Advocacy, Safety, & Independence for People with Disabilities

Since 1989, Kidpower’s experiential, strengths-based approach has made our social-emotional safety skills accessible for adults, teens, and children with diverse physical, cognitive, developmental, and neurological abilities.

Working together with students – and often with parents, caregivers, educators, service providers, and other allies – we focus on people’s unique capacities and intelligences as well as on the strengths of their communities, cultures, and families.

Our expert blend of listening, teaching, adapting, and success-based practicing has proven to be highly effective building skills and confidence people can use right away to be safer and to strengthen relationships of all kinds.

Learn more about Our Power to Adapt! and contact us with any questions!

Start learning, sharing, and teaching skills yourself now with our Resources – including the many captioned videos and practice guides in the free, self-paced Safety Powers Course, which is offered through the Kidpower Online Learning Center and designed to make our safety skills more accessible for people with communication challenges.

Fiona Hinze, Director of Systems Change, Independent Living Resource Center San Francisco, shares her perspective on Kidpower for people of diverse abilities, based on years of experience organizing over 25 Kidpower workshops online and in person.

Our Power to Adapt

Since 1989, Kidpower has remained the global leader in social-emotional safety skills education for people of all abilities, birth through golden years. Our success teaching people with diverse physical, intellectual, emotional, and neurological abilities is rooted in our commitment to:

Focusing on possibilities

We explore and build on what people CAN do – rather than focusing on what they cannot do. It is too easy to assume that a person is helpless as a result of something they may not be able to do.

Sometimes, people might already have a belief that they are helpless – and then act in ways that make them seem less capable than they truly are.

Sometimes, those who know them the best will underestimate their ability to understand and to learn – and are even surprised that their students can say “No” or “Stop” or “Help” appropriately.

We are particularly careful to avoid making assumptions based on our students’ behavior or appearance when we start. We begin working with what our students show that they are able to do.

Then, we build from there, adapting to make a skill work for a student rather than trying to force a student to fit a skill. At all times, we look for possibilities and growth rather than focusing on limitations.

To learn more about our approach, see:

Unlimited Adaptability
7 Keys to Teaching Safety Skills to Everyone, Everywhere
The Power of Positive Practice: The Heart of the Kidpower Teaching Method
Video (1m): Kidpower for People with Vision Loss

Building bridges from ability to safety

Most Kidpower skills practices can be easily adapted. For example:

If our students can’t see: We talk them through what they will be doing instead of showing them visually, or we get their permission to move their bodies to help them understand. We use language like, “show that you notice by turning your head” rather than telling them to “look.” We focus on using their hearing to notice problems.

If our students have trouble talking: We work with whatever communication devices they have available. We practice how they can use cards that explain to others what the problem is. We work with all the ways of communicating available to them.

If our students use a wheelchair: We say to “sit tall” instead of “stand tall” and practice skills sitting down. We show and practice Roll Away Power from potential safety problems instead of Walk Away Power. If we are teaching self-defense, we show Wheelchair Power, where they can use their wheelchair as a weapon to escape from an attack.

If our students have trouble hearing: We work with their communication devices or sign language interpreters and focus on having them use their sight to notice trouble. We have them sign, use written captions, draw, or act out skills vividly without speaking.

If our students can’t move one part of their bodies: We show how using other parts of their bodies or even just their imaginations can make the skills work. For example, we have a one-handed Trash Can for waving away hurting words if a two-handed trash can won’t work. If Mouth Closed Power to stop yourself from being unsafe with your mouth won’t work because a student cannot close her or his mouth, then we change the name to “Mouth Safe” Power.

If our students have difficulty understanding concepts: We keep our language very simple. We show them pictures or act out demonstrations of very concrete examples in situations that are familiar to them.

If our students can’t move or speak: We have the people who help them practice the skills for them, just as they help to meet their other needs.

If our students have trouble being safe with their emotions: We teach them and their adults how to use Calm Down Power and other tools for managing their triggers.

