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Improving education for autistic students in Montgomery County, MD

Anti-Bullying Resources

Name-calling. Taunting. Pushing and shoving. Threatening texts. Demeaning posts on social media. Repeatedly being the butt of the joke.

Bullying comes in many forms – physical, verbal, social, and cyber – but one thing is clear: these widely prevalent behaviors are harmful to students. In addition to physical injuries, they can make students fearful at school, gut their self-esteem, and result in trauma and serious long-term mental health issues.

Bullying is generally defined as unwanted, aggressive behavior that involves a real or perceived power imbalance, and is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Autistic students are particularly vulnerable to bullying because they’re often perceived as different from their peers, and they may struggle with social skills.

According to a 2012 study by the Interactive Autism Network, 39% of autistic children between 6 and 15 years old reported being bullied in the past month, while only 12% of their non-autistic siblings in the same age group reported being bullied. The children with ASD were bullied at a rate more than three times that of their non-autistic peers.

Even this number may be an underestimate because autistic students who have trouble reading social cues might not even identify that they are being bullied. They also may be overwhelmed by the idea of reporting an incident — or even discussing it with a friend or a trusted adult.

xMinds has developed this resource to help arm families with the information, strategies, and resources needed to respond should your child be subjected to bullying. Please know that help is available and that bullying must not go unchecked.

To address the issue, xMinds is partnering with the Autism Society of Maryland for a four-session "Anti-Bullying Speaker Series" this spring.

Session 1: What I've Learned About Bullying: Autistic Self-Advocate Stephen Shore Speaks Out. If you missed it, watch the recording HERE on the xMinds YouTube Channel.

Session 2: My Autistic Child is Being Bullied: What Can I Do? If you missed it, watch the recording HERE on the xMinds YouTube Channel.

Session 3: Virtual Vigilance: Safeguarding Autistic Students from Cyberbullying If you missed it, watch the recording HERE on the xMinds YouTube Channel.

Session 4: The Annual Autistic Self Advocates Panel: Bullying — What We Can Tell You. Zoom recording available to those who registered for the event.

We've also posted details on xMinds' Facebook, Instagram and X platforms.

General Resources

Initiatives and Organizations | Support for Students| Research

Initiatives and Organizations

Bystander Revolution is a website offering practical, crowdsourced advice about simple things individuals can do to defuse bullying and help shift the culture.

StopBullying.gov provides information from various government agencies on what bullying is, what cyberbullying is, who is at risk, and how you can prevent and respond to bullying.

National Association of School Psychologists provides a range of bullying prevention resources for families and educators.

PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center provides information on bullying, including how to help your child and how to work with schools, as well as a section on Students with Disabilities and Bullying.

Stomp Out Bullying is a national nonprofit dedicated to changing the culture for all students. It works to reduce and prevent bullying, cyberbullying, and other digital abuse.

Support for Students

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Crisis Line. Call or text 988 or text TALK to 741741.

Cyberbullying Research Center. Free resources for students on how to stay safe online and how to identify and respond by cyberbullying.

Montgomery County Crisis Center provides free crisis services 24 hours a day/ 365 days a year. Services are provided by telephone (240-777-4000) or in person at 1301 Piccard Drive in Rockville (no appointment needed).

STOMP Out Bullying™ HelpChat Crisis Line is a free and confidential online chat that helps youth ages 13-24 with issues around bullying and cyberbullying.

PACER’s Teens Against Bullying. Advice on how teens can advocate for themselves and their peers to address bullying.

PACER Center’s Kids Against Bullying. With colorful illustrations, checklists, and examples, this site helps kids understand what bullying is and identify if they are a target, or perhaps a bully.

Research

Bullying and Children with ASD — a 2012 report from the Interactive Autism Network at Kennedy Krieger Institute.

Cyberbullying Statistics — research on cyberbullying from the Cyberbullying Research Center.

Preventing Bullying Through Science, Policy, and Practice — a 2016 report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. A companion website includes resources for youth, parents, and educators.

Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is rampant today, with personal attacks, threats, rumors, compromising photos, private information, and hurtful comments all flying through cyberspace. In a 2023 survey, approximately 55% of 13- to 17-year-olds reported that they experienced cyberbullying at some point in their lifetimes, according to the Cyberbullying Research Center. About 27% said they had been cyberbullied in the most recent 30 days.

