A brand-new Sky Original, Ready Eddie Go! Launched in September on Sky Kids – the series follows a 6-year-old Eddie who is autistic, as he navigates everyday real-life experiences for the very first time.
This immediately caught our attention at SPACE as we were thrilled to see such representation of our children and young people on a significant platform. We were even more proud because Grayson, a popular member of our community, was the voice behind Eddie for the series.
It wasn’t long before everyone was talking about Eddie and in October, we had the honour of interviewing award-winning author and Mum, Nikki Saunders. The series is inspired by the Eddie book collection written by Nikki, a mother of an autistic child who has become an important voice in the SEN (Special Educational Needs) community. She shares her experiences on Instagram @NRsaundersbooks and is the Executive Producer of the show.
We were really inspired by this interview with Nikki – and hope you will be too. It’s full of fascinating insights into Nikki’s creative process, a helpful glimpse into her role as a parent and carer, and loads of encouraging advice. Enjoy!
Please introduce yourself and tell us a little about your journey to bringing ‘Ready Eddie Go’ to SkyKids.
I’m Nikki and I have two children. I am the author of the Eddie Series Books and creator of the Sky Kids show ‘Ready Eddie GO!’ My eldest son who is now 13, was diagnosed autistic when he was 3 years old. At the age of almost 9, he wanted to visually explore neurodiversity and general
differences. I searched the bookshelves and couldn’t find any bright and colourful books on autism for children. When I asked the assistant, I was told ‘we don’t stock that sort of book.’ Therefore, I wrote my own for my son called ‘My Awesome awesome’ which explains how there are differences we can see and some we cannot see, we are different from one another and that’s amazing! Tyler loves the book so much that we went on to publish the book for others to enjoy. He really loved his special character Eddie, who looked just like him and could relate to him in many ways too. Eddie’s appearance is based on my sons’. Eddie is named after Tyler’s Great Grandad who passed away shortly after he was born.
We read on a recent social media post you shared that your son was your inspiration for the book, tell us all about him!
He certainly was! He is wonderful, bright, creative, has the kindest soul and the best sense of humour! He teaches me more about life than my career journey, he taught me to appreciate the little things in life and slow me down to look at patterns, seeing things from a different perspective. As I mentioned above, the book was for him. It certainly sparked a need out there for more books. My social media grew overtime. Then parents, carers and professionals began to ask if I could write a book for siblings and starting school etc.
What was your writing process for Ready Eddie Go, we can imagine how busy you were juggling parenting and writing a book?
For the original Eddie books, yes it was a challenge as I was working in a SEN school at the time. I loved the creative side of it so much that I made time when I could! I have been writing new Ready Eddie Go workbooks for next year too! Writing can often be a challenge sometimes, but I am passionate about helping children in different situations, socially and emotionally. In lockdown the kids had fun in creating ‘Eddie’s Book of Idioms’ with me!
You have single handedly brought visibility and representation of neurodiversity to a large platform. How did it feel when you connected with SkyKids?
Beyond incredible, I have to pinch myself sometimes! I am very proud of our journey and everyone working so hard on Ready Eddie Go! I’m grateful I have the support and talent from Hocus Pocus animation studio who joined me on my mission.
The team at SPACE are so proud of Grayson being the voice of Eddie. Is there anything you would like to say to him?
Grayson you are the most amazing and very talented boy! We are so proud of you and how you have given Eddie a voice! Your talents, lovely character and hard work will help so many other children! You are an absolute superstar!
There’s been a swamp of support on social media through messages and photos showing autistic children finding a connection with Eddie. How does this feel?
Oh my, it’s the most heartwarming feeling seeing children happy feeling so connected and represented! Overwhelming and just incredible considering we are only just getting started.
What would your message be to other parents and carers listening to this interview who are navigating the SEN world?
Find your tribe, surround yourself with the right people who support you as you navigate your journey. You know your child better than anyone else, ignore dismissive attitudes, advocate all the way for what your child needs. There are free supportive resources and games on our website www.readyeddiego.com.
We would love to direct a question to your son. You inspired your mum to write a book which is now being seen by many. How does that feel?
I feel very proud of myself and now Eddie can go and help lots of children because of me.
Nikki, thank you so much for giving us your time and for creating a show that gives visibility, understanding and representation to our neurodivergent children. Now, our kids can look to someone cool on TV who represents them! And lastly, a special congratulations to Grayson from the team at SPACE, you have done a superb job – we can’t wait to hear more of you on our screens in the near future.
You can watch a free episode of Ready Eddie Go!…
Stay in touch with Nikki and the show: @nrsaundersbooks (Instagram) The Edie Series (Facebook) and the show is @readyeddiego_tv (Instagram). You can visit the website: www.readyeddiego.com