Our Mission

Building Confidence Through Play-Based Learning.

Playground Powers was created to bridge the gap between what adults often expect children to know and what many children still need gently taught, modelled and practised.

Playground Powers Leadership

Playground powers

Meet the creators of Playground Powers

As a clinical psychologist and speech therapist, we created Playground Powers to help children build social confidence, strengthen communication skills, and develop meaningful friendships through structured play.

Joanne Lazarus

Joanne Lazarus

Founder and Speech Therapist

Joanne brings warm, practical insight into how children learn social skills best through explicit teaching, safe repetition and trusted adult support.

Joanne brings warm, practical insight into how children learn social skills best through explicit teaching, safe repetition and trusted adult support.Joanne brings warm, practical insight into how children learn social skills best through explicit teaching, safe repetition and trusted adult support.

Simonne Cohen

Founder and Speech Therapist

Dr Simonne supports the program's evidence-informed, neurodiversity-affirming foundations so the learning experience feels thoughtful, respectful and safe.

Dr Simonne supports the program's evidence-informed, neurodiversity-affirming foundations so the learning experience feels thoughtful, respectful and safe. Dr Simonne supports the program's evidence-informed, neurodiversity-affirming foundations so the learning experience feels thoughtful, respectful and safe.

Simonne Cohen

Playground Powers

Why the program was created

Playground Powers was created because many children struggle with social situations, but are rarely taught these skills in a clear and supportive way.

The gap

Children are expected to navigate complex social situations without being explicitly taught how. While academic learning is structured, social learning is often left to chance. Playground Powers helps fill this gap through play-based, interactive learning.

Why stories and characters matter

Children learn best through stories they connect with and characters they remember. Stories slow social moments down, making them easier to understand and together they give children are safe, clear away to practice real life social skills.

Why Playground Moments Matter

The playground is where social learning opportunities occur, and where children build confidence, resilience and self-esteem. Playground Powers sets children up with foundational skills to connect and thrive.

Playground Powers

Our Core Values

Playground Powers offers a child-centred approach to social learning and is designed to offer emotionally safe learning, explicit teaching, practical skill building, and neuro-affirming strength-based support.

Safe learning

Children relate to Playground Powers characters and stories, making them feel emotionally safe, or providing practical solutions and emotional regulation techniques.

Explicit teaching

Children are told explicit social skills to navigate social interactions to concrete language guided examples and repeated steps.

Neurodiversity-affirmation

Through fun and reliable characters, children learn acceptance of neuro diversity, three exposure of different ways to relating, communicating and regulating.

Strengths-based support

The program fosters children’s confidence, resilience and self-esteem by motivating them to practice Playground Powers, which in turn, creates positive social interaction and experiences.

Practical skill building

Parents, educators and clinicians are given tools that can be easily relatable and translated into common interactions at home, in the classroom and clinic setting.

Real-world relevance

Skills are taught through everyday situations children can recognise and use in real life.

A calm next step for every support team

Whether you are supporting one child at home or using resources in a classroom or clinic, the prototype makes the journey into the program feel simple and reassuring