Temple Grandin.
A Milestone Monday Feature
This weekend my lovely wife, who is trained in special education brought home a movie... “Its about a special ed. kid.” she said. I steeled myself for "dry documentary narrative," but was pleasantly surprised. It was an HBO movie called Temple Grandin and her story proved to be inspirational beyond measure.
The story begins with young Temple as she visits her Aunt’s ranch during a Summer in high school. Using animations of Ms. Grandin’s own sketches and special effects of heightened sensory experiences, the film effectively transports you into the world of a young woman with severe autism. As you might imagine, middle and high school were a terrible time for her. She was teased unmercifully by her peers but had supportive adults who encouraged her to harness her unique way of seeing things.
Born in Boston Massachusetts on August 29, 1947, young Temple was diagnosed with autism at age four. At the time there was not a lot of understanding of the condition but with speech therapy she began to talk. Her family and early teachers were instrumental in developing in her the ability to communicate and encouraged her as she struggled through her school years. The film does a superb job of portraying the patient persistance of her Mother, who worked tirelessly with young Temple to build language skills.
In middle school the other children would tease her and call her “tape recorder,” a reference to her often repeating something over and over,but she made it to high school. At Hampshire Country School she lived as a boarding student. She found solace in the company of horses and became an accomplished rider. Her observation skills made her excel at science and her unique ability to process information led her to develop a ‘hug machine’ at age 18 which she used therapeutically during her school years.
No doubt, the mentorship of people like Mr. Carlock, her science teacher, made a great difference. [Carlock’s status is ‘elevated’ to‘Dr. Carlock’ in the HBO movie]. Her years following high school are nothing short of a miracle!
Graduating from Hampshire Country School, a boarding school for gifted children in Ridge, New Hampshire, in 1966, Grandin then earned her bachelor's degree in psychology from Franklin Pierce in 1970, a master's degree in animal science from Arizona State University in 1975, and a doctoral degree in animal science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1989.
Her study of the behavior of cattle and other herd animals led to her pioneer work in the design of humane cattle handling facilities. The HBO movie does a wonderful job of integrating Dr. Grandin’s own sketches and working drawings into the film to show how her photographic mind processed information to produce the designs. Today over half the cattle processed in the USA are taken through facilities designed by Dr. Grandin. Her skillful observations have been applied to reduce stress in the animals and calm them by allowing their instinctive behavior to play out as they make their way through the enclosures.
Observing that herd animals often move in a circular pattern, Grandin incorporated curving chutes and gradual narrowing in her designs. She taught the drivers in feed lots and slaughterhouses to treat animals with respect and allow their natural inclinations to draw them along.
Today Dr. Grandin is a professor at Colorado State University. Her pioneer work in animal science would be amazing enough, but Grandin’s advocacy for the autistic, drawn from her own painful experience, are her crowning achievement. Today Temple Grandin is a highly regarded lecturer on the subject and has published many books and articles.
Her own Web Site [click to visit] will provide even more background on her amazing life.
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