A new resource is available for anyone concerned about bullying, especially the bullying of students with disabilities. The Minnesota Governor’s Council  on Developmental Disabilities has released The Ambassadors for Respect Anti-Bullying Handbook.

The replication manual provides background information about the program and addresses the problem of bullying, including the incidence of various types of bullying, academic studies showing the more immediate as well as the long-term effects of bullying, and comparisons between students with disabilities and students without disabilities.

Ambassadors for Respect, self-advocates who experienced bullying, inspired an anti-bullying program that was initiated in the St. Paul Public Schools in 2013. Over the past four years, the ambassadors have successfully led 38 training sessions for 1,010 fourth grade elementary school students and 45 classroom teachers in 12 schools.

The handbook provides details about the presentations – preparing for the training sessions, materials for activities, the on-site presentation process, take-away information for the students, and student surveys. Quality principles and a continuous quality improvement process are built into the program to measure its overall effectiveness, success in creating and reinforcing positive student attitudes, and reducing and eliminating bullying incidents.

See a slide show featuring the training and learn more at http://mn.gov/mnddc/