PBS Kids Show To Feature Character Who Uses Communication Device

A groundbreaking children’s television show is set to introduce a new character who is largely non-speaking and communicates with the help of a special speech tablet.

“Carl the Collector,” which made history when it premiered last year with its focus on a cast of neurodiverse characters, will add Paulo, a new friend with autism who loves outer space.

The character will be the first on a PBS Kids show to use an augmentative and alternative communication, or AAC, device.

“Carl the Collector” follows Carl — a raccoon with autism who loves to collect things — and his friends in Fuzzytown who work together to solve problems. Carl and a fox named Lotta have autism, while Carl’s other friends have different challenges, but the show celebrates each character’s strengths.

“It has always been our intention with ‘Carl the Collector’ to include a wide array of characters across the autism spectrum, including families with a variety of experiences. A character with an AAC device was naturally part of that vision,” said Zachariah Ohora, the creator of the show.

“Creating a non-speaking animated character was daunting at first, but the PBS Kids’ team was concurrently doing audience testing at various points throughout our development process and each time they did, there were families with pre-verbal or non-speakers who expressed their hope that we might have a character like them in the show,” Ohora said. “Their feedback and experiences helped us create Paolo who plays a meaningful role in the show as a friend to Carl who viewers will be able to get to know and love as they have with all of Carl’s friends.”

Paolo is voiced by Odin Frost who has autism, is non-speaking and uses an AAC device.

The new character will join “Carl the Collector” on an episode titled “A New Friend,” which airs Oct. 13.