Temple Grandin Emergence: Labeled Autistic
Positive Outcomes
Born in 1949, Temple Grandin was first diagnosed with brain damage at the age of three and then, at the age of five, labeled Autistic. Today Temple Grandin, self-labeled as a recovered autistic, is a well-respected doctor in animal science, a professor at Colorado State University, a bestselling author, an autism activist, and a leading consultant to the livestock industry on animal behavior. While it is easily argued that Temple Grandin’s life does not represent the norm for most children with autism, her autobiography, Emergence: Labeled Autistic (1986) offers a powerful picture of the influences and experiences that steered Temple through her journey ‘emerging’ from
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72).
Throughout Temple’s ‘emergence from autism’, Temple’s mother focused on Temple’s strengths and affirmed Temple’s differences and way of looking at the world. In letters to Temple, Mrs. Grandin wrote, “Be proud you are different. All bright people who have contributed to life have been different and found the path of life lonely. While the joiners and social butterflies flutter about, Temple, you’ll get real things done (p. 124). “You need symbols. You live them. Like a work of art they are a physical expression of what you feel” (p. 125). “Wanting to grow really loves yourself, loving the best part of yourself” (p.148).
Temple’s mother was not her only champion. While at the Mountain Country School, a teacher, Mr. Carlock emerged as an influential mentor for Temple. Like Temple’s mother, Mr. Carlock “didn’t see any labels, just the underlying talents” (p.90). “He didn’t try to draw [Temple] into his world but came instead into [her] world” (p. 90). Through Mr. Carlock, Temple learnt many social skills. “He didn’t preach but showed by his own conduct a social perception that I envied and tried to emulate. From him I was learning humanistic values that I lacked because of my autism” (p.91). Mr. Carlock did not try to
“Work to view my autism as a different ability rather than a disability. Look past what you may see as limitations and see the gifts autism has given me…Be my advocate, be my friend, and we’ll see just how far we can go” –Ellen Botbohm, author of Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew.
Grandin points out the important of autism, a different way of thinking. She thinks that people should get away from verbal and pay more attention on details. She demonstrates that a normal brain tends to ignore details. Grandin also observes that people are getting too abstract, and forget about hands-on things that would help a lot in cognitive thinking. She claims that kids during her time had a great opportunity to express their creativity in a variety of ways.
The Case of Temple Grandin paints a picture of a young woman’s determination and hard work while struggling with autism during a time when the disorder was unknown. This case discusses Grandin’s challenges, early diagnosis, growth and development in school, and support from her mother. Temple Grandin could not speak like the other children at the age of two, so because doctors could not find any physical issues she had been subsequently labeled as brain-damaged. To communicate with others, she would throw tantrums and scream. She could speak by three and a half years old with the help of speech therapy. A few years later at the age of five, Grandin was diagnosed with autism so her mother worked with her 30
Temple Grandin’s autobiographical book, Thinking in Pictures, opened the door that revealed the true aspects of autism. The author, who is an autistic woman, portrayed autism not as a complicated developmental disorder but as a unique characteristic that is a compliment to society. To break apart from society’s stereotype on autistic individuals, Temple focused her book on issues such as how her disorder was initially misdiagnosed, her issues with learning acceptable behavior and social cues, her connection with animal minds, sensory sensitivities, and explored the possible treatments with medication.
The Jane Justin School of Autism provides the right life skills and knowledge that children need to live a meaningful and productive life. How the school makes this mission possible is by responding to the needs of the students and families while respecting and embracing the individuality of the child while maintaining educational excellence. The Jane Justin School also hopes that the students one day may be able to return to a traditional classroom and educational setting with the skills that would make this possible.
Are you able to comprehend the confrontations faced by an autistic child? In the book “the curious incident of the dog in the night time” by Mark Haddon, You are able to understand the challenges faced by the main protagonist Christopher Boone. In order to gain a sense of maturity an individual must overcome difficult challenges. This will be demonstrated by examining Christopher Boone’s ability to learn to become independent and understand social interaction and emotions.
According to Barnes “Autism is found throughout the world in families of all racial, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds.”(Barnes 2015). Grandin also explains her experiences living with autism in her novel Thinking in Pictures. Grandin acquired her the ability to create and imagine through her visual thinking. In contrast, one barrier that hindered her was her inability to comprehend or associate social cues and emotion to a picture. With this in mind, Grandin using her natural talents to learn enabled her to push through what most people consider an accessibility issue.
Temple Grandin is an inspiration to everyone, whether they work with animals or not, whether they have autism or not. She is an amazing woman with incredible and unique qualities. Her contributions to the world of working with livestock, and many other animals, has changed how the process of meat and other animal products works. Working through her own obstacles of being a woman born in the late 1940s with autism, she has paced the way for many people like herself to excel, and for animals to be cared for properly, even though they are being raised for slaughter.
Temple Gardin is an inspiration to the autism community because she brought up issues that schools and teacher need to be aware of. She brought up art classes and hands on classes that have been taken away from students. The hands on classes need to be in schools because of the benefits that autism children and all children can learn from these hands on classroom. If teacher will open up to new teaching methods for children that have autism then these could be mainstreamed. The children do not need to be in a special education classroom if the teachers can learn and accept how autistic children learn. Some children think in picture like Temple, and some children think in visuals. Teacher need to have a well-rounded education because more
The mind of an autistic person is fascinating and frightening because usually their actions can’t accurately express what their brain is thinking. It is frustrating to try and determine what a child with autism is trying to say, and often results in them being misunderstood. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon, tells the story from the perspective of Christopher Boone, a fifteen year old boy with autism. Chris is brilliant at math and science, but is unable to understand or express emotion. His difficult home life further contributes to his illness; he doesn’t have anyone at home who supports him and tries to help him. His teacher, Siobhan, is his only friend and the only person who tries to help him learn to
Before watching the movie, I have never heard of it before. I never knew it existed. Temple Grandin is another inspiring movie that I have been glad to have watched. It deals with the autism of a woman and tells the inspiration true story of her.
Temple Grandin, a doctor in the field of animal sciences who suffers from Autism, once said, “People are always looking for that single magic bullet that will totally change everything. There is no single magic bullet.” Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a general term for a group of complex disorders of brain development. The Autism Spectrum can be split into many subtypes, including Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, Asperger’s Syndrome, and Pervasive Development Disorder- Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS). Starting from an age as young as infancy, symptoms of Autism may be conveyed. Repetitive behavior, any loss of speech or social skills, and attachment to parents are three of the many symptoms expressed by children with Autism (“What
How many of you know what asperger’s syndrome is? How many of you know what autism is?
While a mother was escaping an abusive relationship in search of welfare assistance, she took her thirteen-year-old daughter along with her. “Genie,” as she was called, intrigued the social worker in the welfare office. She was mesmerized by Genie’s posture, size, and stance. Curiously enough, the worker thought Genie might have been a case of unreported autism in a possible six- to seven-year-old (Rymer 1993). As a result, the worker notified her supervisor, who contacted the police.
The inspiring 2010 movie of Temple Grandin directed by Mick Jackson is about a woman who struggled with autism since a young age. The movie brings to light how overwhelming and frustrating it is to be going through autism. Temple is a bright child; however, she does not speak until the age of four and she does not enjoy interactions with other children of her age. Temple struggles in school, one reason is that she has trouble reading the emotions and dialect of those around her. She starts excelling after she spends her summer with her Aunt and Uncle at their farm. Temple finds out that she is amazing at helping with the cows on the farm. She connects her mind with those of a cow and she goes through the railing that the cows would go through to be moved. She decides that if she does not get scared while walking through the railing, then neither would the cows.