Here are some resources to help keep students safe on gaming platforms, social media, texting apps and any other electronic platform:

Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and Responding to Cyberbullying by Sameer Hinduja, Justin W. Patchin, co-directors of the the Cyberbullying Research Center. The third edition of this guide on cyberbullying incorporates new evidence-based strategies focused on school climate, empathy, resilience, digital citizenship, media literacy, counterspeech and student-led initiatives.

Common Sense Media offers a series of parent guides about the platforms, games and apps that kids use to communicate.

ConnectSafely is nonprofit organization dedicated to educating people about online safety, privacy, security, and digital wellness. The site includes a Parent’s Guide to Cyberbullying as well as guides to social media and gaming platforms.

Cyberbullying Research Center provides up-to-date information about the nature, extent, causes and consequences of cyberbullying among adolescents. It also offers resources for students, parents and educators on how to keep the online experience safe.

Grace’s Law: Maryland’s Cyberbullying Law. Named in honor of Howard County teen Grace McComas, who committed suicide in 2012 after being bullied online, Grace’s Law makes it a misdemeanor to bully someone though electronic communications. Enacted in 2013, the law was updated to Grace’s Law 2.0 in 2019. The revised law broadened the scope of cyberbullying and increased penalties. Read the WTOP news report on Grace’s law; Watch the WJZ news report.

No More Victims: Protecting Those with Autism from Cyber Bullying, Internet Predators, and Scams by Dr. Jed Baker. This book offers advice on what kids should look out for, whom to avoid, and how to protect themselves when they’re communicating online.

Sextortion

One of the most insidious forms of cyberbullying is sextortion, which the FBI defines as being threatened and coerced into sending explicit images online. In financial sextortion, the offender threatens to release any compromising material received from the child if the victim refuses to send money.

From October 2021 to March 2023, the FBI received over 13,000 reports of online financial sextortion of minors. The crimes involved at least 12,600 victims—primarily boys—and led to at least 20 suicides. From October 2022 to March 2023, the FBI observed at least a 20% increase in reporting, compared to the previous year.

Here are some resources for parents, on both reporting crimes and preventing it from happening in the first place.

Resources for Sextortion Victims
This Justice Department resource guide provides a step-by-step breakdown of actions for sextortion victims to take, with additional links and phone numbers to national organizations and space for local organizations to provide their contact information.

National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCME) noted that the organization has seen a dramatic increase in sextortion cases being reported to its CyberTipline. NCME provides a list of red flags of tactics that predators might use, as well as posters and videos that are aimed at youth.

Combating sextortion and intimate image abuse (Meta)
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and Threads, posted this resource on their corporate website, which is especially useful if your older kids are using those platforms. In 2017, Meta worked with technology nonprofit Thorn to launch https://www.stopsextortion.com/ to “help your child avoid getting into tricky, and sometimes dangerous, situations.”

Internet Matters Guide to tackling sexual coercion
While Internet Matters is a UK- based resource, the advice provided is general enough to be used here in the U.S. Parents can learn about the issue of sextortion and how it might impact their child or teen, then get advice on keeping them safe.

Sextortion: the Hidden Pandemic is a 2022 true-crime documentary that unsealed the case of a pilot with hundreds of victims, and interviewing victims and their parents. Only for the non-squeamish viewers perhaps.

In the news:

The Washington Post recently did an extensive dive into the use of sextortion on social media platforms Discord and Telegram. “Discord, a hub for gamers, is one of the most popular social media platforms among teens and is growing fast. The platform allows anonymous users to control and moderate large swaths of its private meeting rooms with little oversight,” the article noted.

The PBS Newshour also tackled the subject in May. FBI special agent Emily Steele explained, “It's not a long process or a long, drawn-out relationship. It can happen in a matter of minutes that they are convincing these children to send nude or explicit photos and videos of themselves.”

Steele added this helpful tip for parents. “If the child is starting to act off or weird or extremely attached to their phone and they can't leave it for even a second, it's not a bad idea to be able to go in and see what's going on, see why — what is on their phone that they are so scared to leave behind,” she noted.

Bullying & Students With Disabilities

The following resources are geared toward the families of children with disabilities. Among the resources, you'll find information about specific protections under federal law, which guarantee that students with disabilities have the legal right to a free appropriate public education. If a student with a disability is being bullied, federal law requires schools to take immediate and appropriate action to investigate the issue and, as necessary, take steps to stop the bullying and prevent it from recurring.

