In February 2025 the first pre-pilot took place in South Africa, where the initial versions of programme workbooks were tested. The logo, main characters and other illustrations of the Bloom programme materials created by Ms. Norman were based on the Bloom Flower metaphor - a simple visual concept to help families understand autism.

Some things about autism are easy to see, like behaviour, communication, and how a child plays or moves. Other things are less visible, like how a child thinks, processes information, or experiences emotions and sensations. When parents learn about both what they can see and what they can’t see, they can better understand and support their autistic child.

Participants of the pilot were caregivers of young autistic children from low-income communities who had received little or no previous support.

Bloom is changing in the same way it encourages families to work: notice what helps, keep it, and adjust what gets in the way. The pilot showed that families valued the flower metaphor, the visual style and the chance to talk openly without blame.

Following the results of the pre-pilot and pilot sessions in research sites based across the globe, there have been changes made to the design of the logo and other materials.