Building skills for safety in public

To prepare people with skills to protect themselves and their loved ones from harassment, assault, and other threats in public, we teach self-protection strategies using examples and experiential role-plays relevant to the ages, abilities, and life situations of our students.

We have extensive experience adapting role-plays for a wide variety of situations people might face as pedestrians, patrons, or customers in stores, on sidewalks, and riding public transit – from crowded urban spaces to more isolated rural communities.

We adapt not only the skills themselves but also the ways we present the scenarios in order to make them accessible and clear. Skills include how to:

  • Act aware, calm, and confident
  • Make safety plans before going out
  • Learn and apply Stranger Safety strategies
  • Recognize and avoid the ‘Wishing Technique’
  • Practice different ways to get help – and to persist
  • Integrate access tools into personal safety plans and strategies
  • Take charge of safety in the face of identity-based harassment and threats
  • Use emergency-only physical self-defense skills as a last resort to escape danger and get to safety
  • Make plans for dealing with, managing, and making safety-related decisions about personal items including transit passes, personal identification, devices, bags, wallets, money, food and drink, etc.

Many of our students – often those who are blind or partially sighted or who are smaller in stature than their peers – experience unwanted touch and attention from strangers in public. These strangers may actually believe they are being helpful – and lack awareness that their behavior is experienced as intrusive, disrespectful, and unsafe. This can include being touched, lifted, moved, or having personal items taken without their consent. To equip our students with strategies to take charge of their safety in these types of situations, we teach boundary-setting and advocacy skills – in addition to the skills listed above!

Integration access tools

We have decades of experience adapting safety strategies so people can have options for using or adjusting canes, wheelchairs, augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices, and other tools in ways that can help them take charge of safety.

Sometimes, we practice putting things down and letting them go. Sometimes, we practice special strategies that work well only with wheelchairs, not with feet. Sometimes, we practice different ways to carry devices, wallets, ID cards, and bags. Sometimes, we explore when speaking up with AAC may be most powerful – and when it might be safer and more powerful to move away without communicating anything more.

Every person’s situation is different, so we adapt in the moment to find what works best for them. We practice step-by-step, building on skills through success-based teaching and coaching so that students feel more prepared to assess options and make choices in scenarios that are relevant to their own lives.

A common concern for people of all ages is unwanted touch or attention directed at or involving their service animals or their access tools. This type of intrusive, unsafe behavior can include strangers or people they know:

  • touching or moving the joysticks, buttons, or switches on their device or wheelchair
  • removing access to a tool by taking it away or turning off its power
  • tilting, pushing, or standing on their wheelchair
  • threatening to take, break, or misuse an access tool
  • directing unwanted attention toward their service animal
  • making hurtful comments about them, their service animal, or the access tools they use

To empower people with strategies to face these situations with more confidence, we adapt and practice boundary setting, advocacy, emotional safety skills, and other techniques our students can use right away.

Adapting physical self-defense training

People of all ages and abilities need to know that they have the right to defend themselves from a violence assault – and the power to do so most of the time.

Kidpower teaches emergency-only physical self-defense techniques as a last resort to escape danger and get to safety. Depending on the workshop, physical self-defense skills we may introduce and adapt include:

  • escaping from an arm grab
  • using fingers, hands, and elbows to jab, hit, grab, or strike
  • using upper leg, lower leg, and feet to strike or stomp

Adults, teens, and children tell us that the opportunity to practice physical self-defense techniques that work well for their own bodies helps them feel calmer and more confident. They often say that it helps them feel more confident using all the other skills we practice, too, since they have a safety plan for what they could try if a situation were to escalate.

Although someone in a real-life safety situation may choose to risk injury in order to get to safety, we put safety first in our courses and workshops. We create opportunities for students to practice using the power of their bodies in ways that are designed to be physically and emotionally safe. We work together, communicate, listen, and adapt for a wide variety of needs related to balance, mobility, vision, hearing, cognition, and health issues that may cause numbness, tremors, brittle bones, chronic pain, or other challenges.

