An educational consultant can be helpful in the development of age-appropriate programming, product (toys, apparel, etc), publishing (books, magazines), websites, and video/web games that carry through the philosophy of the property to create an overall brand.

It is preferable to have an educational consultant onboard at the development stage, as it is much easier to integrate educational concepts as the property is being developed than it is to try to squeeze educational moments into an existing format. Thus, an educational consultant should be included as part of the creative team for brainstorming character development, storylines, and overall ‘look’ of the property.

The consultant should serve as an on-going resource to the writers. Writers are typically good at writing, but not particularly knowledgeable concerning child development. Once scripts are being developed, it is essential to have the consultant involved to assure age-appropriate language and behaviors. Safety issues can also be quickly identified and modified by a consultant; especially important for a preschool property.

If the programming/product is developed outside of the United States but will be shown/sold in the US, it is important that an American consultant be involved in the scripting or development process to assess dialogue and other behaviors that may be confusing to the US child.

At the completion of the pilot episode or product prototype (perhaps earlier, depending on the format) it is advisable to have a qualified educational consultant conduct focus groups with children and parents to determine appeal, age-appropriateness, and interest levels. This initial testing should be completed in time to make drastic changes, if necessary. Often times producers wait until several episodes are completed or thousands of products have been manufactured before taking the episode/product to young children – then it is too late to make any changes. Additional testing at the completion of three or four episodes is advised to determine ongoing appeal for programming.

As the show is being aired and new shows are being developed it is important to continue testing the shows.  With Barney & Friends we conducted extensive content analyses at the completion of each series, in order to make modifications in the next series’ shows.