Cartoon DVD may help autistic children learn emotions

The British government and Cambridge University have created a DVD using animated characters to help young children with autism learn about emotions.

"Imagine what a confusing world it must be for a child who cannot understand the significance of a smile or a frown," Culture Minister David Lammy said in a news release Tuesday afterthe DVD was released.

"This project aims to make a very real difference to children with autism in helping them to understand human emotions."

The Transporters, narrated by actor Stephen Fry, contains 15 five-minute stories featuring eight animated toys with human faces focusing on emotions, such as happiness, fear and surprise.

Children with autism are often fascinated by predictable patterns of motion in rotating wheels, spinning tops and rotating fans. In contrast, they typically shy away from contact with people and have a poor grasp of understanding other people's emotions.

Prof. Simon Baron-Cohen of the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge University co-produced the DVD aimed at children aged two to eight. Each episode also includes an interactive quiz to help children learn about the featured emotion.

A study of 20 high-functioning children with autism showed that after a month of watching the series, they were better able to recognize emotions. The children caught up with typically developing peers in their same age group.

One parent of a boy who participated in the trial said there was a "change in his behaviour, speech and range of emotional expressions since he started watching The Transporters. It's a bit like someone's flicked a switch in his head."

Britain's National Autistic Society is distributing 30,000 free copies of the DVDs to residents of the U.K.