Our oldest participant to date in one of our full-force physical self-defense workshops was a 96-year-old experiencing vision loss and interested skills to feel safer and more confident riding public transit independently.

Our youngest students are six years old. We work with families to identify the best plan for building their own child’s safety skills. For many, this means introducing physical self-defense skills when children are older.

Contact us to talk about your needs or the needs of those in your care!

Self-Protection for People with Disabilities
How to Choose a Good Self-Defense Program

Addressing risk factors of maltreatment

Kidpower helps parents, caregivers, and educators learn strategies for protecting children with the following risk factors from maltreatment:

  1. Having chronic disabilities that may overwhelm parents
  2. Not understanding what constitutes maltreatment and that they have the right to say “No”
  3. Limited communication skills that inhibit their ability to tell others that they have been abused
  4. Frequently dependent upon others to meet their basic needs
  5. May be considered to be unresponsive or overly responsive to affection
  6. Are expected to interact with a significant number of adults in a variety of contexts
  7. May not know how to recognize or protect themselves in a “risky” situation
  8. Are often socially isolated and frequently lonely
  9. Are not recognized to be at higher risk of maltreatment
  10. Are often not a “valued” member of the community

As parents, caregivers, and educators, we can mitigate many of these risk factors by learning, using, teaching, and coaching protective knowledge, skills, and actions for ourselves, parents and caregivers, and the children. To learn more, see:

Changing Systems to Protect Kids with Disabilities from Maltreatment
What Educators of Kids with Disabilities Can Do to Reduce Their Risks of Maltreatment
7 Kidpower Strategies for Keeping Your Child Safe – Video Series

Core SEL safety skills taught in all classes

Kidpower core social-emotional safety skills help people of all ages and abilities take charge of safety and well-being – online and in person. Skills include how to:

  • Act aware, calm, and confident
  • Protect yourself emotionally from hurtful words or behavior
  • Manage emotional triggers to stay in charge of what you say and do
  • Recognize what is and is not safe
  • Move away from trouble physically, emotionally, and digitally
  • Assess – and think first or check first before acting
  • Set powerful and respectful boundaries
  • Apply safety principles about touch and attention in healthy relationships
  • Advocate assertively and persistently for help with safety problems
  • Use your voice and body to stop an attack and get to safety

We work with participants and their supporters to identify their strengths and then to work with those strengths to stay safe. Thousands of students with diverse physical, cognitive, developmental, and neurological abilities have found our resources, courses, and workshops to be relevant, interesting, and well-suited for their own ways of moving, thinking, perceiving, and communicating.

Focusing on possibilities

We explore and build on what people CAN do – rather than focusing on what they cannot do. It is too easy to assume that a person is helpless as a result of something they may not be able to do.

Sometimes, people might already have a belief that they are helpless – and then act in ways that make them seem less capable than they truly are.

Sometimes, those who know them the best will underestimate their ability to understand and to learn – and are even surprised that their students can say “No” or “Stop” or “Help” appropriately.

We are particularly careful to avoid making assumptions based on our students’ behavior or appearance when we start. We begin working with what our show that they are able to do.

Then, we build from there, adapting to make a skill work for a student rather than trying to force a student to fit a skill. At all times, we look for possibilities and growth rather than focusing on limitations.

To learn more about our approach, see:

Unlimited Adaptability
7 Keys to Teaching Safety Skills to Everyone, Everywhere
The Power of Positive Practice: The Heart of the Kidpower Teaching Method
Video (1m): Kidpower for People with Vision Loss

Building bridges from ability to safety

Most Kidpower skills practices can be easily adapted. For example:

If our students can’t see: We talk them through what they will be doing instead of showing them visually, or we get their permission to move their bodies to help them understand. We use language like, “show that you notice by turning your head” rather than telling them to “look.” We focus on using their hearing to notice problems.

If our students have trouble talking: We work with whatever communication devices they have available. We practice how they can use cards that explain to others what the problem is. We work with all the ways of communicating available to them.

