PBS Kids Marks Autism Awareness Month With Characters On The Spectrum

April marks Autism Awareness Month, and PBS Kids is doing its part to raise awareness by showing episodes featuring characters on the spectrum. Beginning with a Muppet’s TV debut on Monday, PBS Kids will air episodes of “Sesame Street,” “Dinosaur Train” and “Arthur” that help kids learn about autism. Julia, a Muppet on “Sesame Street” with autism, kicked off the week in a new episode in which Big Bird meets Julia and learns about the disorder. In a video of the episode posted on YouTube, Abby Cadabby gives a simple yet important explanation about what it means to have autism. “She does things just a little bit differently, in a Julia sort of way,” she tells Big Bird. Learn more about Julia in the video from “Sesame Street” below. This week, PBS Kids will also air an old two-part episode of “Dinosaur Train” titled “Junior Conductors Academy.” According to PBS’ site, the story features Dennis Deinocheirus, a dinosaur who knows a lot about other dinosaurs, but has difficulty making friends. April will include old episodes of “Arthur” on PBS Kids that feature Carl, a character who has Asperger’s syndrome, as well. Learn more about Dennis and Carl in the videos from PBS Kids below. In an interview with The Mighty, Linda Simensky, PBS’ vice president of children’s programming, stressed the importance of diversity ...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news