Book Excerpt: Thomas the Tank Engine - a Key to Inclusion

How could your child's fascination for Thomas the Tank engine be an entree to community inclusion?  Here, in an excerpt from Get Out, Explore, Have Fun! are some thoughts on the subject.

For reasons yet to be fully explained, kids with autism are almost universally crazy about Thomas.  This may sound like a problem, but in fact it’s a terrific opportunity.  That’s because train museums around the world have embraced Thomas (the photo to the left shows two "real" thomas engines at the Midland Railway Centre in Derbyshire in the UK)– and going to the museum to actually ride on Thomas may be an ideal way to start visiting museums in general. 

In addition, Thomas trains are based on real-world engines that can be found in museums and even on tracks around the world.  Of course, kids who love Thomas may also love train spotting, visiting model train layouts, and even building model trains.  We’ve visited model trains at public gardens and museums, ridden trains in and out of major cities, gone to train museums and more – all because our son just loves Thomas the Tank Engine. 

Not only have these experiences been great for Tom, but they’ve given us a whole new area of interest that would never have occurred to us if our son wasn’t crazy about Thomas the Tank Engine.  In fact, along with Tom, my husband has now discovered the history of the Cape Cod railroad, ridden the Bay Colony Energy Train, located and photographed defunct and active train stations throughout the area, and even provided photographs for train-related exhibitions. Who would have guessed all this could come from a passion for Thomas Tank Engine?

 NOTE: The photo above is a Wikimedia Commons image courtesy of Duncan Harris.