If our students use a wheelchair: We say to “sit tall” instead of “stand tall” and practice skills sitting down. We show and practice Roll Away Power from potential safety problems instead of Walk Away Power. If we are teaching self-defense, we show Wheelchair Power, where they can use their wheelchair as a weapon to escape from an attack.

If our students have trouble hearing: We work with their communication devises or sign language interpreters and focus on having them use their sight to notice trouble. We have them sign, use written captions, draw, or act out skills vividly without speaking.

If our students can’t move one part of their bodies: We change show how using other parts of their bodies or even just their imaginations can make the skills work. For example, we have a one-handed Trash Can for waving away hurting words if a two-handed trash can won’t work. If Mouth Closed Power to stop yourself from being safe with your mouth won’t work because a student cannot close her or his mouth, then we change the name to “Mouth Safe” Power.

If our students have difficulty understanding concepts: We keep our language very simple. We show them pictures or act out demonstrations of very concrete examples in situations that are familiar to them.

If our students can’t move or speak: We have the people who help them practice the skills for them, just as they help to meet their other needs.

If our students have trouble being safe with their emotions: We teach them and their adults how to use Calm Down Power and other tools for managing their triggers.

Building skills for safety in public

To prepare people with skills to protect themselves and their loved ones from harassment, assault, and other threats in public, we teach self-protection strategies using examples and experiential role-plays relevant to the ages, abilities, and life situations of our students. We have extensive experience adapting role-plays for a wide variety of situations people might face as pedestrians, patrons, or customers in stores, on sidewalks, and riding public transit – from crowded urban spaces to more isolated rural communities. We adapt not only the skills themselves but also the ways we present the scenarios in order to make them accessible and clear. Skills include how to:

  • Act aware, calm, and confident
  • Make safety plans before going out
  • Learn and apply Stranger Safety strategies
  • Recognize and avoid the ‘Wishing Technique’
  • Practice different ways to get help – and to persist
  • Integrate access tools into personal safety plans and strategies
  • Take charge of safety in the face of identity-based harassment and threats
  • Use emergency-only physical self-defense skills as a last resort to escape danger and get to safety
  • Make plans for dealing with, managing, and making safety-related decisions about personal items including transit passes, personal identification, devices, bags, wallets, money, food and drink, etc.

Many of our students – often those who are blind or partially sighted or who are smaller in stature than their peers – experience unwanted touch and attention from strangers in public. These strangers may actually believe they are being helpful – and lack awareness that their behavior is experienced as intrusive, disrespectful, and unsafe. This can include being touched, lifted, moved, or having personal items taken without their consent. To equip our students with strategies to take charge of their safety in these types of situations, we teach boundary-setting and advocacy skills – in addition to the skills listed above!

Integrating access tools

We have decades of experience adapting safety strategies so people can have options for using or adjusting canes, wheelchairs, augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices, and other tools in ways that can help them take charge of safety. Sometimes, we practice putting things down and letting them go. Sometimes, we practice special strategies that work well only with wheelchairs, not with feet. Sometimes, we practice different ways to carry devices, wallets, ID cards, and bags. Sometimes, we explore when speaking up with AAC may be most powerful – and when it might be safer and more powerful to move away without communicating anything more. Every person’s situation is different, so we adapt in the moment to find what works best for them. We practice step-by-step, building on skills through success-based teaching and coaching so that students feel more prepared to assess options and make choices in scenarios that are relevant to their own lives. A common concern for people of all ages is unwanted touch or attention directed at or involving their service animals or their access tools. This type of intrusive, unsafe behavior can include strangers or people they know:

  • touching or moving the joysticks, buttons, or switches on their device or wheelchair
  • removing access to a tool by taking it away or turning off its power
  • tilting, pushing, or standing on their wheelchair
  • threatening to take, break, or misuse an access tool
  • directing unwanted attention toward their service animal
  • making hurtful comments about them, their service animal, or the access tools they use

To empower people with strategies to face these situations with more confidence, we adapt and practice boundary setting, advocacy, emotional safety skills, and other techniques our students can use right away.

