BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — “Carl the Collector,” the PBS Kids series created by New York Times bestselling author/illustrator Zachariah OHora (“My Cousin Momo”) has received so much positive attention that all the parties behind it had to do was keep making the program the same way. The show has given parents and caregivers a new way to discuss neurodiversity with their kids and help children to learn and grow.
This has been accomplished through Carl, a warm-hearted autistic raccoon who enjoys collecting things and loves his friends and family in Fuzzytown. In each episode, Carl and his friends work and play together, and in the process, find out what makes each of them who they are.
Ohora took what had been working and has now added another character to the series, Paolo, a new friend who loves outer space and is a collector like Carl. Paulo is autistic and largely non-speaking/preverbal, communicating with the help of a special speech tablet, or Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) device…