Sesame Street’s Autism Resources

Helping our world “See Amazing in All Children”

Can you believe that Sesame Street has been producing quality educational programs for children for almost 55 years? And it’s been six years since Sesame launched their first puppet on the autism spectrum. Julia appeared on her first episode of Sesame Street on April 10, 2017. She originally was created in digital form when Sesame Street launched their autism resources in 2015.  

The iconic television show has a long history of inclusive representation of individuals with disabilities. They often featured children with Down syndrome and cerebral palsy, as well as kids in wheelchairs, blind, or other disabilities. They were doing this when individuals with disabilities were rarely, if ever, seen in entertainment. Doing this sent a message of inclusion to children- that being “different” is okay. But the creation of Julia is the first time a puppet has had a specific disability.

See Amazing

The Sesame Workshop’s autism awareness initiative is called “Sesame Street and Autism: See Amazing in All Children.” What an encouraging message for families impacted by a disability! Everyone has something to offer, even if they struggle to talk or learn in the same way other kids do.

One of Sesame Street’s autism resources are Daily Routine Cards. These are digital social stories to show kids about various activities or daily skills. Visuals like this can help prepare children for things that may cause them anxiety (like getting a haircut), or other daily living and social skills. We work on many of these things in our ABA Therapy, as well. 

In addition to visuals, other autism resources from Sesame Street include helpful information for adults. They have a guide called Taking Care of the Caretaker with tips on reducing stress and taking care of yourself so you can take better care of your child. This falls directly in line with our philosophy of stress management for parents and caregivers.

“The Amazing Song” celebrates how every child has something amazing to offer. And it’s wonderful to see how inclusive it is by showing how some kids talk with a digital device, others struggle with eye contact, and others may flap their hands. But it’s all displayed in a way that’s made to show it’s okay and normal.

Creating Inclusive Places

Another aspect of these resources is the Provider Guide. It’s filled with ideas and suggestions for providing autism-friendly atmospheres and events that organizers can create within their communities. With this kind of focus it’s no surprise that Sesame Place, the Sesame Street themed amusement and water park, was the first theme park in the world designated as a Certified Autism Center by the IBCCES.

Even though the program states the goal is to provide resources “designed to serve autistic children and their families”, simply by including Julia as a friend of Elmo and Abby communicates a powerful message to all neurotypical kids watching. Children can learn at a young age that the classmate they have who is like Julia can be a friend.

In addition to the website, you can search the hashtag #SeeAmazing on social media to find content related to this initiative and even include it in your own social media posts.

We are huge fans of Sesame Street Workshop. They educate children on the fundamentals like letters, numbers, colors and shapes. But they also do an incredible job of teaching even more critical skills like friendship, acceptance, diversity, inclusion, and care for one another.

If you found this information helpful, we’d love it if you’d share it with your network!

Moving from Autism Awareness to Autism Acceptance

A few thoughts on Autism Awareness Month

In the United States April is Autism Awareness Month. And now in its twelfth year, April 2 is World Autism Awareness Day as established by the United Nations. You may see people wearing blue on April 2. There will be buildings lit up blue and lots of social media posts about the day. However, we at Healing Haven have a different perspective on wearing blue and autism awareness. As an organization we don’t participate in the “light it up blue” campaign for a few reasons. The primary one being the controversial work and money management practices of the organization that launched the campaign, Autism Speaks. With all of their efforts, they do little to practically support families and their needs. Here is one mother’s perspective. We put our efforts in helping shift the focus to Autism Acceptance Month.

In comparison, we just celebrated World Down Syndrome Day on March 21st (3/21 – three copies of the 21st chromosome and also established by the United Nations). But this day is not only about awareness. It is a day to celebrate people with Down syndrome, while educating our global communities on their potential. It’s about supporting them with programs and therapies so they can achieve more, recognizing their achievements and changing outdated perceptions of the most commonly occurring chromosomal disorder. World Down Syndrome Day sends a message of celebration and acceptance and we believe the same should happen for individuals with autism throughout the month of April.

It’s Time for Autism Acceptance Month

With a recently updated estimate of 1 in 54 individuals diagnosed with autism, it’s time to move from awareness to acceptance. Let’s face it, most of us are “aware” of autism. The majority of us have met or know someone on the spectrum. As a result, our perspective is we need to move the focus to autism acceptance month. And not just saying “I accept individuals with autism for who they are.” Let’s demonstrate autism acceptance with action. Acceptance without action isn’t meaningful. We need to share messages of acceptance of autistic individuals, celebrate the challenges autistic people overcome every day, and push for understanding of neurodiversity.

Action can look like:

  • becoming a friend to an autistic person
  • hiring a person with autism
  • reaching out to a family impacted by autism – offer to make them dinner or take a tired mom or dad out for coffee
  • share educational resources on autism this month with the hashtag #autismacceptance

Advocating Every Day

We work with and advocate for autistic people every day of the year. So one day seems like a shallow attempt to make some people feel good that they did something for autism. Throughout the year we serve autistic children and teens, and their families with the goal of helping them learn to communicate and interact with the world around them. Our holistic approach to ABA therapy looks at the entire person and how we can support their learning, communication, play and pre-vocational skills. We do that while also helping to lessen any harmful behaviors that get in the way of the individual living a full life within their family and community.

If you could hear the celebrations throughout our clinics when a client asks for something they want for the first time. We cheer them on when they gain a new skill that they’ve worked on for months. And we celebrate with families when they experience accomplishments with their child that they never thought possible.

So for Autism Awareness Acceptance Month, we will continue to do what we do every day. But we may shout a little louder the worth of individuals our world views as “different”!

If you found this information helpful, we’d love it if you’d share it with your network!