My Review of Playtime with Zeebu

My friend Erin, over at The Mom Buzz, suggested that I take a look at a product designed to help Autistic kids Think, Communicate and Connect. She even went so far as to provide me with the product itself. So I jumped at the chance to review Playtime with Zeebu.

When Playtime with Zeebu first arrived I decided to open it without Matthew around. I figured I would like to learn about the product before I tried to introduce it to my son. The package contained a Zeebu puppet, a Playtime with Zeebu DVD and a Playtime with Zeebu User’s Guide. I immediately opened up the User’s Guide. I was quite impressed with the level of information provided in the User’s Guide. It gives Puppet Show Ideas such as “Role play exact scenes from the video. This is a great way to reinforce and model.” and “Practice ‘What is your Zeebu puppet thinking about?’ by following his eye gaze. After children find out what Zeebu is looking at and thinking about, they can ask Zeebu questions about it. (For example, if Zeebu is looking at the refrigerator, the child may ask, ‘Are you hungry?’“). It also suggests Activities While Watching such as “Pause on emotions, whatever emotion the puppet on screen is having, pause on that emotion and label it. Make the same emotion on your face so the child can reference how you look when you feel that way.” and “Pause to talk about what may happen next. You can make ‘I wonder’ statements about what you think will happen next. Say; ‘I wonder if Neek and Jumby will look at their friend’s faces?’” The User Guide has a lot of other great ideas and suggestions that run the whole gamut of play and instruction. I found it to be very useful and helpful. For parents like myself that want to help our children but we don’t know exactly what to do, this User’s Guide offers so many suggestions that you have to stumble on one or two that you feel comfortable with trying. And after you try a few you start to realize you can, and want, to do more of the suggested activities. That is how a good resource inspires a parent.

Next I decided to introduce Matthew to Zeebu the puppet. He immediately took to it. He wanted to carry Zeebu around the house and he was very excited when I put Zeebu on my hand and Zeebu started to ask him questions. He really responded to Zeebu, so much so that I was actually taken by surprise. I had not expected such a response from him. I tried a few of the ideas from the User’s Guide such as having Zeebu ask Matthew how he was feeling and engaged him in pretend play.
Finally Matthew was so excited about Zeebu that I decided we would watch the DVD together. I was amazed at how quickly he took to the DVD, the characters, the songs and the overarching ideas. He asks for the DVD almost daily and he has started referencing things from the program in other situations. Just the other day he started taking five slow breaths, just like the characters do to calm down and get their minds in a good frame for thinking. And today while transitioning from one activity to another he told me he was finished with his first choice and was moving on to the next choice on his choice board – Zeebu uses a choice board to help him pick what activities he would like to do daily, and to move to the next activity once he has finished a previous activity. Matthew did all this after only watching the DVD twice.

Overall I find the program to be very well thought out. They are addressing many topics which are difficult for Autistic children to learn, such as the importance of eye contact, emotion recognition, and how to calm down to think and process thought. And they use different, proven methods to engage Autistic children such as music, slowing down the speed of conversation, the choice board mentioned above, and music and song. I also liked the fact that Playtime with Zeebu can be used for children of many different age ranges. When I initially watched the video (I did this by myself, without Matthew) I thought maybe it was to “old” for him. But after viewing it with Matthew I realized that it wasn’t too “old”, instead, it offered higher concepts which Matthew would be able to grow into. I think it will grow with a child for several years and can be used in many situations much like social stories are used. I would hope that the creators of Playtime with Zeebu would expand the DVD to a series or collection and create other scenarios. If a parent is motivated to interact with their Autistic child I think that Playtime with Zeebu offers a unique opportunity to do just that, but I think it offers even more. I think because the people at Thought Bubble (the group that makes Playtime with Zeebu) give parents so many suggestions and additional teaching tips on their website, this would be a wonderful tool for any parent to have in their Autism Arsenal – hey, maybe I should coin a new phrase!