Sesame Place becomes first theme park designated as Certified Autism Center
A Pennsylvania water park based on the characters from “Sesame Street” has become the first theme park in the world to be designated as a Certified Autism Center.
According the Sesame Place website, the park has partnered with the International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards to help all staff members receive specialized training to cater to children with special needs.
The training focused on sensory awareness, motor skills, social skills, communication and emotional awareness, among other things.
As a Certified Autism Center, the park will now offer quiet rooms as well as noise-canceling headphones, low sensory areas and low sensory parade viewing opportunities, which will eliminate direct character interaction, for guests with special needs.
The changes will be introduced when the water park opens for the 2018 season on April 28.
“Sesame Street” last year introduced a Julia, a new Muppet with autism, to the show.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill psychiatry professor Dr. Laura Klinger was part of the “Sesame Street” advisory panel to help develop the character.
Klinger, the executive director of the university’s TEACCH Autism program, which helps people on the autism spectrum and their families cope with the disorder, said it took years to craft Julia’s personality and character traits so that she accurately reflected real-life children with the disorder.
