1st Edition

Zedie and Zoola’s Playful Universe: A Practical Guide to Supporting Children with Different Communication Styles at Playtime

By Vanessa Lloyd-Esenkaya Copyright 2023
    94 Pages 34 Color & 39 B/W Illustrations
    by Speechmark

    94 Pages 34 Color & 39 B/W Illustrations
    by Speechmark

    Playtime is essential for children’s wellbeing and provides key opportunities to make friends. Yet for some children, unstructured play can present real challenges.

    This beautifully illustrated guide is designed to be used alongside:

    • Zedie & Zoola’s Playtime Cards – a pack of 25 cards containing ideas for fun playground games that draw from Zedie & Zoola’s Playful Universe and encourage children with different communication styles to play together.
    • Zedie & Zoola Light Up the Night – a colourful storybook, which draws on themes relating to friendships, neurodiversity, participation, and advocacy.

    The cards and storybook explore the topic of communication differences through engaging characters and games. This accompanying guide offers additional advice for adults to use the cards effectively, with helpful contextual information to assist in making playtimes more accessible for children with communication conditions.

    This is an essential resource for parents, primary school teachers, and speech and language therapists, as well as anyone looking for new ways to foster an inclusive environment to help children aged 6-9 with different communication styles engage and play with their peers.

    Guidebook: 1. A Background to Neurodiversity 2. Social Skill Development through Childhood 3. Using the Resource at School 4. A Parent’s Guide to Using the Resource 5. Meet Zedie and Zoola and Friends!

    Biography

    Vanessa Lloyd-Esenkaya holds a PhD in child psychology. Her research explores the social side of Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) and is published in scientific journals. She is currently training to be a speech and language therapist and lives in Kent with her family.