Temple Grandin Interview - Part 1

Whitworth University

9 Aug 201609:30

Summary

TLDRTemple Grandin, a professor of animal science at Colorado State University, shares her journey of living with autism and how it shaped her career. She discusses her work in designing cattle facilities, her experiences with bullying, and how her interests in drawing, science, and horses helped her succeed. Temple emphasizes the importance of nurturing children's strengths and using teachable moments to build social skills. She also addresses misconceptions about autism and the need for a tailored approach in education, advocating for individualized support based on children's abilities and challenges.

Takeaways

😀 Temple Grandin is a professor of animal science at Colorado State University and has worked extensively on designing cattle facilities.
🐄 She has designed equipment for major meat companies and is also a prominent advocate for autism awareness, sharing her own experiences as someone with autism.
🎨 Her mother encouraged her ability to draw, which played a significant role in her success; she emphasizes nurturing strengths in children.
🤖 Grandin recalls that in the 1950s, social skills were taught systematically, helping socially awkward kids succeed. This systematic teaching was a big part of her upbringing.
🐴 As a child, she was heavily involved in the 4-H horse program, where she found friendships through shared interests like horses, electronics, and model rockets.
🤝 She stresses that friendships can be built around shared interests, such as clubs or activities, helping socially awkward individuals connect.
🥊 Grandin faced bullying in school, which led to her being kicked out. However, she found a supportive environment at a special boarding school for gifted kids with emotional problems.
🧠 Grandin's book 'The Autistic Brain' explores different ways of thinking, highlighting visual thinkers, pattern thinkers, and verbal thinkers working together.
📱 She uses the example of Steve Jobs to explain how different kinds of minds, such as artists and engineers, collaborate to create products like the iPhone.
📏 Grandin critiques the current autism diagnosis spectrum, saying it lumps together highly capable individuals and those with severe disabilities under the same label, which can lead to mismatched educational support.

Q & A

How does Temple Grandin describe herself?
-Temple Grandin describes herself as a professor of animal science at Colorado State University. She has worked for years designing cattle facilities and giving talks on autism, which she experienced firsthand.
What key advice does Temple give to help children with autism develop their strengths?
-Temple emphasizes building on what a child is good at. She believes in encouraging a child's natural abilities and talents, as her own skill in drawing was nurtured and became the basis for her career in designing facilities.
How does Temple explain the way children were raised in the 1950s compared to now?
-Temple explains that children in the 1950s were systematically taught social skills like table manners and saying 'please' and 'thank you.' This structured approach helped children who would now be labeled on the autism spectrum to succeed socially.
How did Temple's interest in science develop?
-Temple's interest in science was sparked by a great science teacher who gave her interesting projects. This motivated her to study, and she eventually became fascinated with experimental psychology, specifically optical illusions.
What does Temple mean by 'teachable moments' when it comes to social skills?
-Temple defines 'teachable moments' as situations where a child makes a mistake in social behavior, such as using their fingers instead of a fork, and the mistake is calmly corrected. She believes social skills are best learned through real-world interactions rather than separate social skills classes.
What are the different kinds of thinking that Temple Grandin describes in her book 'The Autistic Brain'?
-Temple describes three types of thinking: visual thinking, where people think in photorealistic pictures (her own type), verbal thinking, where people think in words, and pattern thinking, which is more mathematical and logical.
What misconceptions does Temple say people have about autism?
-Temple argues that people overgeneralize autism, thinking of it as a single condition when it’s really a wide spectrum. She notes that people with autism can range from being highly talented, like those in Silicon Valley, to being severely impaired.
How does Temple suggest helping socially awkward children make friends?
-Temple suggests that children make friends through shared interests, whether in activities like horses, electronics, or clubs. She stresses that finding others with common hobbies or passions is key to forming friendships.
What advice does Temple offer to teachers about working with children on the autism spectrum?
-Temple advises teachers to encourage the child’s strengths. If a child is advanced in subjects like math, teachers should allow them to pursue higher-level work rather than holding them back to match their grade level.
What does Temple believe about the current state of diagnosing autism?
-Temple believes that autism diagnoses have become overly broad and inconsistent, with the spectrum ranging from highly gifted individuals to those with severe disabilities. She feels that the focus should be less on labels and more on what each individual can do.

