Temple Grandin at Cornell

I just returned from a lecture by Temple Grandin at Bailey Hall at Cornell. I've read several of her books and was really happy to get an opportunity to see her speak. Her subject was "On Autism", basically a primer on how the autistic mind works, and sometimes doesn't work, and how to intervene with autistic children in order that they have meaningful lives. Her basic metaphor was the brain as large office building, with the frontal cortex as CEO and then lots of different departments lodged in the different parts of the brain. Temple says her brain has tons of high-speed internet connections to a few departments, say graphic design, and one very slow, antiquated dial up connection to the human resources department. And recognizing that autistic brains tend to be very good at one limited area, parents and teachers need to steer children into careers and lifestyles that are consistent with what they are good at. She mentioned the importance of mentors and real life experience in those areas that a person is good at and enjoys. And she mentions her concern that with the overweening importance of testing and degrees, that many very intelligent, capable autistic people are being shut out of the careers they are suited to and shunted into meaningless jobs and unhappy existences.

She said all of this in the context of the school system, but it is easy to see that homeschooling, with its flexibility, ability to individualize a child's education and lack of worship for standardized tests can be a good option for the parent of a autistic child. When I withdrew my son from school after kindergarten, I always said it was so I could tailor his education to his abilities and not to his disabilities, which was the only thing that the school was interested in. Of course, homeschooling parents of autistic children are wise to partake of the services of professionals in the area of speech, occupational and other therapies. Also, Temple is a high functioning person with Asperger's, and not a severely disabled autistic person, who require much higher levels of intervention.

One thing that surprised me about Temple was her very sharp sense of humor - she had the audience cracking up at several points. I hadn't thought people with autism to be capable of the subtleties of humor. However, I don't know if she retains a sense of humor on the fly, or whether it is very much rehearsed and polished for lectures. But it certainly was a way for the audience to feel closer to her than I thought would be the case.