Autism and Education: What Parents and Teachers Need to Know (The Way I See It)

Autism and Education: What Parents and Teachers Need to Know (The Way I See It)

Dr. Temple Grandin discusses the real issues that parents, teachers, and kids face every day. Here is a concise handbook that illustrates what Temple has found to work in the field of education. Topics include: The importance of early intervention Teaching for different types of thinking Developing talent Motivating students Keeping high expectations And much more! In these helpful pages, Dr. Grandin offers dos and don’ts, practical strategies, and try-it-now tips, all based on her insider perspective and extensive research. Interestingly, she argues that education for kids on the autism spectrum must focus on their overlooked strengths to foster their unique contributions to the world. As Publishers Weekly  noted "For educators or parents of autistic children, this will be a valuable resource." " Grandin ( The Autistic Brain )...delivers an insightful and pragmatic guide to helping autistic children thrive ...The authors pinpoint guiding principles (high expectations yield results) and brass-tacks recommendations (strategies for teaching turn-taking or mastering basic life skills) combine to create a program that’s thoughtful and comprehensive, but not overwhelming. For educators or parents of autistic children, this will be a valuable resource." — Publishers Weekly A valuable tool for both parents and educators centered on Grandin's personal experiences and her many years in the fields of autism and behavior science. This is essential for parents with an autistic child. — Library Journal, * Starred Review * Future Horizons Temple Grandin earned her PhD in Animal Science from the University of Illinois and is currently a Professor at Colorado State University. Dr. Grandin is one of the most respected individuals with high-functioning autism in the world. She presents at conferences nationwide, helping thousands of parents and professionals understand how to help individuals with autism, Asperger’s syndrome, and PDD. She is the author of Emergence: Labeled Autistic, Thinking in Pictures, Animals in Translation (which spent many weeks on The New York Times Best-Seller List), The Autistic Brain , and The Loving Push , co-written with Debra Moore, PhD One of the most celebrated -- and effective -- animal advocates on the planet, Dr. Grandin revolutionized animal movement systems and spearheaded reform of the quality of life for the world's agricultural animals. She lives in Fort Collins, Colorado. At conferences, more and more parents of a recently diagnosed teen or elementary school child have told me that they may be on the autism spectrum. In some cases, they have an official diagnosis and in other cases, they do not. Almost all the parents who have been told me that they are on the autism spectrum have worked successfully in a variety of occupations. The question is: why was their life relatively successful, and their child is having problems with lack of friends, bullying, or is extremely hyper and anxious? In most of these cases, the child has no early childhood speech delay. A possible contributor to a poorer prognosis may be excessive use of video games or other on-screen entertainment. When I was in college, I had friends who today would be labeled as having autism. Individuals on the autism spectrum are more likely to have pathological video game use. The ICD-11 now has a formal diagnosis for gaming disorder. Research shows that eight percent of all young people who play video games may be true addicts. There may be two reasons why both these mildly autistic parents and my geeky classmates got and kept decent jobs. They learned how to work at a young age. I have written extensively about this. In my generation, kids played outside with their peers and learned social interactions. They were not glued to electronic screens.