Outlines

00:00

😊 Introduction to Temple Grandin and Her Work

Temple Grandin introduces herself as a professor of animal science at Colorado State University. She shares her experience working on designing cattle facilities for major meat companies and her contributions to autism advocacy. Diagnosed with full-blown autism as a child, Grandin credits her artistic abilities for driving her success. Her mother and the structured societal rules of the 1950s played crucial roles in her development, encouraging manners, creativity, and teaching essential social skills systematically.

05:02

🐴 Temple Grandin’s Childhood Interests and Socialization

Grandin shares her childhood experiences, particularly her involvement in 4-H horse programs, model rockets, and electronics clubs, which helped her find friends through shared interests. She stresses that friendships are often built around common activities, such as school plays or clubs. Despite being bullied in ninth grade, leading to her expulsion and transfer to a special boarding school, she learned work skills by caring for horses and benefited from a supportive science teacher who sparked her passion for experimental psychology.

📚 Learning Social Skills Through Practical Activities

Grandin emphasizes that social skills are best learned through teachable moments embedded in everyday activities rather than formal classes. Reflecting on her own upbringing in the 1950s, she explains how table manners and social behavior were corrected in real-time, without judgment, much like coaching an actor. She draws a parallel between learning social skills and learning to behave in a foreign culture, highlighting the importance of explaining and modeling the appropriate behavior.

🎨 Different Kinds of Minds and How They Work Together

Grandin elaborates on the different ways people think, emphasizing the importance of visual thinking, pattern thinking, and verbal thinking. She highlights how these different types of minds can complement each other, such as in the development of the iPhone, where the artistic vision of Steve Jobs worked in tandem with engineers. She notes that a small degree of autism can foster exceptional talents, while a more severe manifestation of the trait can lead to significant challenges.

🧠 Misconceptions About Autism and Diagnostic Challenges

Grandin discusses the evolving understanding and diagnosis of autism. She explains that the diagnostic labels for autism have changed over the years, often driven by debates in conference rooms rather than clear scientific criteria. She expresses concern about the broad spectrum of autism, which now includes both highly gifted individuals and those with severe disabilities, all under the same label. Grandin criticizes the over-reliance on labels and stresses the importance of focusing on a child's abilities and potential rather than their diagnosis.

🧮 The Importance of Encouraging Strengths in Autistic Children

Grandin advises parents and teachers to focus on the strengths of autistic children, especially in areas where they excel. She gives an example of a child who excels in math but struggles with reading, emphasizing the importance of nurturing their strengths rather than holding them back. Grandin also criticizes educational systems that screen out talented students because of challenges in unrelated subjects, like algebra, advocating for more flexibility in allowing children to pursue their interests and excel in areas like industrial design or mechanics.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Autism

Autism is a developmental disorder that affects communication and behavior. In the video, Dr. Temple Grandin discusses her personal experience with autism, describing how she had full-blown autism as a child. She highlights the different kinds of minds on the autism spectrum, emphasizing how some people with autism excel in areas like art or programming, while others may face severe challenges.

💡Visual Thinking

Visual thinking refers to the process of thinking in pictures rather than words. Dr. Grandin identifies herself as a visual thinker and explains that she thinks in 'photorealistic pictures.' She contrasts this with other types of thinkers, such as those who think in words or patterns, showing how diverse thinking styles can complement one another in problem-solving.

💡Teachable Moments

Teachable moments are spontaneous opportunities for learning that arise in everyday situations. In the video, Dr. Grandin mentions how her mother used these moments to teach her social skills, like correcting her table manners. These moments are presented as natural ways to teach social behavior, rather than relying on structured social skills classes.

