Thomas Tank Engine/Autism Connection: Is It for Real? What's the Attraction?
In April 2007, the NAS conducted a new survey “with support from HIT Entertainment, producers and rights-owners of Thomas & Friends.” This survey had a larger sample: “748 U.K. parents of children under 10 with autism,” the CBC reports. (The Daily Mail says 750, but that’s close enough for a tabloid.) Here are the top findings from the 2002 report:Though I certainly understand Bell's skepticism, it seems to me that, in fact, Thomas does attract kids with autism to an extraordinary degree. But I disagree with the study relative to WHY our kids love Thomas so much.The latest report echoes the earlier findings with uncanny precision.
- Children on the autism spectrum associate with Thomas before any other children’s character (57%).
- These children maintain their association with Thomas longer than for other characters, commonly two years longer than their typically developing siblings.
...So a survey of 81 parents in 2001 and a survey of 748 parents in 2007 produce the same answer to the same question within a single percentage point? Is that how social science usually works?...
- 58% of parents reported that Thomas & Friends was the first children’s character their child liked.
- Almost 39% of parents reported that their child’s interest in Thomas & Friends lasted over two years longer than siblings’ interest in the character.
Of course, the NAS doesn’t claim that these surveys are scientifically valid. Instead, there are signs on the group’s website of a mutually beneficial publicity relationship between it and HIT Entertainment, owners of the Thomas brand.
The study suggests that children with autism are engaged by the simple emotions on the faces of the characters. I'm not buying it. In fact, MOST TV and toys intended for preschoolers is focused on simple emotions and exaggerated facial expressions and body language. You don't need an antiquated steam engine to show "I am sad" - it's in every "educational" show on the air.
My personal belief is that Thomas is especially interesting to kids with autism because (1) the trains do a great deal of falling, crashing, and smashing - something that appeals to our kids and is tough to fun on other PBS or Disney programs for preschoolers and (2) the toy trains line up beautifully, and our kids love to line things up. They can even be lined up according to color, something that can be very soothing to kids with autism.
Frankly, the emotional lives of the characters in the Thomas series are hardly likely to attract the attention of contemporary kids with autism. Developed by an English vicar in the 1920's, these characters experience class wars (lower class freight cars versus upper class steam engines) and anachronistic dangers (being covered in coal dust). And while kids from the UK might empathize with the engines' pride and anxiety because of an impending visit from the queen, most American children just wouldn't get it.
Is your child a Thomas lover? If so, please share your experiences. You might also enjoy these ideas for using Thomas the Tank Engine as a teaching tool!.
Comments
My kids all liked Thomas. Our 4 1/2 year old twins didn’t stick with it as long as our 9 year old did when he was younger, but they did like it too.
And it was one of the few shows that I enjoyed watching with them…
Thomas seems to be much less ‘flashy’ that other shows for preschoolers. Things seem to go at a slower pace, the colors aren’t quite as bright, and it isn’t as noisy, and perhaps that is why kids with autism like it.
I wonder how many of the children with autism who enjoy watching the show also have a train or two that they are attached to…
well, my kid was a Thomas fan until about a year ago. you find toys that line up are toys autistic kids go for. Thomas and Hot Wheels produce this line up attraction. the attraction for my son was not the faces and for my child in fact toys with eyes he had little to do with other than the trains. he never related to any of their train faces. it’s the moving wheels and detail of the toy in my opinion for my child, plus he knew how to give directions in ‘his’ manner to every train track he’s ever seen in this state. my son didn’t crash his trains either, just lined them up and he knew if you touched a one
he paid more attention to where his trains were placed tha moving them on a track. as he got older, the movies did help with the stories that were being told, and the troublesome engine that was a naughty little engine. but that realization took much time for my child to relate to.
my son is now into old fashioned cars and the details of those.
It is a well known fact that people with Asperger’s Syndrome (a form of autism) are fascinated with any sort of trains or cars. Although we don’t know why, I’m sure this factors into the equation somehow.
I think if the Rev. William Awdry had had even as much of an inkling about what he was creating, who knows what might have come to pass.
As for us, if had one wit, I would have invested very heavily in all stocks related to the books and all other merchandise, as it would have offset the costs of therapy!
