Thomas the Tank Engine Bed

Our story begins in 1917 in the sleepy village of Box in Wiltshire, England. A young boy lies awake in his bed, listening to steam engines huffing and puffing along the nearby Great Western Railway. To the little boy tucked up in bed, listening to the engines, it sounds very much like the trains are talking to each other. The young boy is Wilbert Awdry – later to become the Reverend W. Awdry, the creator of "The Railway Series" and the most famous tank engine in the world --Thomas.

Thomas the Tank Engine Bed

Many years later in 1940, when Wilbert was married, he found himself passing on his love of railways to his own son, Christopher Awdry. In 1943, when Christopher was confined to his bed with measles, Wilbert amused his son by improvising stories about the steam engines from his own childhood. And so began the adventures of Edward and two other engines, Gordon and Henry. These original stories were told over and over again until, pressed by Christopher to be more consistent with the details, the Rev. W. Awdry finally scribbled the stories on scraps of paper. UK Leading Bed Manufacturers have introduced a bed in memory of the Thomas the tank engine and the name is also the same.

It was only due to the persistence of his wife, Margaret that the Rev. Awdry eventually offered his scribbles to a publisher, and his first book, "The Three Railway Engines" was published by Edmund Ward in 1945. At Christmas of that year, the Rev. Awdry made his son Christopher a simple wooden toy engine that was later christened "Thomas." And so Thomas the Tank Engine was born. At Christopher's urging, his father began to make up stories about Thomas too. "Thomas the Tank Engine" was published the following year and steamed onwards. The Rev. W. Awdry invented a fictional setting for the stories – the Island of Sodor – and wrote a new book every year until his twenty sixth and final story. cheap king size bedroom sets with the same story name Thomas tank engine are available in the market

Thomas The Tank Engine can be described as a cheeky, fussy little engine. He often gets into scrapes and things always tend to go wrong. Thomas likes playing his part in the yard and on his very own branch line.

Recorded Benefits to Children with Autism:

• Children on the autism spectrum associate with Thomas before any other children's character (57%).
• These children maintain their association with Thomas longer than for other characters, commonly two years longer than their typically developing siblings.
• Around a third of parents consider that their children have an 'obsessive' relationship with Thomas.
• Thomas serves an important role as a comfort blanket / friend in a friendless world for many children with autism.
• Thomas can be a point of entry to the world of communication and learning.
• For some children, Thomas can inspire previously unthinkable leaps of emotion, imagination and symbolic play. leather beds in London named after the story name called Thomas the tank engine beds

Thomas seems to hold a particular fascination for a number of reasons:

• The calm and clear narration which exaggerates and 'signposts' changes clearly.
• The easy to follow storylines, where something usually goes wrong but it is resolved by the end of the episode.
• The still background and scenery. (Children with autism can be easily distracted by detail and small changes either in sound or movement.)
• The easily recognisable bold colours.
• The 'friendly' faces whose expressions are exaggerated and are set for some time and so can be understood.
• The accuracy of the models. Most interestingly, copies of the licensed toys are recognised instantly as being less accurate by some children and are rejected as 'not being Thomas'.
• The predictability of the roles played by different characters.
• The suitability of Thomas for identification, listing and collecting, all common characteristics of many children with autistic traits.
• Moving toys up and down on a surface or track in a regular and restricted manner.