Children with Autism Drawn to Thomas the Tank Engine

A study conducted in the United Kingdom found that autistic children were far more fascinated by the television series, "Thomas and Friends," than they were with other fictional characters.

The study, by the National Autistic Society, summarized that the show held such appeal because of the clear facial expressions of the characters, the pacing of the program and the easy-to-follow story lines.

For this reason there was an online game developed that uses  the characters from the Thomas the Tank engine series  to help autistic children with identifying different emotions.  The game is on the n Autism Spectrum Australia (Aspect) web site.

Source:cnn.com