Cheers
Frankly, the emotional lives of the characters in the Thomas series are hardly likely to attract the attention of contemporary kids with autism. Developed by an English vicar in the 1920’s, these characters experience class wars (lower class freight cars versus upper class steam engines) and anachronistic dangers (being covered in coal dust). And while kids from the UK might empathize with the engines’ pride and anxiety because of an impending visit from the queen, most American children just wouldn’t get it.
What a ridiculous comment. Almost all Thomas stories are about one thing: pride before a fall. I would argue that “most American children” of today understand this just as well as most British children of the 1920’s through 1960’s. They may have been developed in the 20’s but Awdry kept on writing them and introduced modern rolling stock and engines as well as acknowledging nationalisation.
Pride and anxiety because of an impending visit from the Queen ? Shrek must have been a terrible flop in the US. And the Princess Diaries, and fairy stories…try engaging your brain next time.
FYI, the correct name is Thomas the Tank Engine and The Rev. W. Awdry invented the characters in the 1940s, not the 1920s.
You should check out “The Transporters” – http://www.transporters.tv – it’s a DVD specially designed for kids with autism, based around this research. It’s all about a model train layout, with real faces superimposed on the CGI graphics; it’s designed to help kids with autism learn about emotion. Plus it’s narrated by Stephen Fry, who’s awesome.
1.) Their movements are predictable.
2.) They are mechanical.
3.) They have wheels.
4.) On the TV show their problems and solutions are often easy to understand visually.
5.) No hands to watch, no turning heads
6.) The characters are easily distinguishable.
7.) The music on the TV show is simple and does not overwhelm.
8.) Simple camera angles that don’t change every 3 seconds.
9.) Predictable sets.
…I could probably go on.
Class struggles and anachronistic dangers are unappealing to the current generation? Are you serious? Social hierarchy and class struggles appear in countless television shows and movies. How many children would really recognize the anachronism of trains covered in coal dust? They would pay more attention to an airliner with iced wings?
My son (autistic) loves anything with wheels, but Thomas was definitely an extraordinary love for any years (he was much less interested in other kinds of toy trains for example). He loved the show I think for its (usually) fairly simple and easy to follow plots – bangs, crashes etc – and was ‘jargoning’ plotlines to us in a very intense way from a very early age (like 16 months), before he learned to speak (I could tell it was Thomas because he physically enacted the plots and made appropriate sound FX). I think he liked that the trains were easy to differentiate also (although I find it amazing that he can tell the difference at a glance between Edward and Thomas, who look exactly the same to me). I also think that the narration is easy to follow as there is very clear and slow enunciation (well there is with the British narrators anyway). The sets are predictable and the story very visual – no need to guess what’s going on from inference or backstory or anything like that. As for playtime the trains themselves are easy to manipulate and of course line up, and it is easy for him to re-enact scenes such as crashes because the play trains are exact replicas of the trains on the show and in the books – this must be very satisfying I think. The same-but-different aspect of the various trains is also easy to compute and great for categorising (which he loves) and helps him explore difference in a safe way. As for the faces, I don’t think he was especially interested in them but I think the simplicity of their facial reactions/ emotions definitely did help him to understand what was going on in the plot. Later, as he got older (around 4 yrs old), he started ‘brushing Thomas’s teeth’ etc so I think the comfort of knowing them soooo well did help him to expand his play and repertoire into other areas (but mostly it was scripted re-enactments, not imaginative play). OH MY GOD I COULD WRITE A THESIS ABOUT THOMAS I think I am as obsessed as he is. Thank god he has moved on to other things (current obsession is dinosaurs) because personally if I never have to listen to the Thomas theme song again in my lifetime it will be too soon.
This is really interesting.
I was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome about two years ago, after a lifetime of feeling very odd and out of place (I’m almost 26 now).
I absolutely loved Thomas the Tank Engine when I was a kid – had loads of books and was transfixed when it came on TV. I loved the colours, the voices, the fact that it was so simple; nothing fussy.
Could do with some more research on this!
Interesting. I too liked Thomas, but in later years was scared to admit that because at least here in Australia the show seems to be classed as ‘gay’ as there are no female members. (that I can remember anyway…) .. so perhaps kids don’t need to feel they’re gay because they watch Thomas, but more likely they might just have Aspergers, mild Autism or something else that is easier to live with
My 8 year old son was just diagnosed with Asperger’s. He has always loved all kinds of trains. But his infatuation with the Thomas series has far surpassed that of his friends. I’ve always been grateful that his interests are with such a wholesome, cheerful storyline the rest of the family can enjoy and learn from. If he had focused on Pokemon or something similar, I doubt we as parents would have been able to relate to his enthusiasm.
