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“Sesame Street” introduce the newest Muppet, Julia.

During this month of April which makes National Autism Awareness Month. Radio Free Phoenix will be showcasing those making a difference in their area to help with a diagnosis for autism and its spectrum disorders.

according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Autism is a spectrum of developmental disorders that can cause social, communication, and behavioral challenges,

and those in the spectrum of autism can range from severely challenged to being highly gifted.

As of 2016, about 1 in every 68 school-aged children has autism. Between 2000 and 2010, this number increased by about 119 percent.

This week we focuse on a very familiar name in children and public education.

Entering its 47th season The show producers for long running Sesame Street hope that Julia, a young Muppet girl with red hair and bright green eyes, will help “reduce the stigma” attached to the condition of autism spectrum disorders.

The character already exists in print and digital storybooks and is part of an initiative called “Sesame Street and Autism: See Amazing in All Children.”

Julia makes her TV debut in the US on April 10th on Youtube, HBO and PBS.

Jeanette Betancourt, Sesame Workshop’s senior vice president of US social impact,

Express the years of research behind Julia, expressing; ”

We wanted to reduce the stigma often found around these children

Jeanette Betancourt, Sesame Workshop

Sesame Street has been on the air since 1969, and features a host of incredibly famous characters including Big Bird,

Bert and Ernie, Elmo and the Cookie Monster. In Julia’s debut episode, Julia is expected to demonstrate some

common characteristics of autism. The scenario will begin when Sesame staple and beloved character, Big Bird is

introduced to her, Julia ignores 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.”

Listen to the full feature here:

‘Sit With US’ Founder, 16 Year Old Founded, Natalie Hampton Pictured left and and Brand Ambassador is creative huge waves with her new mobile app to take on the challenges of school bullies

A new mobile application is helping students fight bullying and helping bridge friendly bonds among students into the lunchrooms of middle school and high schools across the globe.

The application is called Sit With Us, A mobile application that was established a by a 16 year old highschool student after years of facing abuse from fellow students and peers in the lunchroom at her school.

Natalie Hampton, the creator and brand’s ambassador of ‘Sit With Us’ decided to take action so she reached out to her parents and got to together with some developers to start Sit With US which After going public in September of 2016, has been featured on Good Morning America, NPR News, ABC World News, and countless major news outlets across the world. Since the application took wave in the Apple’s IOS App store, Sit With us has been received with positive reception serving thousands of schools across the world.

Ms. Hampton’s creation has been helping create a positive influence for many students in schools across the country and beyond, to form friendships and avoid the hardships of being bullied for where you choose to sit at lunch where friendships often start and are initiated in school settings.

The Application’s Process Set Up Like this : Sit With Us serves mobile application that for students to reach out to their peers and fellow students, and inviting them to their school lunch tables. Through the application student can look at the list of “open lunches” in the mobile application which allows to know that they are have an open to join with no chance or fear of rejection.

When signing up as an ambassador through Sit With Us, each “Sit With Us ambassadors take a allegiance to welcome anyone who joins and include them in the conversation.

Natalie Hampton, 16, created the Sit With Us mobile application after experiencing physical, emotional, and cyber bullying in middle school which resulted in changing schools and a new attitude to help tackle this issue on click at a time.

Natalie explained how both teachers and parents can take part of bullying solutions in school by being part to coordinate ‘Sit With Us’ programs, facilitate topic discussions during lunch to bring people together, or organize gatherings that can help build friendships between students.

“My high school places a great deal of emphasis on community service and what it means to be a global citizen, and I think that is why it is generally a kind and welcoming place,” she said. “

As far as the future of the application goes, The busy teen see no stopping in helping push her application to a larger audience; “Right now we’re looking to create an application available in more countries, and eventually open on the android market, for android users to download., ” Hampton said.”

We had the opportunity to speak with Ms. Hampton on her inspiration for the application Sit with Us and find out how all of it works in action:

Tagged: Autism

Spotlight on Autism: Sesame Street’s Julia

Spotlight on Autism: Sesame Street’s Julia

Sit With Us: A New Mobile Application Tackles Bullying