Adapting physical self-defense training

People of all ages and abilities need to know that they have the right to defend themselves from a violence assault – and the power to do so most of the time.

Kidpower teaches emergency-only physical self-defense techniques as a last resort to escape danger and get to safety. Depending on the workshop, physical self-defense skills we may introduce and adapt include:

  • escaping from an arm grab
  • using fingers, hands, and elbows to jab, hit, grab, or strike
  • using upper leg, lower leg, and feet to strike or stomp

Adults, teens, and children tell us that the opportunity to practice physical self-defense techniques that work well for their own bodies helps them feel calmer and more confident. They often say that it helps them feel more confident using all the other skills we practice, too, since they have a safety plan for what they could try if a situation were to escalate.

Although someone in a real-life safety situation may choose to risk injury in order to get to safety, we put safety first in our courses and workshops. We create opportunities for students to practice using the power of their bodies in ways that are designed to be physically and emotionally safe. We work together, communicate, listen, and adapt for a wide variety of needs related to balance, mobility, vision, hearing, cognition, and health issues that may cause numbness, tremors, brittle bones, chronic pain, or other challenges.

Our oldest participant to date in one of our full-force physical self-defense workshops was a 96-year-old experiencing vision loss and interested skills to feel safer and more confident riding public transit independently.

Our youngest students are six years old. We work with families to identify the best plan for building their own child’s safety skills. For many, this means introducing physical self-defense skills when children are older.

Contact us to talk about your needs or the needs of those in your care!

Self-Protection for People with Disabilities
How to Choose a Good Self-Defense Program

Addressing risk factors of maltreatment

Addressing risk factors of maltreatment Kidpower helps parents, caregivers, and educators learn strategies for protecting children with the following risk factors from maltreatment:

  1. Having chronic disabilities that may overwhelm parents
  2. Not understanding what constitutes maltreatment and that they have the right to say “No”
  3. Limited communication skills that inhibit their ability to tell others that they have been abused
  4. Frequently dependent upon others to meet their basic needs
  5. May be considered to be unresponsive or overly responsive to affection
  6. Are expected to interact with a significant number of adults in a variety of contexts
  7. May not know how to recognize or protect themselves in a “risky” situation
  8. Are often socially isolated and frequently lonely
  9. Are not recognized to be at higher risk of maltreatment
  10. Are often not a “valued” member of the community

As parents, caregivers, and educators, we can mitigate many of these risk factors by learning, using, teaching, and coaching protective knowledge, skills, and actions for ourselves, parents and caregivers, and the children. To learn more, see: Changing Systems to Protect Kids with Disabilities from Maltreatment What Educators of Kids with Disabilities Can Do to Reduce Their Risks of Maltreatment 7 Kidpower Strategies for Keeping Your Child Safe – Video Series

Core SEL safety skills taught in all classes

Kidpower core social-emotional safety skills help people of all ages and abilities take charge of safety and well-being – online and in person. Skills include how to:

  • Act aware, calm, and confident
  • Protect yourself emotionally from hurtful words or behavior
  • Manage emotional triggers to stay in charge of what you say and do
  • Recognize what is and is not safe
  • Move away from trouble physically, emotionally, and digitally
  • Assess – and think first or check first before acting
  • Set powerful and respectful boundaries
  • Apply safety principles about touch and attention in healthy relationships
  • Advocate assertively and persistently for help with safety problems
  • Use your voice and body to stop an attack and get to safety

We work with participants and their supporters to identify their strengths and then to work with those strengths to stay safe. Thousands of students with diverse physical, cognitive, developmental, and neurological abilities have found our resources, courses, and workshops to be relevant, interesting, and well-suited for their own ways of moving, thinking, perceiving, and communicating.

Resources

CoursesArticlesVideos Books

Courses from the Online Learning Center

The Kidpower Online Learning Center includes a growing array of self-paced courses you can start using now – on your own or to help your students, clients, loved ones, or others build skills to be safe.

