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Students with disabilities (SWDs) are disproportionately at-risk for bullying victimization and perpetration, yet there is a lack of educator-focused professional development targeting prevention for these students. This project sought to address gaps in training through the creation of four online professional development modules: (1) understanding bullying among SWDs, (2) examining risk characteristics, (3) establishing school and classroom prevention strategies, and (4) individual prevention. These modules were iteratively developed with feedback from teachers and staff, incorporating the Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) framework to focus on interventions rooted in social emotional learning (SEL), and emphasizing the importance of prevention for SWDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivational interviewing (MI), a therapy strategy used to guide students to help students better understand how to develop their social emotional learning (SEL) skills to make positive choices that resolve social conflict, bodes promising for helping youth to cultivate the social and emotional skills needed to address bullying, peer drama, and other issues affecting their mental, physical, and emotional health. Bulldog Solution, Inc., a Chicago-based organization, utilized MI research-informed approach to increase students' social conflict management and leadership skills through self-awareness and self-discovery, as a mechanism for preventing bullying and supporting the social and emotional growth of young people. This study presents emerging themes resulting from a 9-week, motivational interview and SEL-based program titled, "Peace Over Drama," implemented with middle school students (sixth–seventh–eighth grade) with disabilities and/or at risk for disability-identification (n = 17) in one Chicago middle school on the south side. Implications for school-based prevention models and scaling of similar SEL and MI programing are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]