Bullying and Children with Autism: How to Help Your Child. Advice from pediatrician Sandhyaa Iyengar with the Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Bullying Laws: Your Child’s Rights at School. An overview of laws that protect children from bullying, including federal laws that offer specific protections for students with disabilities.

U.S. Department Education: What Are Public Schools Required to Do When Students with Disabilities Are Bullied? A Parent Fact Sheet from the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights.

Guidance from the U.S. Department of Education About Bullying and Students with Disabilities. This “Dear Colleague” letter to schools explains that the bullying of a student with a disability on any basis can result in a denial of free appropriate publication education (FAPE) that must be remedied. It also reiterates schools’ obligations to address conduct that may constitute a disability-based harassment violation and explains that a school must also remedy the denial of FAPE resulting from disability-based harassment.

PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center is a national anti-bullying organization with extensive resources on Students with Disabilities and Bullying. You’ll find guidance on ways to prevent and stop bullying including:

-- Information on legal rights of students with disabilities

-- Tips on how students can self-advocate to address bullying

-- PACER’s Peer Advocacy Model, which addresses bullying of students with disabilities by engaging, educating, and empowering their peers with advocacy skills.

How to Report Bullying

If your child has been the victim of bullying, report the incidents to the appropriate authorities as soon as possible, using the methods below. (If there is an emergency or if a crime is in progress, call 911.)

Incidents Within MCPS. Use the MCPS Bullying, Harassment, or Intimidation Reporting Form to report alleged incidents that occurred during the current school year on MCPS school property, at a school-sponsored activity or event off school property, on a school bus, on the way to and/or from school, or through personal mobile devices on or off school property. Complete this form and return it to the school principal. Click here to access a copy in another language. Submitting this form to the school will trigger an MCPS investigation. (For more information about the investigation process, go to xMinds Anti-Bullying page and click on the heading "MCPS Procedures for Handling Reports of Bullying."

Cyberbullying incidents. In addition to submitting a formal report to MCPS, you can report cyberbullying and online abuse to the relevant social media app, gaming network, or platform. The Cyberbullying Research Center maintains a current list of contact information. Take screenshots of all bullying interactions as evidence.

When a student has an IEP or 504 Plan. When a student with a disability is bullied, it could lead to the child being denied a free appropriate public education. In addition to completing a bullying report, you can notify the school about your specific concerns as the parent of a child with a disability. The Parents’ Place of Maryland offers step-by-step instructions on how to formally notify school administrators about concerns of harassment based on the child’s disability. The PACER Center has crafted sample letters for a Student with an IEP Plan and a Student with a 504 Plan.

Anonymous reporting. Safe Schools Maryland is an anonymous reporting system available to report any school or student safety concerns, including bullying incidents. Your anonymous report can be submitted by calling the tip line (1-833-MD-B-SAFE / 1-833-632-7233), completing an online form, or on the Safe Schools Maryland app. Safe Schools Maryland operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and 365 days a year. Tips received are routed to school, public safety, health, and/or social services personnel for follow up.

Notifying federal authorities. While there are no federal laws that address bullying specifically, bullying may be considered discriminatory harassment when it is based on disability, race, national origin, color, sex, age, or religion. Federally-funded schools have an obligation to resolve harassment on these bases. In addition, regardless of whether the student is being bullied based on his or her disability, schools must remedy the effects of bullying on the services that the student with a disability receives (special education or other disability-related services) to ensure the student continues to receive a free appropriate public education, according to the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. Any remedy should not burden the student who has been bullied. If the situation is not resolved by your school, you can file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights and the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division.

Contacting law enforcement. In certain situations, bullying is considered a crime. Contact local law enforcement if:

– The bully has issued threats of violence

– The bully has sent sexually explicit images or pornography

– The bullying has engaged in online harassment or stalking

– The bullying includes anything that constitutes a hate crime

– Electronic communications are used to cause a minor physical or emotional distress, including inducing a minor to commit suicide. (Grace's Law in Maryland)

MCPS Procedures for Handling Reports of Bullying

The Investigation | Consequences| Interventions and Support Services

When a formal report of bullying is filed with MCPS, it triggers an investigation, possible consequences, as well follow-ups and supports.

