Source
r/startrek•
Timomouse

Introducing Neruodiverse Children to Star Trek - Where to start?

Currently, I'm beginning to engage my 6yo son with the universe. He is autistic and, as a result, when he is introduced to new fictional universes, he tends to slip into it becoming a very singular interest. As such, I've seen the franchise as an obvious thing to bring him into - he has the usual interest in space and science so, of the two episodes he has seen so far, he has been brought into them by the setting and the science but in each, he has been kept interested and been asking questions about the characters and why they act as they do.

So far, I've shown him "Rascals" and "A Fistful of Datas" as, well, they follow on from each other chronologically and both are very accessible for younger viewers. Following this, he is asking to watch more, which has put me at a bit of a crossroads as to what to do next.

He is very capable of following long threads of story and to commit to media so my thoughts have been to go into a full watch of a series. Voyager was my first thought, as it's relatively consistent in tone, if slightly less accessible to younger viewers than parts of TNG or TOS. DS9 I've written off for the time being as an introduction along with anything from Enterprise onwards as I feel they're a little bit older tonally than the other shows. Further complicating it is that he does have the tendency to sometimes get scared at certain things and then immediately refuse to entertain watching it again so watching a full season may mean having to skip episodes or plot-points that he may have a bit more trouble with.

So, in terms of the question/discussion I'm getting at - what is the best way to bring ASC children into Star Trek? Is it just through individual episodes jumping around the individual series (which I feel may be too disparate for one to get connected and invested into the show)? Is there a particular series that would be best to just go through as a long-term project or would it be better broken down into specific plot-threads/individual seasons?

Posted Mar 15, 2020, 7:53 AM UTC

74
TERRAxFORMER•

What about TAS? You probably wouldn’t have to skip any of them for being too scary, at least none I can think of off the top of my head.

You could also try picking a theme and skipping around in different series. Like, let’s watch Romulan episodes, or let’s watch tribble episodes. Then they could be connected and not have to be a direct continuation of a single story.

There’s also two new short treks for young viewers, they’re both animated. There’s also a Nickelodeon show coming out.

5
hunterglyph•

Person with asd here: I think your instinct of Voyager is a good one. Whatever benefits (?) TOS might have, it’s visually pretty foreign to the current state of media, and, most importantly, it’s sexist as all hell. Props to a great mama for not only putting this much thought into it but also asking for help when you need it!

Edit: full disclosure I’m familiar with all of the shows except for Enterprise

3
Cassavetes14•

I really do think the original series is the best place to start. Maybe skip around but I think he’d dig it all

1
[deleted]•

ASD mama here- when I was a child, it was TOS that turned me into the lifelong ST fanatic that I am. Of course, it was the 70s and TOS was all we had other than the cartoon. I've tried introducing TOS to my daughter. However, my ASD daughter can't stand to see almost any kind of violence, so even fistfights and phasers are a little much. However, when she was three she absolutely loved ST4, The Voyage Home. The whales were a big selling point because she's an animal lover. She also did really like The Trouble with Tribbles, and Trials and Tribble-ations, because one of her intense interests/loves are plushies and tribbles are like plushies come to life. Unfortunately, the milder violence of ST series up until now was too much for her, so she's not a ST fan. And the newer series... I would not want to share with her.

So I recommend TOS, for series to start with, because if they love that they will probably love all of it. Just keep in mind whatever levels of tolerance to watching depictions of violence and suffering your child might have.

1