, she emphasized that telling an adult about bullying isn’t tattling, and that he should share anything he thinks might be bullying with a trusted adult. She told Marcus that if someone was repeatedly saying or doing hurtful things to him, she would work with other professionals in the school to make sure Marcus could feel safe.