Alberti Center for Bullying Abuse Prevention News & Updates
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March 2023 | Volume 12: Issue 1 |
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In recognition of National Disability Awareness Month, we share this presentation, titled New Frontiers in Bullying of Youth with Disabilities: Research, Social Policy & Law, and Practice from the 2017 American Psychological Association's Annual Convention.
Students with disabilities are disproportionately represented as both victims and perpetrators. Presentations discuss a training program for school psychologists, the effects of classroom social dynamics, US Department of Education guidance and social and communication skill deficits.
Participants:
You can find this video along with other resources for parents, students, and educators on our YouTube channel as well as in the Resources section of our website.
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Spread the Word Inclusion Event |
On Wednesday, March 1, the Alberti Center participated in Spread the Word Inclusion Day at an event called Going All INclusive! as a member of the Spread the Word WNY chapter. The event, which took place at the Tri-Main Center in Buffalo, was a gathering of local disability service providers, non-profit organizations, self-advocates, and community members all coming together to celebrate inclusion in Western New York.
The Spread the Word Inclusion campaign, founded by Special Olympics and BestBuddies, is aimed at showcasing the impact of inclusive language and actions so that the discrimination of people with intellectual disabilities can come to an end.
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Program Developed by Jewish Summer Camp Successfully Implemented in Schools
In the summer of 2020, Dr. Amanda Nickerson, director of the Alberti Center and professor of school psychology, and Hannah Grossman, graduate assistant at the Alberti Center and doctoral student in the combined counseling and school psychology program, conducted a research study of Camp Chaverim, an all-boys Orthodox Jewish sleepaway camp, that developed and ran an anti-bullying program called Buildup. A key component of Buildup is a coordinated effort by the staff to give heartfelt public recognition to the genuine strength of a given child over an extended period of time. The study used a quantitative, pre- and post- test design to investigate the effects of attending Camp Chaverim on self-esteem, social support, and bullying.
The results indicated that campers’ self-confidence significantly increased (Cohen’s d = .46), and that campers felt significantly more appreciated by their peers (Cohen’s d = .88) due to attending Camp Chaverim. In addition, the boys did not experience any more bullying at camp compared to school, which was especially noteworthy since their reports about school were based on a time when they were engaged in virtual learning. Finally, the individual campers who were the focus of the Buildup program had the lowest self-esteem scores initially, but by the end of camp, their self-esteem scores improved so much that they were in fact equal with the rest of the sampled campers. Although applied on a smaller scale, five private schools that subsequently implemented Buildup subjectively observed similar positive results.
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