Our family has been part of the POWERS program at the Kahane Center for over a year, and the growth we've witnessed in our son has been truly remarkable. Thanks to the unique, holistic approach of the program, we’ve seen him thrive—both socially and emotionally. As parents, we've also grown alongside him, developing new strategies and a shared language to better support his journey.
The entire experience has transformed how we help him build friendships and grow into his best self. We’ve felt incredibly supported by the dedicated therapists at the Kahane Center, and the sense of community we’ve built with other parents through the POWERS program has been invaluable.
This program has reinforced the importance of social-emotional learning and executive functioning skills—lessons that have seamlessly translated into his school life, ensuring he’s set up for success in the classroom. I highly recommend the POWERS program for families looking to equip their children with the tools and confidence to advocate for themselves and grow in meaningful ways.
– Valeria Guerrera
“I am blessed to be a proud father of a POWERS Program graduate - my daughter! It was her transformation over the 10 monthly sessions that my wife and I noticed drastic improvements in our daughter's behavior, school work, and social relationships. The POWERS Program is life-changing. We need to do all we can to let parents and children know that there is a program called POWERS which can shift a negative mindset to one of hope and optimism.”
– Michael D. Kuchar, Ph.D. Department of Education, Leadership, Management, and Policy, Seton Hall University
"Our daughter has really embraced the program, techniques, and skills and is trying to use them in her life. I found myself referring to each of the “letters” of the program to help her recall some of the strategies. This week has started a transformation of how her words and actions impact others and this is enormously useful to her overall well-being."
– Parent, 15 year old
"I learned many new and wonderful skills. I think POWERS is going to help me in my school life and at home too. I made new friends and I wish that POWERS was not over so soon. I hope I can come back next year."
– C.A., 11 year old
“As a parent and a professional educator, I cannot express enough the impact of The POWERS Program for children and young adults. Executive functioning skills are essential for children to succeed.”
– Dr. Philip Nisonoff, Assist. Supt. of Schools, Emerson Public Schools
“POWERS is being piloted here [at Washington School] and we’re seeing less behavior issues and behavior referrals since the beginning of the year. The vocabulary I hear students using is a complete change. They are words that I’m hearing students use today that I have never heard 5th graders use before.”
– Tom Lawrence, Principal, Washington School in Bergenfield, NJ
“My role is to test the effectiveness of the POWERS Program. We’ve been collecting data for the last three months looking at the students' changes in their cognitive function, their test scores, as well as their physical activity levels over time. I’ve also learned a lot personally from the program and I’ve tried to incorporate some of what I learned at home as a mom of two young children.”
– Mindy Feldman Hecht, doctoral student at Teacher's College Columbia University
“POWERS has added a lot of perspective for me as a teacher. It’s given me more of a full lens on my students and how to tap into their academics, as well as their social-emotional, and physical behaviors. I’ve already seen how POWERS has influenced me as a teacher, as a mom, and as a person. My children know a lot of the POWERS core skills and I’m watching them apply it to their everyday lives as well.”
– Nicole Maliia, Teacher, Washington School in Bergenfield, NJ
“I’ve been teaching for 18 years. I’ve taught everything and when this was first introduced, I was very reluctant to do it but I see the benefits of the kids using it. They enjoy it and I believe that it can help kids not only in the classroom but in their personal lives.”
– Diane Nasse, Teacher, Washington School in Bergenfield, NJ
“One of the things that I appreciate about the program is the language. I always aligned with the concepts but I never had the background language to use with the students or had a program that brings everything together as well as POWERS does.”
– Doel Lugo, Teacher, Washington School in Bergenfield, NJ
“Sometimes things can be very stressful and I have a lot of anxiety so POWERS helps me calm down. It helps me focus on my work sometimes. I'm very forgetful so the checklist and the fixed location really helps me manage where my stuff is. I'm starting to do that at home and at school because it helps me manage where all my stuff is and I'm not looking for things all the time.”
– 5th grade student, Washington School in Bergenfield, NJ
“My brother annoys me a lot and sometimes I would yell at him to get out of my room or stop being a pain in the neck, so I was using a harsh inner voice and power is helping me to use a kind inner voice.”
– 5th grade student, Washington School in Bergenfield, NJ
“What POWERS taught me was to be mindful of things, that there's choices you can make in life and you can be the boss of yourself.”
– 5th grade student, Washington School in Bergenfield, NJ
“This program is for kids who have a tendency to either forget to bring homework home, leave their belongings in a trail behind them, have trouble with self discipline, organization, or prioritizing. This program really helps and hits all those buttons.”
– Dana Koenig, POWERS parent
