How a Muppet is helping kids understand autism

Image source, 2017 Sesame Workshop/Zach Hyman

A brand new character called Julia has joined the famous puppet show Sesame Street.

The cool thing about Julia is she has autism, a condition that means she sees the world a bit differently to other people.

Check out our guide to autism here.

Here's what we know about her so far...

Image source, 2017 Sesame Workshop/Zach Hyman

Image caption, Big Bird was worried that Julia didn't like him at first

In her first episode on Sesame Street Julia ignores Big Bird when she is first introduced to him.

Confused, Big Bird thinks "that maybe she didn't like me". But the other Muppets tell him: "She does things just a little differently."

Image source, 2017 Sesame Workshop/Zach Hyman

Image caption, Julia will play lots of games with some of the other characters like Elmo, Big Bird and Abby

Julia's puppeteer, Stacey Gordon, is also the mother of an autistic son. She said the creation of Julia is "huge".

She hopes Julia will help other kids to understand that people with autism sometimes act and play differently.