Children with Asperger’s focus on all kinds of things, although trains and dinosaurs are at the top of the list. Have you noticed that the Thomas line of clothing and pajamas that used to end in size 4 has expanded to fit the continued fans who are now 7 and 8 years old!
Sounds to me like social groups for kids with this disorder have the makings for some fun club meetings with lots of opportunity for participation in role playing by using the stories they know and the toys they already own. This could be a real blessing!
actually, I don’t think that most kids (autistic or typical) under the age of, say, ten, really do understand the historic or cultural context of movies like Shrek or Narnia – or shows like Thomas the Tank Engine. I know they do respond to the sight gags, action sequences, and sense of justice served .
My son Tommy does, of course, think it’s very funny to see Percy covered in coal dust. But I don’t think he has any clear idea of what coal dust IS (even though we explain that it’s a fuel used to run engines, etc., he’s never experienced its use in real life).
I’ve gotta say that, for social skills education, I think shows like Caillou
(a PBS show from, I believe, Canada) are really quite helpful – explaining and showing feelings and motivations in a very simple, contemporary context. I don’t honestly think Thomas has much useful social content.
On the other hand, I have been absolutely thrilled with the Thomas toys for our son. We’ve been building his set for about 6 years (he’s now 11). he started by just lining up the engines, but over time (and with help) he’s graduated to complex systems with block cities and little dramas.
Even better: Thomas got him interested in the hobby of model trains. We’re about to start creating a garden railway with Tommy’s involvement – and he’s perusing hobby magazines to get ideas!
Lisa
I work with kids with autism and have seen the Thomas effect many times. I second jared’s thoughts about the simplicity and uncluttered visuals in Thomas. They’re easy to decode visually and if their level allows them to process the stories and emotions, they’re direct and clear as well. Good models for us as teachers!
My autistic (HFA) son loved Thomas. We would find his trains arranged on the floor or windowsills sorted by color.
My daughter, on the other hand, who is also somewhere on the spectrum loves Carebears. But she does the exact same obsessive sorting by color.
I don’t know what it all means but there’s got to be something to that. They both love to line things up, sorted by color. I suppose the younger daughter could’ve learned it from the older son. But both seem to love having large collections of objects they can sort. That’s very important to them.
Regarding the simplified facial expressions on Thomas and company: it’s not just that the facial expressions are simplified and cartoonish – they don’t transition from one expression to the other. They don’t go from smiling to frowning and all the stages in between, it’s merely a hard cut from one fixed expression to the next. No animation except for occasionally rolling eyes. No mouth movements. No head movements or gestures. No body posture, no hand gestures.
The engines don’t have expressions so much as they show a simplified icon displaying their current mood, and they update it when their mood changes.
This means there is so much less social information to try to keep track of to understand how the characters are feeling. It’s much less overwhelming than even animated or puppet characters.
I loved Thomas the Tank Engine as a child. I don’t think I had a clue really what coal was, but I knew about soot and ashes, and I could definitely understand how upsetting it would be to get very dirty.
Just another data point:
Jared, my autistic 7-year-old, never really like the Thomas show, and preferred other brands of more realistic trains to the Thomas toys. He now enjoys reading the “Thomas and the School Trip” Little Golden Book, but that’s about it.
Is there a control group of 700 neuro-typical kids (or even just 100) to see whether 58% of all kids in general like Thomas?
I saw my son age 4 in this article- he isn’t autistic but has been identified with sensory integration disorder. He loves Thomas and it’s like our new religion. He enjoys the pedantic tunes and memorizing the characters’ number/color/type. Like the article mentioned he really likes lining up the tracks and organizing the trains: he talks to the toys like text from the books LOL… “It’s time to go to the station,” said Thomas. We just love this kid!
My son has autism and was not drawn to Thomas more than any other show.
However, I do have a friend whose son has Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified. He is obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine.
While this may be coincidental, there needs to be scientific double blind testing before pronouncements like this can be made.
If you ask the same parents if their children like ice cream, Christmas presents or Sesame Street, I am sure the answers would be the same or higher percentage.
