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| Temple Grandin |
I wish I could impart what I came away with from hearing
Temple Grandin speak yesterday. Because
her thoughts add to things I have already learned and feel deeply it is hard to put the
full measure of that into my own words.
Much of what she said wasn't new to me but hearing it from her meant
something different. Her first hand
knowledge of autism and her desire to delve into details and understand things
from their very root is one thing that makes her so interesting to listen
to. She emphasized some great things
that I really loved:
The idea that kids are really missing out on
the values and manners once taught in her childhood (and mine) and how that
creates a disservice to them as an adult.
Among some of those listed were the very basics such as turn taking,
being on time and saying please and thank you.
Sometimes you have to do things you don't
like to do and it's important to learn this is a reality in life.
Learning to think bottom up rather than top
down all the time.
She responded to a question asking her what
helped make her a successful adult. She
said no one thing or event miraculously made her successful but a combination
of many things. She did list many things
but part of that equation was good teachers because they can make a significant
difference!
Seeing the actual pictures from various brain
scans that have been done on her was quite fascinating. She showed the makeup of her brain compared
to a typical developed brain. There were
significant differences!
I loved
hearing her say she loves the way she thinks and would never want to give that
up. It's such a gift really.
She would start to talk about something and then
say something like "see I'm starting to put things into categories again
because that is what helps me to break the information down".
I was interested by her personal Rule System
where she has 4 specific categories she can place and compartmentalize all of
life's rules. That helps her understand
their importance or place easier.
Kids need the same kind of behavior
expectations at home as at school and how that is becoming less and less common
and can really create problems.
She would throw in some slides of her inventions
and say she simply just likes to share and talk about them. She seemed to enjoy clarifying what was very accurate
in the movie about her.
I love that she is who she is and loves to be
a problem solver. Although she has
poor working memory recall, she can compensate by turning on a visual walk
through of something.
It was
fun to learn that she earned her PhD from University of Illinois in Champaign
Urbana just 9 years before Nick started his graduate work there. I don't know why I never picked up on that
one before. She related a story about a
guy who worked at a paint store there and how she knew he had Asperger's and the things he did to make the store
successful.
She did quite a long question and answer
period. I was a little sad that people
kept asking questions about specific children scenarios looking for solutions
or ideas to help them. She would give
opinions but obviously ask lots of questions.
Although she has plenty of personal experience and does plenty of
reading and research about this, I felt like people were thinking she must have
the answer to everything. She is a Dr of
animal science. Sure she has personal
experience but every child/adult is different and I think people were losing
sight of this. But I found the process
of listening to this very fun. My
favorite was when she would say "you
need to stop asking me questions that aren't specific enough". She'd have to start doing some troubleshooting
by asking more questions to delve in and
get to the root.
Even though this is quite a list, it is in no way a comprehensive
list of what she spoke of but just some of the things that I found of interest. I was really interested to know what Nick
thought of the conference. About half
way through the said something like "can we just take her home with us for
a day...I'd love to just have a lengthy conversation with her". He could relate to so much of what she
said. It was good for all of us to hear. The entire experience was great. She made us laugh and she even got a little silly herself trying to tell us something that was so funny to her. I love who she is! I even met a parent of a child on the spectrum who is also a school speech therapist and gained some new insights into some resources within the state that I didn't know existed.
OH and one last thing. Of course they had a huge area, bigger than the conference room full of vendors of various types. Many were support groups, organizations, education and therapy groups and some were those selling their own goods. One in particular that I loved was the young adult who is working to make a living with is artwork. He has cards, framed artwork, mugs etc. So just giving a little recognition to Anthony Stornant Collar who runs
Art of Autism. His artwork is fun and very much of it is VERY Michigan!
I was pretty happy that we found something fun for everyone
(not easy these days) to do yesterday since original plans had fallen through. We found a dog park in Midland. It's a short 30+ min drive from here. The dog park is actually in plain view as you
come into the city. But the road to get
to it is not on the regular path, but a path we like to take. It is in the Chippewassee park which is part
of the Tridge area. Tridge is the area
where a three-way walking bridge is built right over where the Chippewa and
Tittabawassee rivers come together. The rail
trail that the boys enjoy riding their bikes on also ends at this
location. I guess for some it
begins. We just usually come from Clare
as our starting point. The spray park
that they have enjoyed after a long ride is also here. Just last fall I accidentally found an
entrance into a back side of the park.
Even then I didn't realize that if I ventured further to the west at
that location that I would find the dog park.
But now I know and it will become a fun place to visit more often. Everyone had a great time including Al. We wore him out.
He met other dogs and could run and run until he was tired. 