We recommend starting with these if you are focusing on access and adaptability. However, because every Learning Center course includes a selection of captioned videos, training guides, and downloadable resources that can be used, reviewed, and repeated in countless ways, all of them are adaptable!

Safetypowers Program

A free course with short lessons — including videos with captions — to help people of all ages with communication challenges to learn and practice ‘People Safety’ skills to have more fun and few difficulties with people.

Learn more about the course>>

Adapting to Learning Differences

Learn how to adapt ‘People Safety’ skills to teach them in relevant ways to individuals with learning differences. Using the Kidpower Teaching Method, learn how to protect people with sensory, motor, and intellectual disabilities from bullying, violence, and abuse – and empower them with self-advocacy skills.

Learn more about the course>>

Kidpower Child Protection Training

Learn and practice Kidpower’s internationally-proven intervention, advocacy, and interpersonal safety strategies and skills so you can protect and empower people of all ages and abilities in your organization, school, agency, or family.

Learn more about the course>>

Fullpower: Advocacy Skills

Learn and practice skills and strategies about how to use assertive advocacy skills to take charge of your well being and to protect the safety of children, teens, and other vulnerable people.

Learn more about the course>>

Conflict Resolution Skills for Adults

Learn & practice fun, effective ways of reducing stress, preventing problems, and creating compassionate relationships. These skills can make life better for everyone – now and into the future.

Learn more about the course>>

Fullpower: Emotional Safety Skills

Learn and practice 8 techniques to help increase emotional safety. Use these skills for yourself, or share them to support teens and adults in your life.

Learn more about the course>>

Articles

Videos

Kidpower for People with Vision Loss

Loss of vision or other ability should not mean a loss of safety! Hear people with disabilities share about their Kidpower workshop experience.

Watch the video>>

Awareness: Kidpower Shorts – Episode 1

Avery demonstrates ways to practice one of Kidpower’s most fundamental safety skills — Awareness! Being aware with your body and your mind can help you avoid problems and go about the world with more calm and confidence!

Watch the video>>

Kidpower Safety Signals: Safety Plans for Going Out

Through a collaboration with Hope Developmental Services, these videos show how to practice six skills in Kidpower’s “Safety Plan for Going Out” — Stay Aware, Stay Together, Check First, Think First, Move Away and Get Help. These videos show people with Autism and other learning challenges practicing the Kidpower Safety Signals and role plays for going out in the community.

Watch the video series>>

7 Strategies for Keeping Your Kids Safe - video series

Dr. Harold Johnson, Emeritus Professor of Education, interviewing Kidpower founder and executive director, Irene van der Zande, to describe each of Kidpower’s 7 strategies for keeping children safe and how to apply these concepts to your daily life.

Watch the video series>>

Books

Introductory Guide Book Front Cover

Unlimited Adaptability Workbook

Educators and parents committed to protecting people with disabilities or special needs from bullying, abuse, and other maltreatment will find a wide range of resources for coaching, sharing, learning, and adapting safety skills for all ages and abilities in this volume of social stories and coaching guides.
Learn More | Buy on Amazon
Your Amazon purchases help Kidpower!

One Strong Move Book Front Cover

One Strong Move

This cartoon-illustrated book provides important self-defense lessons showing how to avoid and escape from an attack for adults and teens and for use by adults in teaching children.
Learn More | Buy on Amazon
Your Amazon purchases help Kidpower!

Workshops

Learn Kidpower from the experts! Options include:

  • Online, self-paced courses with captioned videos and more in the Kidpower Online Learning Center
  • Online, live ‘community’ workshops open for public enrollment – see Workshops
  • Online, live ‘organized’ workshops arranged by and for your own group, gathered virtually or physically – presented by a virtual instructor (in-person instruction is paused)

Every workshop is unique! In the planning stage, we listen and ask questions about your needs and priorities. Then, we provide a service tailored just for you. Read more about our most popular workshops for accessible safety – and contact us to explore options for yours!

