I’m really excited about this episode with Dr. Temple Grandin!
She’s so inspirational to me and many around the world.
She has written so many books on Autism!
In this episode, she talks about what it was like growing up for her with Autism, what helps and what doesn’t. She also provides some great tips for parents, teachers, and therapists to help raise kids that have a sense of purpose and a strong work ethic that can go on to thrive in emotionally, socially, and occupationally.
I first heard of Dr. Grandin from a friend of mine, Stephanie Sanders. She is the Speech Therapist and the author of the FILTER Approach that I had on the podcast way back in episode 28. If you haven’t listened to that episode, please do. It’s a good one! I love Stephanie and her work. Her book is fantastic. It provides a step by step curriculum to help children with social communication skills. I worked with her when I was a school counselor and had the opportunity to really see her work help some of the same kids I was working with... it’s amazing.
Also, one more thing before we jump into my conversation with Dr. Grandin. My colleague, Robert Cox, has a podcast and a book coming out soon that I am super, crazy excited about. It’s called Listening to Autism. He was also a guest on my podcast back in Episode 24 – “Teaching Kids with ADHD and Autism Spectrum Disorder to Calm Their Chaos through Mindfulness.” On his podcast “Listening to Autism” he brings in research, lots of information from professionals. He draws on his 24 years of experience of working with people with Autism as well as explores effective treatment approaches to really help. One thing that I love about his work is that he looks at helping through the lens of trauma, to really help. He also has a book in the final stages at the time of this recording “The Life Recovery Method”. You can find Robert at www.liferecoveryconsulting.com
Okay, so here are the highlights of my conversation with Dr. Temple Grandin.
It’s important to get a child that is non-verbal into speech therapy as soon as possible.
There’s 3 types of minds - photo-visual thinking, pattern thinker, and the person that thinks in words.
It’s important to “stretch” kids to expose them to things that help them grow.
Build on children’s strengths - art, hands-on, etc...
Giving kids a chance to develop a strong work ethic and develop working skills is so important.
Dr. Grandin expresses gratitude to the people such as her teachers, her mother, and others that helped shape her work ethic and push her.
She is very concerned about video game “addictions”.
It’s important to limit their video game addiction with ASD, by weaning them away from it and replacing it with hands-on work opportunities and activities that the child is interested in.
Dr. Grandin describes “teachable” moments as being really helpful.
She mentions that understanding sensory issues is really important.
When she was growing up, adults would “correct” kids when they were doing something incorrectly such as “only the clerks are allowed behind the counter” when she went behind the counter.
It’s important to give kids a refuge away from teasing in groups with people that have a “Shared Interests”.
Exposure in high school is important – it’s a window of opportunity to get kids involved and exposed to other things than video games.
Dr. Grandin says that it is never too late to make changes.
She discusses her own experiences with medication to help her take the edge of anxiety.
She mentions a connection with Autism Spectrum Disorder and the images in video games.
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