Pablo
Season 1, Episode 24: "Zoom zoom zoom" (11 minutes)
Ireland: Paper Owl Films
CBeebies, Thursday 23 November, 13:00
"Pablo thinks differently," says the theme tune, "He sees the world in a different way."
And indeed he does, because Pablo is autistic, as are all of the writers and voice cast of this lovely little programme. I believe it serves two purposes: to explain what the mind of an autistic child is like to neurotypical children (and adults), and also to help autistic children to understand the world around them.
An imaginary world
The episode is bookended with live-action sequences of Pablo and his mother. Pablo overhears a radio commercial for car insurance: "Zoom zoom zoom, we'll get you back on the road!" Pablo repeats the phrase as his mother announces that they need to go out.
When Pablo goes out the front door (i.e. into a situation that makes him anxious), he withdraws into his own imagination, which is represented by a transition into 2D animation populated by cartoon animals who represent different facets of Pablo's personality (and different aspects of autism): -
- A Mouse who is good at organizing things, but is upset by loud noises, smells, and disorder.
- A Dinosaur who is good at maths but struggles with speech and social interaction.
- An Orangutan who is kind and loving but can't tell how people are feeling.
- A Wren who is very excitable and interested in the world but easily distracted. She likes to flap her wings.
- A Llama who is very good at finding details, but struggles with language and being touched. She likes to repeat words.
- A Girraffe who knows lots of facts but is very unconfident and needs a lot of reassurance.
Investigating sounds
We see the Llama running around saying "zoom zoom zoom" The Wren explains that she must have learned it from the radio, and that it's fun to repeat because "it makes a lovely buzzy feeling in your mouth." The Mouse questions what does it mean? The Wren explains that it doesn't have to mean anything, some words just sound fun. They all take turns saying words like "sausages," "higgledy-piggledy," and "orang utan".
This serves the purpose of explaining why autistic people may sometimes repeat words or phrases over and over (echolalia).
Cartoon!Pablo uses his crayons to draw items such as a fridge and a clock to show that they like to make sounds too. They then explore a bathroom, showing that items like taps and toilets also "talk". And they play with sound by talking into their hands, against a wall, into a bucket to produce different acoustics.
"But you're being confusing," says the Giraffe, "if you say 'balloon animal,' I expect you to talk about one, or show me one, or make one, not just say the words." The mouse reiterates what she has just learned: that it doesn't have to mean something, Pablo just likes saying it."
At this point we hear the voice of Pablo's mother, who says, "Hold my hand while we cross the road." The animals repeat this a few times, before the Giraffe notes to Pablo, "that sounds like something you should listen to". At this point, Pablo "wakes up" and returns to the real world, where we see him safely crossing the road with his mother by pressing the button and waiting for the green man. (Thereby adding an additional lesson about life skills).
A pleasant surprise
I was pleasantly surprised by watching this programme: initially I was put off by the scribbly animation and saccarin theme song, but it soon proved itself to be much deeper. And I learned a lot myself about autism, and certainly can relate to aspects such as regressing into "another world" in anxiety-inducing situations. I imagine that this would be a very useful programme for little ones who might have an autistic child in their class or family, and also provides a useful lesson to autistic children that it's fine to say words and make noises if you find it fun, but be aware that it's important to listen sometimes.
Great stuff.
Available to watch online until 23 December 2017
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