Dementia Explained

I was proud to be involved in writing the information pages for Dementia Explained, a new children’s website created by Alzheimer’s Research UK. The resource is a much-needed initiative from this fantastic charity, addressing the lack of free, engaging content for children and young people who have a relative with dementia. It’s estimated that 2.3 million under-18s in the UK know somebody who is living with dementia.

Alzheimer’s Research UK and a team from Eisai Ltd worked with Matt Elliott, and illustrators James Threadgold and David Nunn to create storybooks for the website, which were voiced by Edith Bowman.

I came on board to produce sensitive non-fiction content that explains dementia in an age-appropriate way, and helps young people to understand and cope with their feelings. The text was developed working closely with doctors and nurses who support families with dementia, talking to people at dementia support groups, and using information from parents and children.

It includes levelled content for young children, older children and teens, and an interactive Brain Tour (the link takes you to the teen version). The latter includes fabulous games that use different parts of the brain, created by Pootle and Pog.

Dementia Explained was launched in November 2015, on BBC Breakfast. You can find out more about the background to the project here.