VOA慢速英语2020--孩子们的自闭症超级英雄

New Autistic Superhero for Children

In the United States, public television stations are launching a new show for children in June. The PBS Kids' cartoon series is called Hero Elementary. It stars a group of young superheroes.

The show is set inside an elementary school, also called a grade school. In the United States, children from about age four to age 11 go to such a school.

The superheroes are four grade school students. They must learn how to use their superpowers as best they can.

One girl, Lucita Sky, can fly, but she is afraid of high places. Another girl, Sara Snap¹, has the power to make herself appear anywhere immediately or in a snap. That, by the way, is superhero language for "teleport."

Next, there is a boy called Benny Bubbles who uses, that's right, bubbles to create a protective area -- superhero language for a "force field." Finally, a boy named AJ Gadgets² owns and operates a large collection of cool, unusual devices -- superhero language for -- you guessed it -- "gadgets."

In addition to his cool gadgets, there is something else about AJ. He has a condition called Autism Spectrum³ Disorder⁴. It affects his ability to communicate and interact⁵ with other people.

Autism presents itself on different levels – from severe to high-performing. So, when we say someone is "on the spectrum," we mean they have some level of autism.

AJ Gadgets is on the high-performing end of the spectrum. Some of his behavior is common to the autistic experience. For example, he does not like loud noises or wearing wet clothes. And he likes some things to stay the same. He likes to have his favorite things around him and hates it when they are lost.

People familiar with autism might recognize these signs of autism in the show. However, the creators are perfectly⁶ fine if others do not. The children's show purposely does not directly talk about the issue of autism -- except for two shows running later in the series.

AJ's autism just happens to be part of him. It is not the main part. As a valuable team member, he always comes to the rescue.

The creators of Hero Elementary -- Christine Ferraro and Carol-Lynn Parente -- talked with The Associated Press about the show.

Ferraro said there is "so much strength" in showing a child on the spectrum as just one of the team. Ferraro said AJ is just part of the group. "And that's something that we don't see a lot on television," she added. "And that's why we thought it was really important."

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that in 2016, one in 54 children were diagnosed⁸ with Autism Spectrum Disorder by age 8. In 2014, the estimate was 1 in every 59 children.

Linda Simensky works for PBS Kids. She said she likes the idea of AJ's inclusion. This means that a child on the autism spectrum is included in the team and treated just like the other children.

Creators Ferraro and Parente have worked for many years with the children's TV series "Sesame Street." In 2015, that show introduced Julia, a 4-year-old girl with autism.

However, when creating "Hero Elementary," Ferraro and Parente did not plan on having a child with autism as one of the superheroes. They said it just happened naturally.

The PBS Kids series also has a teacher, Mr. Sparks. He helps the children use their own problem-solving skills such as observing, investigating, testing and predicting. He also teaches an important life lesson: If at first you don't succeed, try – try again. And often the school-age superheroes do not succeed!

"You don't come into this world knowing how to do everything," said Ferraro. And so, these kids struggle to learn in school -- just like our kids struggle to learn how to do things."

Simensky says she also likes this part of the show – children learning to solve their own problems. She said she sees too many shows where an adult solves the problems.

On the TV series, team members learn to help themselves and each other. AJ's teammates are aware of his needs. In one show, the team searches for his lost backpack. The show's creators said they hope this shows children the importance of understanding others and normalize the idea that all kids are different.

Parente said the show demonstrates understanding the different needs of a friend – whether it is autism or something else.

Kids with autism may be a little different and have different needs, said Simensky. However, she added, "There is a place for kids with autism." And there is a place for their own valuable skills as well.

I'm Anna Matteo.

Words in This Story

cartoon – n. a movie or television program made by photographing a series of drawings

in a snap – phrase. done, made, or carried through suddenly or without thinking

bubble – n. a tiny, round ball of air or gas inside a liquid

spectrum – n. a complete range of different opinions, people, etc.

diagnose⁷ – v. to recognize (something, such as a disease) by signs and symptoms

introduce – v. to make (someone) known to someone else by name

lesson – n. an activity that you do in order to learn something

backpack – n. chiefly US : a bag for carrying things that has two shoulder straps and is carried on the back

1 snap   

n.啪地移动，突然断掉；v.猛咬，咬断，谩骂，砰然关上

参考例句：

• He broke off the twig with a snap.他啪地一声把那根树枝折断了。
• These earrings snap on with special fasteners.这副耳环是用特制的按扣扣上去的。

2 gadgets   

n.小机械，小器具（ gadget的名词复数 ）

参考例句：

• Certainly. The idea is not to have a house full of gadgets. 当然。设想是房屋不再充满小配件。 来自超越目标英语 第4册
• This meant more gadgets and more experiments. 这意味着要设计出更多的装置，做更多的实验。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史

3 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

4 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

5 interact   

vi.相互作用，相互影响，互通信息

参考例句：

• All things are interrelated and interact on each other.一切事物互相联系并相互作用。
• The policeman advised the criminal to interact with the police.警察劝罪犯与警方合作。

6 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

7 diagnose   

vt.诊断，判断

参考例句：

• It provides a new method for early diagnose of breast cancer.为临床早期诊断乳腺癌提供一个新的检查手段。
• What more will you want to know to diagnose this problem?要弄清这个问题，你还需要知道些什么？

8 diagnosed   

诊断( diagnose的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Some foetal malformations cannot be diagnosed until late in pregnancy. 有些胎儿的畸形部位得等到妊娠后期才能诊断出来。
• He diagnosed the trouble that caused the engine to knock. 他找出了引擎咔咔响的毛病所在。