The radKIDS (Resist Aggression Defensively) nationwide non-profit program will teach lifesaving skills to children in a series of five two-hour sessions that are open to the children of CSUN faculty and staff as well as to members of the community.

Among other skills, children will learn responses to bullying, gun and bike safety, avoiding predators, good and bad touching, "stranger danger," Internet safety and planning for natural disaster emergencies.

Class size will be limited to 20 kids, to be taught by specially trained CSUN police officers April Saucedo and Anthony Vargas.

"Parents can't be with their children 24 hours a day," said Officer Saucedo, who initiated the program at CSUN. "We have to give them skills to handle things in case they're ever in a dangerous situation."

Though it is an offshoot of the campus' successful RAD for Women program--which focuses on providing women with techniques for dealing with aggressive assault--radKIDS is not a martial arts program. Children do receive hands-on training in physical defense, said Saucedo.

"They also learn how to dial 911," she said, a skill not to be taken for granted. "Some kids just freeze. We use a toy phone and ask them questions just like a dispatcher would. We train them to be calm."

The cost is $10 per child, but each participant who completes the course can take it again, free of cost, any number of times up to the age of 12 years. Manuals are given to parents, who are encouraged to attend.