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'The 'Meet Julia' episode is something that I wish my son's friends had been able to see when they were small,' says Gordon. 'She needs to take a break,' Big Bird's human friend Alan calmly explains. But when a siren wails, she covers her ears and looks stricken. Julia, chuckling, then displays a different-but-fun way of playing tag, and everyone joins in. 'She does things just a little differently, in a Julia sort of way,' Abby informs him.

He wants to be her new friend, but she doesn't speak to him. In the introductory segment, Julia is having fun with Abby and Elmo when Big Bird walks up. After submitting tapes, then coming to New York for an audition, she was hired. She also has a son with autism, and, before she started her family, was a therapist to youngsters on the spectrum.Īlthough she figured her chances of landing the dream role of Julia were nil, her contacts in the puppet world paid off: Two friends who worked as Muppeteers on 'Sesame Street' dropped her name to the producers. Gordon is a Phoenix-based puppeteer who performs, conducts classes and workshops, and creates whimsical puppets for sale to the public. 'I said, 'If she's ever a puppet, I want to BE Julia!'' It was with keen interest that Stacey Gordon first learned of Julia more than a year ago.

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But while she represents the full range of children on the spectrum, she isn't meant to typify each one of them: 'Just as we look at all children as being unique, we should do the same thing when we're looking at children with autism,' Betancourt says.

We're modeling the way both children and adults can look at autism from a strength-based perspective: finding things that all children share.' 'We wanted to promote a better understanding and reduce the stigma often found around these children. 'In the U.S., one in 68 children is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder,' she says. Additional videos featuring Julia will be available online.ĭeveloping Julia and all the other components of this campaign has required years of consultation with organizations, experts and families within the autism community, according to Jeanette Betancourt, Sesame Workshop's senior vice president of U.S.

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She makes her TV debut on 'Sesame Street' in the 'Meet Julia' episode airing April 10 on both PBS and HBO. The goal is to promote a better understanding of what the Autism Speaks advocacy group describes as 'a range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and nonverbal communication, as well as by unique strengths and differences.'īut now Julia has been brought to life in fine Muppet fettle.

She has been the subject of a storybook released along with videos, e-books, an app and website. Joining her pals, Julia (performed by Stacey Gordon) takes off hunting.įor more than a year, Julia has existed in print and digital illustrations as the centerpiece of a multifaceted initiative by Sesame Workshop called 'Sesame Street and Autism: See Amazing in All Children.' With that, they skedaddle, an exit that calls for the six Muppeteers squatted out of sight below them to scramble accordingly.

Skedaddle puppet