Maybe the exposure lead paint in the toys from China caused the autism?
long-term lead poisoning produces the same symptoms of autism and developmental delays
lead poisoning can be tested. if it was lead poisoning, that’s what it would be called then, and autism would be a misdiagnoses
There are some indications that one of the underlying mechanisms associated with what is diagnosed as “Autism Spectrum Disorder” has to do with a slow or delayed response to sensory inputs — i.e. autistic children not uncommonly will behave as though they only hear the (longer duration) vowels when people talk, and mostly miss the (fast changing) consonants… in the same sense, what is interpreted as an inability to respond to facial expressions CAN be seen as not being able to SEE expressions that change too quickly.
So Thomas the Tank Engine, whose facial expressions by definition (i.e. by animation technique) tend to be stationary and fixed between any one “jump-cut” and the next, could be seen as actually compensating for that sensory-processing delay, allowing an autistic child the chance to attend to a much longer meaningful sequence of expressions!
A logical “next step” would be some implementation of hardware/software that can “sttrreettcchh” both audio and visual material, as a theraputic aid.
For what it’s worth (some serious food for thought): check out “The Speed of Dark” by Elizabeth Moon.
The study says that children with autism like Thomas – but not that watching Thomas builds social skills or understanding.
Personally, I find it hard to believe that Thomas (or any of the iconic images of facial expressions that folks use to teach social cues) could really teach a person with autism to recognize and understand actual facial expressions.
Given that our kids are so literal (and so good at visual memorization) in general, my guess is that it would be very easy to memorize and reiterate the meaning of the Thomas icons for happy and sad without having any idea of how those icons would translate into human expression.
Reading through the comments I think most of my points have been covered. I agree with the author that there is something about the trains lining up, etc. but if you really watch the show, it usually is made up more of the engines talking to each other than shots of pulling trains.
I disagree with the fact that most children’s tv shows “focused on simple emotions and exaggerated facial expressions”. Maybe, maybe not, but more importantly, most children’s shows today aren’t SIMPLE in themselves. They are needlessly complex, and usually loud, bright and obnoxious. Thomas shows are so simple. The low-tech way of filming is charming to me, but I think soothing to my son. I believe the simple music, sets, and not-animated faces have been mentioned already, but also the fact that there is only one narrator. It is read like a book. You cannot even compare how different Thomas is to other over-thought out corporate shows are today.
My sister wrote a paper on Thomas the Train, deconstructing caste and class representations, so I already had time to think about this.
Our vaccine-injured, late-talking son loved Thomas trains and the show until he was put on the gluten-free, dairy-free (and soy-free) diet. Within five days he started to talk (amazing, since this kind of improvement usually takes much longer), stopped taking his Thomas trains to bed with him and was suddenly very sensitive to the accidents in the TV show. He still plays with his trains but hardly as much and we consider his distaste for violence to be part and parcel of his increased clarity and understanding of consequence.
I don’t think injured children would really like the Awbry show if they truly understood the underlying message. I think most adults don’t really absorb some of the creepier aspects of the underlying message. In the show, the child-like little trains are always afraid that their father figure will have them killed by sending them to the scrapyard if they’re not “useful” at their labor. Of course the Sir Topham always refutes the “death penalty” on an individual basis but never states that it’s an impossible outcome for all trains, so the fear is never removed. With the pharmaceutical companies aiming some of their biggest marketing/faux research guns at autistic/environmentally-injured children in the form of the sometimes deadly, often maiming second generation antipsychotics, one potential message of the show- that “useless” children are dispensible and can be recycled for industry benefit- is a little too close to reality.
Lead paint.
Frequent handling.
Skin and mouth absorption.
Environmental insult.
Toxic heavy metal poisoning.
Symptoms of autism spectrum disorder.
The above lead hypothesis is interesting. We have to think in terms of factor loadings on the side of causes/etiology and subtypes of autism on the side of results/effects. I would guess that lead paintis small, in terms of factor loading. But we need hark data, e.g., paint toxicity tests. Also one would have to nonetheless add to this formulation that once leads caused autism/ ASD symptoms, some explanation for the apparently increased preference for Thomas thereafter.
