Children with autism struggle with the capacity to comprehend and interpret signals that are communicated is social contexts. It can be difficult to “speak their language” in a way that sinks in and hits home easily.

Professor Beetoven and his cast of characters offer a simplified, open and plain way of teaching children with autism not only scientific facts about nature, but also how people think and relate to each other. A cartoon children’s ebook, The Pacific Ocean, illustrates in a plain way that can possibly be ascertained by a child with autism some of the complexities between interrelationships between its cast of characters and the world around them. As such, a cartoon can stand in as a basic primer on human experience, possibly introducing the child to simple relationships as laid-out in colorfully drawn illustrations, subjects that he may find much more incomprehensible in daily life. A cartoon to add to your kid’s ebooks collection, with its colorful layout and familiar characters, can begin to introduce the child to facts about the world around him that he might not grasp as easily through rote teaching.

In The Pacific Ocean, a children’s ebook, there are several opportunities for teaching. One of the main plots revolves around Barnacle Bill’s poor hearing, and how he misunderstands what Tad the Frog is saying. A child with autism might well relate not only to the inability to pick up on things right away, or to misunderstand what is being communicated, When Tad the Frog gets frustrated, Professor Beetoven says to him in an aside to be patient because Barnacle Bill doesn’t hear well. Such an innocuous communication might be totally lost in the daily experience of a person with autism, but its centrality to the plot may take on the resonance of a revelation for a child grasping to understand various signals and behaviors, and how unseen things (such as the knowledge that Barnacle Bill does not hear well) can influence Tad the Frog’s behavior (to be kind and patient rather than frustrated). There are numerous opportunities for discussion and teaching throughout, for kids of all learning abilities.  It is a gentle, well-paced way for kids to learn about the world, and the world within themselves, all from the comfort of an ebook at home.