Temple Grandin - Autism

Topics: Autism, Temple Grandin, Behavior Pages: 19 (1731 words) Published: December 3, 2014
Temple Grandin
Mary Temple Grandin, a girl born in 1947, barely uttered a word until she was four years old. Although she was born with Autism Spectrum Disorcer, Temple used her autistic abilities as best she could, specifically the ability to “think in pictures,” to her advantage. For example, she expounded issues that were

invisible to a neurotypical person. She is now a world renowned doctor of animal science, an activist for autistic people, and a professor at Colorado State University. She first became famous when renowned Neurologist, Oliver Sacks, mentioned her

uniqueness in his essay “An Anthropologist from Mars” that was published in 1995 and made Temple an immediate sensation.

Summary of Temple Grandin:
1. The film starts off with Temple visiting her aunt for the summer and working on her ranch. She becomes interested in a cattle crush, a device that hugs the cows to "gentle them". One day, while having a panic attack, Temple places herself in the device and it helps to calm her down.

2. When Temple first attended college, she was very nervous when she moved into her college dorm. Temple had another panic attack in her room, but her mother gave her space by closing the door. Immediately after, her mother had a flashback to when Temple was little and had relentless tantrums. Before that, Temple was diagnosed with classic autism, a severe case of autism in which she seemed aloof, lacked eye contact, had no language, and avoided human affection and touch. 3. At this time, science classified autism as a form of schizophrenia, blaming mothers as the cause for the disorder and claiming that they were cold and aloof toward their autistic child, naming them "refrigerator mothers". The diagnostician suggested placing Temple in an institution. Temple's mother refused to listen to the diagnostician and helped Temple adapt to the everyday world. Her mother hired a speech therapist, who worked one-on-one with Temple and enabled her to acquire language. 4. During Temple's college years, she conceptualized the squeeze machine, which was designed for herself because she had a sensory integration dysfunction and disliked physical affection by people. The machine hugs both sides of her to calm her down, as she controls the pressure, and it makes her relaxed whenever she becomes tense.

Summary of the Film
5. Even though the machine worked, the school forced Temple to remove it, claiming that it was some kind of sexual device. Later after spring break ended, Temple and her aunt came back to school to persuade the school to let her use the device. Temple later proved through rigorous scientific study that the machine was only a calming device and, as a result, she was allowed to keep it. She uses this machine for self-medicating reasons ever since. 6. Later on, the movie flashes back to when Temple was just being admitted to Hampshire Country School. She was expelled from her previous high school because a child taunted her and she hit him with a book. There, she meets a supportive teacher, Dr. Carlock, who encourages her to go further into science as a career and to eventually attend college. 7. Temple does indeed graduate from college and becomes a worker at a ranch. She rebuilds a new dip, and alters a slaughterhouse for cows so that it is much more humane. The film concludes with an autism fair convention, which Temple and her mother attend.

8. Temple speaks out from the crowd and tells the audience how she overcame her difficulties and was able to achieve academically, as well as how her mother helped her deal with the everyday world. The people become so fascinated that they request Temple to speak in front of the auditorium.

Diagnosis- Autism
• Deficit in social communication and social interaction (must have all three)
• Deficit in social-emotional reciprocity (impairment in understanding of beliefs and desires or other mental states in themselves or others, failure of normal back and forth...

References: • Conn, C. (2014). Investigating the social engagement of children with 
autism in mainstream schools for the purpose of identifying learning 
• Okada, S., Ohtake, Y., & Yanagihara, M. (2010). Improving the 
manners of a student with autism: The effects of manipulating 
autism spectrum disorders for adulthood: Promoting rigor, relevance, 
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