The Investigation

Montgomery County Board Policy JHF specifies that after a Bullying, Harassment, or Intimidation Report Form (MCPS Form 230-25) is filed with an MCPS school:

a) The principal/designee shall promptly conduct an adequate, reliable, and impartial investigation, in compliance with relevant law as appropriate, including the opportunity for the parties to present evidence into all reports of bullying, harassment, or intimidation.

b) Upon completing the investigation, the principal/designee shall implement supportive measures and consequences as appropriate and take steps to prevent the recurrence of bullying, harassment, or intimidation of the complainant or correct its discriminatory effects that may occur.

c) The principal/designee will contact the parent/guardian of all students identified in a report of bullying, harassment, or intimidation within 48 hours of receiving the report, unless the principal/designee is otherwise directed by law enforcement.

d) After the investigation has concluded, staff members will conduct individual and private conferences with both the complainant and the respondent to determine if the bullying, harassment, or intimidation has continued.

MCPS Regulation JHF-RA specifies that these conferences should occur within two weeks after the investigation and that another follow-up conference or conversation will be held with the targeted student four weeks after the initial follow-up conference to determine if the bullying, harassment, or intimidation has ceased.

Should the act of bullying, harassment, or intimidation necessitate police assistance, timelines and community notification procedures may need to be adjusted to accommodate police investigation.

Consequences and Remedial Actions

MCPS may apply consequences toward students committing acts of bullying, harassment, or intimidation; students engaged in reprisal or retaliation; and/or students found to have made intentional false accusations. All consequences must be in alignment with the MCPS Student Code of Conduct.

Each school will include a list with a range of consequences for acts of bullying, harassment, or intimidation, in its School Discipline Plan, according to MCPS Regulation JHF-RA. Consequences must be aligned with MCPS policies.

Some acts of bullying, harassment, or intimidation could also be delinquent acts [an act, by a person under age 18, that if committed by an adult would be a crime.] In such cases, the school should promptly report the act to the responsible law enforcement agency in accordance with the Code of Maryland Regulations (COMAR) 13A.08.01.15.

MCPS is committed to “recognition of positive behavioral changes by students who previously exhibited bullying behaviors, students who were bullied who are implementing strategies to offset the trauma of the bullying incident, and for students who were bystanders who have taken an active role in preventing future occurrences of bullying,” as noted in Regulation JHF-RA.

Interventions and Support Services

MCPS offers a number of interventions and support services to students who were bullied and to bystanders, as well as to students who are alleged to have bullied others. Items mentioned in Montgomery County Board Policy JHF include:

A continuum of culturally responsive social/emotional supports, utilizing a trauma-informed and restorative approach.

Supports to build resilience, increase social connections and peer interaction, reduce the possibility of further episodes of bullying, and otherwise increase the student’s sense of safety and social connection.

Practical, safe, private, and age-appropriate ways for students to discuss a bullying incident with staff, if the student desires to.

Counseling and mental health supports.

In some cases, MCPS will work with the student and family to develop a Supportive Measures Plan, outlining specific supports, such as:

schedule changes

trusted friends/student escorts

early excusal from classes

flash pass to leave class and go to a trusted adult

classroom/lunch room seat assignments change

How to Address Bullying in an IEP

IEP Suggestions | Related Resources

If their child is being bullied, parents have the right to request an IEP or 504 Plan team meeting. At the meeting, you can advocate for changes to the IEP or 504 Plan to thwart bullying and help your student develop protective skills.

As a starting point, work together with the team to determine what may be making the student vulnerable to being bullied. For example, is it the child’s inability to read social cues, inability to respond effectively, or inability to self-advocate? To be clear, it's not the student's fault for being bullied, but by identifying specific issues, the IEP team can develop goals and objectives to strengthen those areas. Be sure to also ask about aids, services, and supports that can help the student work toward their goals as well as establish safety measures.

