Tracy Beaker returns... with AS kid!

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Did anyone watch Tracy Beaker? Well if you did, they have brought out a new series following Tracy's return to the dumping ground as an adult (it's a long story!) to work there. I was watching this and immediately spotted a kid with Aspergers! Don't ask me how I did it, I just knew! I was so convinced I set about doing 'emergency research' and sure enough, the character named 'Gus' is supposed to have AS.

The rest of the show is good too so check it out (bbc iplayer).

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I have HFA, ADHD, OCD & Tourette syndrome. I love animals, especially my bunnies and hamster. I skate in a roller derby team (but I'll try not to bite )

Yep, Gus is very obviously somewhere on the spectrum: his bluntness, his literalness, his obsessive behaviour, etc.

I knew they'd do that eventually, loads of TV programmes have a token aspie nowadays.
I've watched a bit on iplayer and as usual they made the character extremely obvious, I had only watched 10 seconds of him and already I knew, I could even tell by the nerdy clothes. Looks like another stereotype on legs, there's been so many obvious aspie characters on TV, people know what it is now so why not just make it more subtle and not explain everything the character does so it leaves more guess work for the person watching, that's what it's usually like in real life.

I personally cannot wait to see Eastenders bring in an AS character. If every other show is doing it (including a CBBC show) why not?

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I'm a writer, not a fighter and my pen is always loaded.

Magnús Scheving is my Icelandic rose

Sounds cool, dosen't change the fact that Tracy Beaker is utter crap though.

I used to hate Tracy Beaker but I think this new cast has made it really good! Gus is my favourite character. I think its brilliant that they have put in a kid with AS. I wonder if the actor has aspergers.

I don't think Gus is the only one - I have read a few Jacqueline Wilson books lately (I like kids' books, they are emotionally straightforward) and I have noticed two other characters that seem to be on the spectrum. One is Susan in Candyfloss. She is a clever "swotty" girl who has trouble making friends and spends her time counting things to calm herself down. She ends up being best friends with the main character, which is nice. The other is Alexander in the Dare Game. He arranges sweets in geometric patterns, and makes cardboard models of things which he is very protective over. The "laddish" character, called Football, thinks Alexander is "thick" because he doesn't understand Football's world, although actually Alexander is very clever in an academic way,

Considering I picked these books at random, I think this is a high incidence of aspie characters. I wonder if JW had a friend with AS when she was younger. At least it definitely is something that interests her.