Sesame Street Launches Part 2 of Autism Initiative

In October, Sesame Street launched “Sesame Street and Autism: See Amazing in All Children,” an online initiative providing resources for viewers on the spectrum, as well as educating the general public about autism. A big part of this was the introduction of Julia, an autistic character who Elmo met in an online storybook, “We’re Amazing, 1,2,3.”

On Thursday, Sesame Street released phase two of this initiative — premiering 13 new videos, including a new animation featuring Julia — who’s voiced by a girl on the autism spectrum, according to Frank Campagna, a producer at Sesame Street and popular autism blogger who helped launch the initiative.

Sesame Street’s videos are for kids, parents and educators alike. One series expanded in part two of this initiative features Nasaiah, a little boy with autism who’s learning life skills with the Sesame Street characters.

Sesame Street also released videos featuring parents’ recordings of their kids with autism answering questions like “What do you want kids to know about autism?” and “What are your favorite things?” Hopefully, these provide insight and understanding to people unfamiliar with autism.

“We want everyone to know that children with ASD want to play and be included; they want love, friendship, understanding, and support just like any child does,” Dr. Jeanette Betancourt, SVP of US Social Impact at Sesame Workshop, told The Mighty in October. “We also want people to know that there are a wide range of autism behaviors and experiences because we know that if you have seen one child with autism, you have only seen one child with autism.”

To watch all of these videos, visit Sesame Street’s website.