Specific examples of ways to address bullying in the different sections of an IEP include:

Measurable annual goals and objectives

The student will:

learn self-advocacy skills, including the ability to advocate for themselves when they are being isolated or when a peer is being mean and the ability to say “no” or “stop that”

improve peer relations in the school setting

develop the ability to identify and report bullying

develop coping skills, including strategies on how to react to, handle, and avoid bullying behavior

confide in a trusted adult about bullying incidents and will collaborate with the trusted adult on how to deal with bullying behaviors

Supplementary aids and services

social skills instruction, including how to recognize social skills

self-advocacy instruction, including the ability to say “no” or “stop that”

instruction on how to identify and report bullying

instruction on coping skills (including ways to react to, handle, and avoid bullying behavior)

adult support to collaborate with the student on how to handle bullying

hall pass (to leave early or late, if the hall is area where bullying is occurring)

flash pass to access school psychologist, social worker, or counselor

aide or a trusted pair of students to walk the student to class

peer buddy

lunch bunch group led by school counselor

social skills groups

preferential seating

a non-verbal signal system to communicate whether intervention is needed

home-school communication system to update the family about continued incidents or acts of retaliation

Related services to help student who has experienced bullying, harassment

psychological services

social work services

Counseling services

social skills training

Programmatic supports and modifications

Administrators, educators, transportation staff, or students participate in disability awareness trainings

Administrators, educators, transportation staff, or students participate in-service trainings on bullying, harassment, intimidation, including recognizing the signs of bullying, appropriate intervention strategies, and proper reporting procedures.

Related Resources

Bullying Prevention for Children with Disabilities: Using the IEP, 504, or Creating Your Own Plan. Advice and examples from PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center.

Does Bullying Belong in an IEP? Guidance from “Autism Parenting Magazine.”

Fact Sheet on Bullying and the IEP. Includes resources and sample goals. Provided by the Parent Educational Advocacy Training Center in Virginia.

The IEP: Addressing Bullying With a Child's IEP. Advice from AbilityPath, a California-based organization that provides support services for individuals with developmental disabilities in the Bay area.

Sample letters to notify the school when a student with an IEP or 504 Plan has been bullied. You can also download individual templates for a student with an IEP Plan and a student with a 504 Plan. Provided by PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center.

Step-by-step instructions on how to formally notify school administrators about concerns of harassment based on the child’s disability. Provided by The Parents Place of Maryland.

Video: Using the IEP or 504 Plan to Help Address Bullying. This brief video provides advice and examples. rovided by PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center.

Yes! Bullying Can Be Addressed through the IEP. Tips from the Autism Society of Maryland.

Montgomery County & Maryland Resources

MCPS | Maryland

MCPS Resources

MCPS Info on Bullying, Harassment, or Intimidation Prevention. Information on MCPS policies, procedures, and guidance.

MCPS Reporting Form for Bullying, Harassment or Intimidation. Use this form to report alleged incidents of bullying, harassment, or intimidation that occurred during the current school year on MCPS school property, at a school-sponsored activity or event off school property, on a school bus, on the way to and/or from school, or through personal mobile device on or off school property.

MCPS Supportive Measures Plan. This form is used by MCPS to ensure that a student who was bullied receives supports needed for their emotional and physical safety. When appropriate, the form may also be used to detail any supportive measures needed for alleged offenders.

Montgomery County Board Policy JHF and MCPS Regulation JHF-RA provide procedures that address the prohibition of bullying in schools by implementing prevention, early intervention, remedial activities, and specific consequences as needed, and guard against reprisal or retaliation against individuals who report acts of bullying.

Culture of Respect Student Training is an online lesson for MCPS secondary school students with the objective of teaching how to recognize and report signs of bullying/cyber bullying, harassment (including sexual harassment), hate-bias incidents, hazing, intimidation, and student gender norms.

Maryland Resources

Bullying Harassment, or Intimidation in Maryland Public Schools (2021-2022). This annual report by the Maryland State Department of Education examines statewide reported bullying data and includes a breakdown by county.

Maryland Anti-Bullying Laws & Policies. An overview of Maryland state laws and regulations that cover bullying.

Maryland’s Cyberbullying Law. Named in honor of Howard County teen Grace McComas, who committed suicide in 2012 after being bullied online, Grace’s Law makes it a misdemeanor to bully someone though electronic communications. Enacted in 2013, the law was updated to Grace’s Law 2.0 in 2019. The revised law broadened the scope of cyberbullying and increased penalties. Read the WTOP news report on Grace’s law; watch the WJZ news report.

Maryland State Department of Education: Bullying Prevention. Information on MSDE’s efforts to promote a safe environment conducive to learning and free from bullying and harassment. You may also call the MSDE at 410-767-0306 if you have further questions or concerns.

YouTube Video: Bullying, Harassment, & Intimidation of Students in Maryland Public Schools. Maureen van Stone, Esq., director of the Maryland Center for Developmental Disabilities, provides an overview of bullying and discusses anti-bullying policies/laws, bullying prevention, and bullying resources.

xMinds & AUSOM Anti-Bullying Webinars

Coming Soon!