My son almost was NOT diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome because his obsession was with Thomas and it is a passion for many children. However, from age 3-6 this was our son’s only toy. He had the entire set kept fully up to date during that time period. All holidays, birthdays, rewards, incentives, were based around Thomas. Over two hundred pieces plus tracks. Why? PBS shows were too fast, especially sesame street–by the time he focused the action had passed. I agree about the soothing lines of trains–he often just lay by the tracks pushing the cars back and forth if he was stressed. And he and his dad imitated the voices and made up their own stories. I often wished the characters and faces had more to teach but then it would be a different toy. The beautiful set landscapes, the trains, the simpler worries and plights (losing control, getting up a hill, getting chased by a rogue boulder, not being good enough) resonated for my son. I didn’t appreciate the bullying, pranks, and revenges, but my son didn’t seem to take on the behaviors.
My daughter is a 22 yr. old high functioning autistic and she still loves Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends. They think like her in concrete and clear ways. She writes her on engine stories as well. And, she is American.
My son is almost 9 and he still loves Thomas the train. It is not because of the faces, it is the wheels and how they line up so straight when they are on the tracks. He also loves his trucks, 18 wheelers..
My son is 15 now and was first diagnosed ADHD/ODD/AD when he was 5.He has recently been diagnosed, finally, high-functioning autistic. He was absolutely obsessed with Thomas and friends when he was 1 1/2 to about 6years. We have every train and piece of track made I think. He would watch the show and then the videos over and over and very intently and then spend HOURS in his room on the floor lining them up and moving them back and forth. If anyone at anytime were to disturb them he would come unglued. He did love the show, but when he could understand the words, he would become very upset,sometimes physically aggressive with the TV, when one of the characters would say something bullying or negative to another.He was done with Thomas at about age 6 but even to this day, he plugs his ears, or mutes the TV when bad or negative or even lovey dovey things are said on movies or shows. I think the attraction is definately a combination of things, but my opinion is that the lining up and order of the trains is the strongest attraction. It is very interesting to read that other children on the Spectrum have such similar interests. They are amazing, truly, I appreciate them. Thank you.
At five y/o (PDD-NOS) we’ve had to put all the Thomas dvds and vhs tapes in ‘time out’ because he has taken on the sarcasm/sassy phrases…and the tone of voice. Not what I want him to emulate…we’ve gone on to Bob the Builder. But the Thomas trains are still fascinating-more, lots more, W H E E L S!
My 9 year old son Jonathan has always been fascinated by cars (”Schumachers”) and toy trains (”Harry Potter – Hogwarts Express”). His current role model is Dr Who. We have the NAS trainspotters DVD and this is enjoyed greatly by Jon. As a supporter of the NAS I have no problems with a mutually benificial financial tie-in between the NAS and the makers of Thomas the Tank Engine.
We found Thomas characters extremely helpful during speech therapy. While her shape sorters and therapy toys were well-intentioned, he was not talking or relating very well to her. When she saw him rattle off the names of 40 different trains at age 2 1/2, she started to use my homemade flash cards and the trains to promote his language and communication skills. At 5 1/2, he still loves the toys, no longer just spins the wheels, and actually builds complicated tracks and puts together elaborate little stories as to what trouble the engines are in today. We love them, and they have been a wonderful investment!
We adopted our autistic son so we have been working on knowing and saying who we are. When I pointed to daddy and asked our son who that was, he responded, “Thomas” and giggled. He loves Thomas. We used the videos for a reward during potty training. Very motivating!!
My son is 28 months old and has never really been interested in Thomas; he’s mild on the spectrum basically he’s not speaking with words yet. He loves the Wonder Pets, Wow Wow Wubzie, and Baby Einstein DVD’s. However, he received a Thomas the Tank Engine laptop for his 2nd birthday and has learned how to count, identifies both lower and uppercase letters, and is now sounding out the letters because of this laptop. He also does well with V-Smile Baby games.
My son is almost 6 and has been diagonised with ADD/PDD and Thomas the train is his life. We don’t go anywhere without taking a train with us and it”s the first thing he wants when its toy shopping time. He has learned alot of lessons, his numbers, facial movements and colors all from the trains. It has certainly been a calming effect to him as well as a good learning experience. I noticed that when he watches other shows that are not as calming, it takes quite a lot of our energy just to get him to calm down. He learns some really bad habits from some of those other shows.
my son is now eight yrs old and still is absolutly obsecced with thamos . he has pddnos.
