Temple Grandin’s Need-to-Know Advice

[Kowalski]

I really enjoyed reading this, Temple Grandin is one of my hereos. Such an intelligent woman!

Anyway, my little nephew is autistic, and I will definitely show this article to my sister. She's very big on autism awareness. Her little boy is doing very well, though, thanks to early intervention. And such a sweetheart!

Check out the video, in the link.

Temple Grandin’s Need-to-Know Advice to Parents of Autistic Children

She was labeled brain damaged at age 2 and a half. And didn’t speak until she was 4 years old. Not a very promising beginning for Temple Grandin, who was eventually diagnosed with autism. But today, she is a noted expert in both animal science and autism.

“Autism is a very big spectrum,” said Grandin. “At one end of the spectrum you got Einstein, who had no language until age 3, and at the other end of the spectrum you got somebody much more severe that’s not verbal, they have to live under a supervised situation.”

With a doctorate and nine books to her name, Grandin skews to the extreme high end of the spectrum. And she even has a TV movie based on her life. In HBO’s acclaimed “Temple Grandin,” actress Claire Danes played the title role.

In Grandin’s latest book, “The Autistic Brain: Thinking Across the Spectrum,” she looks at advances in diagnosis and how to build on an autistic child’s strengths. She spoke with ABC News correspondent Steve Osunsami at The Community School in Atlanta, which specializes in teaching boys with autism and related disorders.

“It’s not like diagnosing tuberculosis, where you have it or you don’t have it,” explained Grandin. “It’s a behavioral profile, and if you have certain behaviors, then you have a child that is diagnosed with autism. There’s no black and white dividing line.”

But Grandin cautioned about overdiagnosis: “I get kind of concerned … I’m seeing geeky, awkward kids get diagnosed with autism or mild Asperger’s, and then they get coddled too much.”

Taken from: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/newsmakers/temple-grandin-know-advice-parents-autistic-children-151513665.html?vp=1

[Yamato]

I've been reading a lot about Temple Grandin lately though I haven't read her book yet, it's on my to-read list. What's fascinating is how she's identified the differences in the autistic brain not as disabilities but as differences. Normal brains are verbal brains, hers is a visual brain. She has identified differences in animal brains as well which are sensory rather than verbal. The HBO movie from 2010 was phenomenal, which thankfully brought her into millions of homes that otherwise never would have heard of her. I feel more connected to our dog now that I have greater insight into how he thinks. It's easy for our verbal brains to be ignorant in how much thought process is really going on in an animal's brain. There are millions of signals being sent and received in the dog's brain through his nose that I have no idea about. The non-verbal thinking animals do that we don't even consider, primarily because they don't serve any purpose for us, mean that we're not aware of how much stronger animal brains really are relative to our own.

[Ashotep]

It seems like anymore there are a lot more kids with autism. I don't know if its because of over diagnosing or something causing it. I know older men, 40's, are much more likely to produce a autistic child. Could it be because many people are waiting till they are older to have kids. I am also wondering about environment as a cause.

[Kowalski]

I've been reading a lot about Temple Grandin lately though I haven't read her book yet, it's on my to-read list. What's fascinating is how she's identified the differences in the autistic brain not as disabilities but as differences. Normal brains are verbal brains, hers is a visual brain. She has identified differences in animal brains as well which are sensory rather than verbal. The HBO movie from 2010 was phenomenal, which thankfully brought her into millions of homes that otherwise never would have heard of her. I feel more connected to our dog now that I have greater insight into how he thinks. It's easy for our verbal brains to be ignorant in how much thought process is really going on in an animal's brain. There are millions of signals being sent and received in the dog's brain through his nose that I have no idea about. The non-verbal thinking animals do that we don't even consider, primarily because they don't serve any purpose for us, mean that we're not aware of how much stronger animal brains really are relative to our own.

I know. It's absolutely fascinating isn't it? How people's brains, or animal's brains are wired differently....

It seems like anymore there are a lot more kids with autism. I don't know if its because of over diagnosing or something causing it. I know older men, 40's, are much more likely to produce a autistic child. Could it be because many people are waiting till they are older to have kids. I am also wondering about environment as a cause.

I think it has more to do with, the autism spectrum, has been widened, so more children are being diagnosed early, which is a good thing, since early intervention is key. Like Grandin explained:

“Autism is a very big spectrum,” said Grandin. “At one end of the spectrum you got Einstein, who had no language until age 3, and at the other end of the spectrum you got somebody much more severe that’s not verbal, they have to live under a supervised situation.”

But, yes, I do think, people are quick to label, a geeky child, who is awkward around people "autistic" when they really aren't...