Evidence-Based School Prevention Programs

Allan L. Beane Bullying Prevention Program offers trainings for students, parents, educators, and bus drivers. Free resources are also available on its website. Audience: Preschool – High School

Al's Pals — Making Healthy Choices. Al’s Pals is a social–emotional learning curriculum designed for the specific needs of preschool children. It focuses on helping young children make healthy decisions, resolve conflicts, manage their feelings, and build positive relationships. Includes original songs that reinforce lessons and core concepts and puppets and puppet scripts to engage preschool children. Audience: preschool, kindergarten, 1st grade

Botvin Lifeskills Training. Offers a range of materials (videos, teacher's guides, activity cards, student handouts) to help students learn how to prevent bullying, what to do if they are bullied, and what to do if they are a bystander to a bullying incident. Audience: K – 12

Bully-Proofing Your School (BPYS) is a comprehensive, school-based intervention designed to reduce bullying and school violence, and increase knowledge about school safety for students and parents. BPYS is implemented in a classroom setting and includes three major components: 1) heightening awareness of bullying; 2) teaching protective skills for handling bullying, resisting victimization, and helping potential victims; and 3) creating a positive school climate by promoting a “caring majority” that focuses on bystander behavior. Audience: grades 3 – 5.

Center for Violence Prevention (CVP) at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. CVP partners with the School District of Philadelphia and Maryland's Anne Arundel County Public Schools to provide bullying prevention programs. Programs include Preventing Aggression in Schools Everyday (PRAISE), which offers a 20 session classroom-based bullying prevention program to 3rd – 5th grade students that teaches problem-solving, perspective taking, and how to be a positive bystander. Audience: Elementary school

Safe School Ambassadors® Program focuses on developing student leaders who can help prevent and stop bullying. Selected students participate in a two-day interactive training along with several adults who serve as program mentors. The training gives student Ambassadors the skills and tools to resolve conflicts, defuse incidents, and support isolated and excluded students. After the training, small group meetings of Ambassadors are held every few weeks. The Safe School Buddies Program is available for younger students, grades 1 – 3. It prepares younger students to become upstanders and to become Safe School Ambassadors when they enter fourth grade.
KiVa is an antibullying program that has been developed in the University of Turku, Finland, with funding from the Ministry of Education and Culture. Audience: elementary, middle school

Olweus Bullying Prevention Program has over forty years of research and successful implementation in schools all over the world. OBPP is a comprehensive, sustainable, systems change, whole-school program that focuses on changing the school climate through school, classroom, and individual levels and includes methods to reach out to parents, after-school programs, and the community for involvement and support. Audience: ages 5 – 15

PeaceBuilders is a science-based, research-validated violence prevention curriculum and professional development program for grades pre-K to 12. Its essence is a common language - six principles, taught, modeled and practiced. These same principles set behavioral expectations, reduce aggression, and transform the climate and culture of any environment to one which is cooperative, productive, and academically successful. Audience: preschool, elementary, middle/high school

Peer Advocacy is a bullying prevention model geared toward helping students with disabilities. A peer advocate program creates a formal process that identifies, trains, and supports a designated group of students who watch out for students with disabilities. This model is promoted by PACER's National Bullying Prevention Center.
Second Step Bullying Prevention, a project of Committee for Children, teaches Kindergarten–Grade 5 students how to recognize, report, and refuse bullying. As students master these crucial skills, educators and school staff learn to recognize and respond appropriately when they observe bullying or receive a bullying report

Stop Bullying Now, a project of the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center (MARC), provides training for educators and parents, as well as programs for students, including assemblies, curricula, and peer leadership training. Audience: K – 12
WITS – Canada’s Bullying Prevention Program works in schools to teach children strategies that promote kindness and reduce victimization. Using carefully chosen children’s books, engaging resources, and cross-curriculum lessons, educators find WITS easy to implement and effective in reducing peer victimization like discrimination, bullying, etc.

Please note that inclusion of any organizations, services, products, or classes on this page does not constitute an endorsement by xMinds. This content is general in nature and should not be considered as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. We welcome recommendations of additional resources. The reader of this information assumes the sole responsibility of evaluating the merits and risks associated with the use of any information before making any decisions based on such information.

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