My son was diagnosed with high functioing Autism @ age 4 and he has loved Thomas trains for 10 years and has a collection of the trains, books and video’s, there is not a day that goes by without him bringing them out, lining them up and putting them on the track a certain way. He is now 11 years old and still enjoys them very much.
I agree with the study findings 100%. I have a 4 year old on the autism spectrum and he loves everything about Thomas, has all of the cds and engines and sleeps with the engines too.
Most of his language acquisition is from Thomas, he uses all of the character voices and expressions (just not in the approptiate situation) he can run all the dialogue from all the movies (and does when under stress) and names the different trains by name and facial expression (thomas is scared for instance when looking for that train).
We go to the website for activities far too often for my liking, and we saw the Thomas show live last week and every day since he has wanted to see it again.
Thomas is an invaluable teaching tool for me and my family.
I think this in incredible. I have wondered about this connection in the past as I have incountered various children and family members with either Asperger’s or ADHD who all seem to be obsessed with Thomas in a clearly different way than any other children. Its very interesting to see that so many people have had so many similar experiences with Thomas. It makes me wonder if Rev. Awdry or his son were possibly somewhere in the Autism spectrum and that is why the stories and concepts relate to these children so well. The simplicity and the predictability of the stories as well as the color sorting and the lining up of things are definitely the draw to the toys that I have noticed in my own experience. Maybe someone else ill jump onto this idea and do some more useful research into the Thomas connection.
My girlfriend has a son with Aspergers and he absolutely loved this TV show. The boy’s mother postulates its because the FACES are LARGE and emotionally SIMPLE giving the boy an unequivocal non ambiguous expression of the character’s face. He was also fascinated by Teletubbies which was way below his “grade level” maturity level.
My oldest son was not exposed to Thomas the Tank Train of which I am somewhat interested in at my age of 60 years. However, I must point out that my son loves to collect things that he can sort through or line-up in some manner. He especially loves Match-Box type cars, and details are everything. I suspect that his most dramatic sorting is with his sports collector cards. He has a job and is free to spend some of his money as he wishes, so besides the small cards and music, he buys baseball cards, etc. and has many notebooks with plastic sheets that hold, I think, 12 cards each. When he gets a new card, it does not go in the last pocket on the last sheet or the first sheet – the card goes within the collection where it goes by a number of different priorities besides just team such things as date of card, position played by team, how many years played on the team, how many RBI’s, etc, etc, that he can keep in his head and turn to just the right page and take the card out of the pocket where this new card should go. Now, comes the unusual part – the card removed will replace the next card which is in turn going to replace the next card so on down the line card after card, sheet after sheet and sometimes notebook after notebook. He has done this for over 20 years with great speed and with such precision that the expected wear & tear is very minor. To me this is an example of “sorting” to the “Nth. Degree!”
I agree that it is the wheels, lining-up of the cars on the track, the colors and the need to sort all of these things. Each train is a different sub-collection of the main collection of these trains. I am kinda glad that my son was not exposed to Thomas & Friends. He has more than enough CD’s sorted by artist in alphabetical order by release date and several other categories. His cars are lined up in some sort of special order throughout his room that we are careful to not disturb, as it does eem to agitate him when one is just slightly moved – bear in mind there are at least 300 little cars sitting around everywhere and a new one requires moving most of the older cars around to allow for the placement in just the right spot.
He is a “high-functioning” Autistic man of 35 years who has a lot of problems trying to cope with all of all of us “normal” adults and our odd behaviors! :^)
My son was attracted to Thomas and friends before he was 2. He would line up the engines (many were around because his older sibling had liked them years prior). There was an order to where each engine would go. The particular expressions where not a key to their attractiveness (Gordon was #1, but the mean Diesel was #2 in preference of all engines). You could take anything from him and he would not care. But, don’t you dare take his trains! (He has developed past this now.)
For my son, I think he enjoyed them most for a couple of reasons. There you have objects where he could sort by their colors, and it is a simple contained world where it is correct to be lined up in order. Also, he like to see them crash.
Anyone who has learned much about children who are in the Autistic spectrum will see they tend to have a special interest that can be almost obsessive for a period of time that can but may not be exchanged for something else as they grow older. One of those things can be forms of transportation such as trains, cars, boats, planes or it can be schedules as in for bus or train schedules. It can also be something like weather conditions or, in my son’s case, the planets of our solar system. It seems to be order that they respond to more than to those items themselves. Things that line up or have a rhythm.