For teams of educators & service providers

All kinds of schools and health, recreational, and social service agencies and groups arrange Kidpower Professional Development Programs for:

  • full staff
  • volunteers
  • teams within a staff, such as a group of special education teachers, orientation & mobility instructors, or OTs/PTs/SLPs
  • paraprofessionals, aides, and support staff

Each is tailored to the needs of the group. Common priorities include bullying prevention; abuse prevention; safe and inclusive climate; skills for safe, strong relationships; and safety for youth with special needs. US$1900-up.

Contact us to discuss Kidpower Professional Development options for your school!

For parents, guardians, & adult allies

Parentpower Programs are tailored based on the group’s priorities. Any adult can take the lead in organizing a program for any type of group such as an informal group of friends; a support and advocacy group; a school or district; a business; or a community based organization.

Your adults-only Parentpower Program can be:

  • taught in English, Spanish, or French by an instructor skilled at working with interpreters
  • open to all adults your online platform will allow – up to 95 if using Kidpower’s Zoom
  • presented in 1 or 2 parts of 1-2 hours each, US$950-up

Contact us to explore Parentpower options for the parents, guardians, and adult allies in your group!

For families

Familypower Programs give students side-by-side with their parents, caregivers, or other adult allies an opportunity to have fun learning safety together!

Each Familypower Program is tailored to students’ ages and life situations as well as your priorities. Familypower Programs serve 10-50 families/screens (max varies based on students’ ages) and can be:

  • taught in English, Spanish, or French by an instructor skilled at working with interpreters
  • tailored for students in the age range you choose, side-by-side with their parents/guardians/adult allies
  • adapted to meet the needs of learners of diverse abilities
  • presented in 1 or 2 parts of 1-2 hours each, US$950-up

Contact us to explore Familypower options for your school community!

For individual adults

Whether you are seeking skills for your own personal safety and well-being or you are seeking skills to protect and empower others – such as your own children, students, clients, or consumers – you can:

  • Learn and teach using the videos, skills guides, and other resources in the Online Learning Center courses. Consider starting with the Kidpower Child Protection Training course, the Adapting to Learning Differences course, or the Safety Powers Course, which is free to adults everywhere thanks to generous funding from Ability Central.
  • Register for one of our upcoming Community Workshops open for public registration. Individual adults can sign up for Fullpower and Parentpower programs, and you are likely to find options addressing topics of interest to you as you parent, teach, or guide others.
  • Organize a Fullpower Adult Safety workshop for yourself and friends, family members, or others in your life who are interested in learning these skills with you. Sessions can be offered in 1 or 2 parts of 1-2 hours each, US$950-up
  • Organize a Kidpower Professional Development Workshop for yourself and others doing similar work. Your workshop could be for co-workers at a single agency – or for people doing similar work but for different agencies in different locations. Each is tailored to the needs of the group. Sessions can be offered in 1 or 2 parts of 1-2 hours each, US$1900-up.

Contact us with any questions about our workshops, resources, or programs for yourself or for a group in your life!

Costs

Self-paced courses in the Kidpower Online Learning Center are priced by course – and some are free! See current self-paced course offerings and costs.

Depending on your group and your priorities, live workshops online or in-person (if available in your area) can be:

  • 1-6 hours in length, total
  • One-time, single-session
  • Multi-part, 2-12 sessions

Minimum costs for workshops and programs taught live:

  • US$950-up for parent/caregiver and family workshops
  • US$950-up for workshops serving a teacher with their class
  • US$1900-up for professional development programs

Please do not let lack of money stop you from reaching out! Since 1989, we have remained committed to doing all in our power to ensure that money is not the sole factor preventing people from getting access to Kidpower. Costs listed are the costs incurred by Kidpower, and we have an outstanding track record of working with groups to address costs, including by using grant funding secured by Kidpower.

Contact us now to talk about your situation! We will tell you the exact cost of the services you are considering.