💡Cattle Facilities

Cattle facilities are structures and equipment used to handle and manage cattle. Dr. Grandin is a professor of animal science and has designed cattle facilities for major meat companies. This part of her career demonstrates how her visual thinking abilities have contributed to practical designs in animal welfare and agriculture.

💡Shared Interests

Shared interests are common activities or hobbies that help people form friendships and social connections. Dr. Grandin emphasizes that for socially awkward individuals, like herself, forming friendships through shared interests—such as horses, electronics, or model rockets—can be a successful strategy for building social bonds.

💡Pattern Thinking

Pattern thinking involves recognizing patterns and sequences, often related to mathematical or spatial reasoning. In the video, Dr. Grandin refers to this as a different form of thinking from her own visual thinking. Pattern thinkers are strong in areas like engineering or programming, and she notes how these different thinking styles can work together to achieve complex tasks, such as designing a product like the iPhone.

💡Bullying

Bullying refers to repeated aggressive behavior intended to hurt or intimidate another person. Dr. Grandin shares that she was bullied in ninth grade, which led to her being kicked out of high school after retaliating through fights. Her personal experience highlights the struggles children with autism or social difficulties often face in school environments.

💡Work Skills

Work skills are practical abilities developed through tasks or jobs, which can lead to greater independence. Dr. Grandin explains how she learned valuable work skills by taking care of a horse barn during her time at a boarding school. She emphasizes the importance of learning these skills, which she feels are lacking in many young people today.

💡Strength-based Education

Strength-based education focuses on encouraging and developing a student's natural talents and abilities, rather than forcing them to conform to a standardized curriculum. Dr. Grandin advocates for this approach, arguing that students should be allowed to excel in areas where they show strength—such as letting a student who excels in math work on advanced topics, even if they struggle in other subjects like reading.

💡Algebra Barrier

The algebra barrier refers to the difficulty that some students, particularly visual thinkers, have with learning algebra. Dr. Grandin discusses how this barrier prevents many talented individuals from advancing in fields like industrial design or mechanics, where algebra is often unnecessarily required. She suggests alternative pathways, such as allowing students to focus on geometry or calculus, which may align better with their cognitive strengths.

Highlights

Temple Grandin describes herself as a professor of animal science at Colorado State University, with years of experience designing cattle facilities and equipment for major meat companies.

Temple shares that she had full-blown autism as a child, and her drawing ability was always encouraged, showing the importance of nurturing a child's strengths.

In the 1950s, Temple notes that social rules were systematically taught to children, contributing to their ability to function socially, even if they were labeled as 'Geeks and nerds.'

Temple emphasizes the value of clubs and shared interests, such as 4-H and model rockets, in helping socially awkward individuals make friends.

She was bullied in high school, leading to fights and her expulsion, which resulted in her attending a boarding school for gifted kids with emotional problems.

At her boarding school, Temple learned important work skills by taking care of the horse barn and developed an interest in science through engaging science projects.

Temple advocates for teaching social skills through 'teachable moments' embedded in everyday activities rather than in a formal classroom setting.

She explains the different types of thinkers: visual thinkers (like herself), word-based thinkers, and pattern thinkers, highlighting how these different types can work together.

Temple uses the example of the iPhone's design to demonstrate how different minds—visual thinkers like Steve Jobs and engineers—collaborate successfully.

She discusses the misconceptions surrounding autism, noting that the diagnostic labels for autism have changed over time and often lump very different individuals together under the same spectrum.

Temple is concerned that gifted autistic individuals are sometimes placed in inappropriate special education settings, which limits their potential.

Temple repeatedly emphasizes the importance of focusing on what a child with autism is good at, encouraging their strengths instead of fixating on weaknesses.

She notes that visual thinkers, like herself, often struggle with algebra but excel in geometry, and she advocates for educational flexibility to accommodate these strengths.

Temple warns against holding back talented children in subjects they excel at, such as math, due to the fear that they will 'run out' of things to do in high school.

Her advice to teachers and parents is to always encourage the child’s area of strength, allowing them to advance at their own pace in subjects where they excel, while supporting areas where they may struggle.