The first time I saw a written connection between the faces on Thomas the Tank Engine and autism, the connection for my son clicked in my mind. Although he likes trains, cars, etc…his first reaction to the Thomas videos was the facial expressions as he would mimic them throughout the show. This was his first true show of emotion on any level. Now 4 1/2, my son still enjoys Thomas and Friends, but differently than he did as a 2 y/o. I should mention that although not autistic, my son has severe SPD and resulting developmental delays.
My son was diagnosed with speech delay and r/o autism at the age of 1. He shortly began to show an interest for Thomas and friends. When the psych doc found out how my son associates several things with Thomas (ex., anything with the color blue), she didn’t hesitate to suggest that “perhaps Thomas needs to go on vacation now”. But we just kept pursuing his interest, and no sooner did my little guy started learning the numbers and letters from one of the Thomas mini lap top. We also found out through engaging in the interactive memory card game that he’s got quite visual-spatial skills. Not only did his speech improved, but he is also got to be very good with saying “please”, “thank you” and “I’m sorry”… things that he learned from actively listening to thr trains’ many dialogues. Indeed, Thomas and his “friends” became a useful tool for my son’s growth and development, and I am grateful for that.
I am a teacher. I have an austic JK student and I am trying very hard to come up with activities my student can work on (obviously very small sorting, matching activites) I am going to bring some of my son’s Thomas’ into school and see how he reacts to them… Thank you for all the sharing..
My son has been hooked on anything related to Thomas since about age 1. He was daignosed with autism around 2. He is limited verbally, but he knows every train by name and watches their videos all the time certain parts he will rewind. He prefers tapes because he can control the vcr easier. His room has everything thomas. It has helped with learning colors, numbers, shapes. He doesn’t keep the covers to the tapes, he’ll llok at the writing and be able to tell wich tape it is. He is now 12 and still obsessed with Thomas and friends.
I have a 15-year-old brother with Asperger’s Syndrome and a 9-year-old brother with HFA, and we have family friends who also have AS. All the boys were (or in the case of the 9-year-old, are) obsessed with Thomas. They would run around the backyard telling “stories” to themselves about Thomas and friends, and making sound effects. I’m now doing a research report for my english class about the connection between Thomas and Autism.
Has anyone considered the “elephant in the room” here? Could autism be developed from watching too much TV? When you zone out in front of the TV your brain goes into a Delta Phase (only other extended time it does this is when you sleep) How about this for the rise in Autism, Little developing brains developing while staying in a constant Delta phase?
Look, I don’t know but it make sense, Ever more busy parents, Bigger TVs, Access to DVD’s and Video. Cheaper Cable TV.
Has anyone done a study of Autism in the TV-less Amish?
Thinking Thomas like greater by Autism kids, when perhaps it is TOO much TV that caused the Autism is a bit like saying Watching too much TV causes heart attacks. (By incorrectly focusing on the TV instead of the other likely lifestyle factors of a person who spends all day sitting in front of the tv that is what really causes the Heart Attacks)
Hi, my husband and I have a 13 year old son, named AJ, and he was diagnosed with PDD/NOS at the age of 6. I took him to New York to visit my mother when he was little, and we took a train. When he came home, he started drawing intricate maps and buses on his mattress, so I thought he would be a cartographer when he grew up. As he got older, he lost some interest in the buses, but he saw Thomas the Tank Engine, and since then he’s been obsessed with trains. It’s all he talks about, all day, all night. If there is a show on TV about trains, no matter the time, he’ll wake up early in the morning to see it. My husband and I have tried to get him interested in other things, but trains are forever in the forefront. He is determined to drive for the MTA in New York when he grows up, and I’m terrified that he will forget to stop at the stations to let people on and off. When he gets home from school now, he is determined to see trains on youtube, so he can hear the sounds and see the trains move. Just seeing a picture of a train is not enough. He wants to visit other countries to see the train stations and trains. He loves going to Penn Station in New York. He’s even said that he loves trains more than he loves me, and he’ll get very upset if I don’t let him see trains. Should I try to get him interested in anything else, or should I just leave him be, and let him see trains every day?