For teams of educators & service providers

All kinds of schools and health, recreational, and social service agencies and groups arrange Kidpower Professional Development Programs for:

  • full staff
  • volunteers
  • teams within a staff, such as a group of special education teachers, orientation & mobility instructors, or OTs/PTs/SLPs
  • paraprofessionals, aides, and support staff

Each is tailored to the needs of the group. Common priorities include bullying prevention; abuse prevention; safe and inclusive climate; skills for safe, strong relationships; and safety for youth with special needs. US$1900-up.

Contact us to discuss Kidpower Professional Development options for your school!

For parents, guardians, & adult allies

Parentpower Programs are tailored based on the group’s priorities. Any adult can take the lead in organizing a program for any type of group such as an informal group of friends; a support and advocacy group; a school or district; a business; or a community based organization.

Your adults-only Parentpower Program can be:

  • taught in English, Spanish, or French by an instructor skilled at working with interpreters
  • open to all adults your online platform will allow – up to 95 if using Kidpower’s Zoom
  • presented in 1 or 2 parts of 1-2 hours each, US$950-up

Contact us to explore Parentpower options for the parents, guardians, and adult allies in your group!

For families

Familypower Programs give students side-by-side with their parents, caregivers, or other adult allies an opportunity to have fun learning safety together!

Each Familypower Program is tailored to students’ ages and life situations as well as your priorities. Familypower Programs serve 10-50 families/screens (max varies based on students’ ages) and can be:

  • taught in English, Spanish, or French by an instructor skilled at working with interpreters
  • tailored for students in the age range you choose, side-by-side with their parents/guardians/adult allies
  • adapted to meet the needs of learners of diverse abilities
  • presented in 1 or 2 parts of 1-2 hours each, US$950-up

Contact us to explore Familypower options for your school community!

For individual adults

Whether you are seeking skills for your own personal safety and well-being or you are seeking skills to protect and empower others – such as your own children, students, clients, or consumers – you can:

  • Learn and teach using the videos, skills guides, and other resources in the Online Learning Center courses. Consider starting with the Kidpower Child Protection Training course, the Adapting to Learning Differences course, or the Safety Powers Course, which is free to adults everywhere thanks to generous funding from Ability Central.
  • Register for one of our upcoming Community Workshops open for public registration. Individual adults can sign up for Fullpower and Parentpower programs, and you are likely to find options addressing topics of interest to you as you parent, teach, or guide others.
  • Organize a Fullpower Adult Safety workshop for yourself and friends, family members, or others in your life who are interested in learning these skills with you. Sessions can be offered in 1 or 2 parts of 1-2 hours each, US$950-up
  • Organize a Kidpower Professional Development Workshop for yourself and others doing similar work. Your workshop could be for co-workers at a single agency – or for people doing similar work but for different agencies in different locations. Each is tailored to the needs of the group. Sessions can be offered in 1 or 2 parts of 1-2 hours each, US$1900-up.

Contact us with any questions about our workshops, resources, or programs for yourself or for a group in your life!

Costs

Self-paced courses in the Kidpower Online Learning Center are priced by course – and some are free! See current self-paced course offerings and costs.

Depending on your group and your priorities, live workshops online or in-person (if available in your area) can be:

  • 1-6 hours in length, total
  • One-time, single-session
  • Multi-part, 2-12 sessions

Minimum costs for workshops and programs taught live:

  • US$950-up for parent/caregiver and family workshops
  • US$950-up for workshops serving a teacher with their class
  • US$1900-up for professional development programs

Please do not let lack of money stop you from reaching out! Since 1989, we have remained committed to doing all in our power to ensure that money is not the sole factor preventing people from getting access to Kidpower. Costs listed are the costs incurred by Kidpower, and we have an outstanding track record of working with groups to address costs, including by using grant funding secured by Kidpower.

Contact us now to talk about your situation! We will tell you the exact cost of the services you are considering.

To inquire about workshops for schools or other services, use the contact form below.

Contact us!