Introducing the Kidpower Safety Signs
By Irene van der Zande, Kidpower Executive Director
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As part of our Bridges to People Safety Initiative, we have created the Kidpower Safety Signs to help teachers, family members, and other caregivers teach “People Safety” skills and concepts to individuals with very limited or no speech.
An overview of the Safety Signs is below. For Permission to Use Guidelines, detailed directions on how to teach and practice the Safety Signs, and training opportunities, please Contact Us.
What are the Kidpower Safety Signs?
For many years, we have had great success teaching People Safety skills to people of any age with limited verbal skills. Parents, teachers, and other professisonals have watched and said, "Please show us how to do that!" This project is our response to their requests. The Kidpower Safety Signs were originally to help teachers, family members, and other caregivers teach ‘People Safety’ skills and concepts to people with developmental disabilities who have limited speech or no speech at all. Since their creation, the Safety Signs have proven useful to many people who want an easy way to remember key ‘People Safety’ concepts - including people with developmental disabilities, young children, college students, and corporate managers. Kidpower Safety Signs are useful for everyone, everywhere!
The problems of bullying, violence, and abuse can seem complex and confusing. Kidpower ‘People Safety’ skills provide solutions. ‘People Safety’ skills help people be emotionally and physically safe with people everywhere they go. The Kidpower Safety Signs show core ‘People Safety’ skills and concepts in their simplest forms. Parents, caregivers, and professionals use these signs, along with simple gestures and simple words, to teach powerful safety skills and concepts quickly and easily.
Four Keys to Learning Safety Skills
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Bullying, abuse, and other violence are among the leading health issues of our time. The good news is that a few simple ‘People Safety’ skills can stop most problems before they get dangerous. Thousands of people of all ages and abilities have learned and used these skills to be safe.
For everyone, the four keys to success in learning important safety skills are:
- Make it simple - because simple things are easier to remember
- Be consistent - because consistent messages make more sense
- Practice - a lot! - because successful practice makes skills stronger
- Make it relevant - because people learn a skill faster when it seems useful
These keys are even more important for individuals who tend to think in concrete, simple terms, such as young children and people with developmental disabilities. Family members, teachers, and professionals will often use highly varying words and ideas to explain about safety, which can be confusing.
Kidpower Safety Signs help everyone be simple and consistent so that skills develop more effectively. They create a common language that makes it easy and fun for everyone, everywhere, to use the same words, gestures, and ideas about staying safe with people.
The following are some of the Safety Signs we cover in this article:
- Kidpower Safety Plan Signals for Going Out
- Kidpower Safety Powers for Taking Charge of Your Feelings and Your Body
- Kidpower Safety Powers for Building Better Relationships
- Kidpower Safety Sign Powers for Taking Charge of Your Safety
Thank you to the Special Hope Foundation for the three-year pilot program funding of this ground-breaking Bridges to ‘People Safety’ Project. Thank you to the Cisco Systems Foundation for supporting the development of the project’s educational micro-videos.
Kidpower Safety Plan Signals
This is our Safety Plan when we go out
Kidpower Safety Powers for Taking Charge of Your Feelings and Your Body
If We Feel Upset, We Can Use These Safety Powers
Kidpower Safety Powers for Building Better Relationships
We can have more fun and less problems with people when we use these Safety Powers
Kidpower Safety Sign Powers for Taking Charge of Your Safety
If someone is acting in a way that feels unsafe, we can make safer choices using these Safety Powers.
Kidpower Boundaries on Touch and Teasing Safety Signs
Touch, play, or games for fun, teasing, or affection should be safe, okay with each person, allowed by the adults in charge, and not a secret, which means that everyone can know about it
Kidpower's Boundary Rules
