About Us

Lucia Smith is  the creator of Pelican Talk Speech Therapy Resources and has been writing and illustrating programs for children since 2012. She also does lots of puppet stuff over at her other website Puppets for Learning including sourcing great puppets and training teachers, therapists and kids in the art of puppetry!

Lucia is passionate about advocating for children with speech, language and literacy challenges.  She works clinically mainly in the East Gippsland region of Victoria and is committed to making her sessions with children engaging but also meaningful.

Lucia has developed and runs the training package Using Puppets for Social and Emotional Learning which has appeared on the School Readiness Funding Menu of Evidence-informed Programs since 2021 (Dept of Education, Victoria).

Lucia loves to write, illustrate and do things in the water like throw sticks for her dog and stand-up paddle.  She likes to travel  – preferably to places that have spicy food and exotic names – but is more than happy to visit places around Australia where she is frequently invited to present training for parents, education staff and speech pathologists. 

Why the Pelican Talk name? 

Well, after living and working in Melbourne and then Darwin, Lucia settled in a teeny seaside town in Far East Gippsland.  There are lots of pelicans there (although they don’t talk…).

Lucia Smith draws pictures that appeal to children and adults who have minds like children. They tend to be of furry and feathery things.  Her illustrations are featured in Pelican Talk speech, language and literacy materials and also Love and Reilly’s updated versions of good old favourites (such as The Singing Alphabet).  

A selection of her illustrations are below. You can visit her Red Bubble site to see more illustrations.