My thoughts on the Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood Episodes “Daniel’s New Friend, Max” and “New Friend at the Clocktower”

Daniel’s New Friend, Max:

For a long time, the series has been praised by parents for helping their autistic child understand social and coping skills. So creating a character who is on the spectrum is just heart felting for me. Best of all, they even hired an autistic boy to voice him. What I like about Max is how he isn’t just randomly added to the cast. Instead, he has a relationship with one of the characters as he is Teacher Harriett’s nephew. Speaking of her, she has only mentioned Max’s autism once. A lot of the other children’s shows would say that over and over again (I’m looking at you, Sesame Street).

I like how Harriett never treats her students as “bad” if they’re being too loud. Instead, she calmly explains to them about Max’s needs. At the same time, she makes sure that her nephew feels calm and comfortable in his new surroundings. What makes this episode interesting is how Daniel represents a child who has never played with someone who is neurologically different before. Naturally, he would feel upset and worries that he won’t play with Max. Luckily, the teacher helps him to find a solution. So the kids ended up having fun with each other and Daniel accepts Max as his friend.

New Friend at the Clock Tower:

This episode has a realistic representation of sensory overload. Even though Max was wearing noise-canceling headphones. The lights and sounds were too much for him. So Teacher Harriet took him outside to calm himself down. Luckily, she came up with a solution to make the clock show “sensory friendly.” Which I think it’s a great teaching for kids and even adults.