Biography, Autobiography, Memoir discussion

This thread for discussion on any biographies about Temple Grandin

Well I did read The Girl Who Thought in Pictures: The Story of Dr. Temple Grandin by Julie Finley Mosca

And the pictures are fine...they also go well with the rhyming text. At the end there is a timeline and a 2 page full bio of Temple Grandin's life (so far) I thought it was a very good picture book bio of an interesting life. So important for young people (even if not autistic) to be inspired by.

I also read How to Build a Hug: Temple Grandin and Her Amazing Squeeze Machine by Amy Gugleilmo and Jacqueline Tourville

The pictures in this one are also very well done and capture Temple's look with an author note at the end as well. I didn't know about the hug machine before but sounded like a clever idea!

Both picture bios show Temple wearing her trademark cowgirl outfit, which I hear she wears all the time.

I'm now reading Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships: Decoding Social Mysteries Through Autism's Unique Perspectives which is written by Temple Grandin and another person who has autism called Sean Barron

So far I'm not sure if the two have a relationship (working or otherwise) with each other or they just writing a book together, though each chapter is written by each in turn.
I'm learning a few things about how autistic people view the world.

Selina wrote: "This thread for discussion on any biographies about Temple Grandin

Well I did read The Girl Who Thought in Pictures: The Story of Dr. Temple Grandin by Julie Finley Mosca

And the ..."

I've read several Temple Grandin books, but not the ones you have listed. I have a son with autism and her books give me some insight into how his brain works. Have you seen the movie about her? If you can get it, I think you would like it. The movie does a good job of showing how she thinks in pictures. In the movie, Temple looks at things and tries to picture how they work and then how she can make it better. My son does the same thing. Not the inventing part, but when he sees something mechanical he is mesmerized. Have you seen the television show The Good Doctor? He does the same thing when he is trying to figure out how something works.

Koren wrote: "Selina wrote: "This thread for discussion on any biographies about Temple Grandin

Well I did read The Girl Who Thought in Pictures: The Story of Dr. Temple Grandin by Julie Finley ..."

No I haven't seen the movie or The Good Doctor. Not sure if I can find it here, it isn't in the library.

Her mother wrote a memoir too so I've put that on my TBR list as well
A Thorn in My Pocket: Temple Grandin's Mother Tells the Family Story by Eustacia Cutler

Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships: Decoding Social Mysteries Through Autism's Unique Perspectives isn't really a memoir though Temple does write a lot about her growing up and being taught manners and social skills, which, back in the 50s was more rigid and structured with less distractions than it is today.
She mentions her mother and nanny quite a bit, and going to her Aunt's ranch, but the only mention of her father is that he got angry sometimes and was unpredictable. The other thing I kind of gleaned was that her mother didn't want her in an institution (in those days that's what you did) and they seemed quite well off because a) her family could afford a nanny and b) Temple mentions learning formal table manners because her mother hosted and entertained.

She writes that she got expelled from school for throwing a book at someone when she was angry! This was in the picture book bios too.

There are so many things I learned in this book that would be useful for teachers that have children on the spectrum, but seeing as most teachers are dealing with up to 30 children at a time in one class it would be hard to expend a lot of energy having to constantly teach social skills on TOP of reading, writing, mathematics and everything else.

The dual author bio including Sean Barron who had a more emotional type of autism than Temple's analytical one was quite a contrast, and there were also others who contributed their views near the end as they responded to the 10 unwritten rules.

Sean's memoir was written with his mother called There's a Boy in Here: Emerging from the Bonds of Autism about overcoming autism to be a functioning adult (he's now a journalist) but its seems like his early years were pretty rough. Although a lot of that has to do with growing up...it just seems it takes a bit longer for those with autism to do it. But they get there in the end.

Being naive because you can't decipher the social cues thanks to sensory overload I find sad because those with autism can get taken advantage of.

Got two more books TBR by Temple Grandin

The Way I See It: A Personal Look at Autism & Asperger's
and

Calling All Minds: How to Think and Create Like an Inventor

I don't know if Temple has actually written a full memoir? But I'll read her mothers one as now borrowed it. The only one available in the bookshops was the one she wrote about animals, and as I don't live on a cattle ranch, and we no longer have any pets I'm not that interested in it ---!

Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior

I don't think you mentioned this book, which I think is her definitive memoir or autobiography:

Thinking in Pictures: My Life with Autism

I heard it was this one...there are a confusing number of books about her and by her all with similar titles

Emergence: Labeled Autistic

A Thorn in My Pocket: Temple Grandin's Mother Tells the Family Story by Eustacia Cutler
Was interesting though you might get halfway through and give up because then Temple's mother starts talking about HER life instead of Temples, and I'm not really interested in her singing career, but then the end of the book makes up for it when she really starts exploring what autism is and the best treatments for it.

I found out that Temple was the eldest of four children, her father was quite absent and also had traits that were kind of autistic. Her parents divorced when she was 15, her dad wanted her insitutionalised, but her mum did not. They were wealthy, so Temple had a nanny and went to private boarding school. Her siblings relationships are not told in this memoir and there's large gaps where her mum does not mention if she did any interventions or teaching - if anyone did, it was the nanny. I'm not sure if Temple's nanny looked after just her or all the children. The nanny is not even named in the memoir.
The frustration of having an unresponsive child locked in her own world though, is heartbreaking, though psychiatrists at the time thought it was to do with 'refrigerator mothers' here I was thinking, ok...but what about the dad?? Later it's find to be neurobiological, but in the 1950s, the overwhelming attitude was that children like Temple were permanently retarded and should be written off and hidden away.

That Temple did learn to speak and succeed was put down to more luck though..they were lucky (and wealthy) I think. I thought maybe when she DID say her first words that it would be like 'The Miracle Worker' moment but no her mother just writes Temple started talking at age 4 and then wouldn't shut up.

Selina wrote: "A Thorn in My Pocket: Temple Grandin's Mother Tells the Family Story by Eustacia Cutler
Was interesting though you might get halfway through and give up because then Temple's mother s..."

I would not say it was luck that she was able to speak. My autistic son was the same way. People kept saying they would not test him until he was three. So when he turned 3 I went to the speech teacher at the school to ask about it. That was 30 years ago. Today they would test at a much younger age. Just like Temple, he didn't talk much before 4 years but when he did it was just like he always knew how, he just didn't want to.

I'm meaning that Temple suceeded because her Nanny and mother didn't give up on her - she got to college, but also because her parents could afford to send her. A lot of kids just don't even get to go because their parents can't afford it, even if they are bright/non-autistic

It was probably her Nanny that coaxed her to speak because she was always with her, more so than her mother. A lot of children are elective mutes because they believe if they speak they will get into trouble.
Its often one parent or adult has threatened them, or yelled at them when they did make noises. Something as simple as that. Those with autism are more comfortable around animals, animals don't threaten them or get angry with them.
It could have been a bad nurse, a lot of nurses can treat babies roughly even though they are fragile from birth and the mother, after giving birth may be drugged out, and oblivious.

I watched the movie (found it online). It was a good movie. Temple's father was entirely absent though. He's not mentioned except for the fact that he is a 'busy man'. Although by the time of the movie, Temple's parents had divorced, as they'd split when she was 15.

I always wondered if he ever treated Temple kindly, but it seems he did not. Another thing is Temple being the eldest, some men just don't like when their firstborn is not a boy. Apparently Temple did take after her father in many traits but he did not even want to acknowledge her.

Of Temples father she was interviewed and had this to say of him

'On my father's side of the family we had temper problems. My Father didn't think I would amount to very much. He wasn't very social either'

I heard a radio interview with Temple where she spoke about her book Calling All Minds: How to Think and Create Like an Inventor which I have yet to read

It seems she's quite vocal about the soul-sucking phenomenon that is video games. She wants children to get out there and MAKE stuff.

I am not a gamer, and don't understand the attraction though I think some video games can be constructive, eg Minecraft and Roblox, but others are a bit pointless - like the shoot em ups. Doom Halo, etc.

I remember one game called Lemmings, in which you tried to stop lemmings from walking off cliffs. Has that come in useful for my everyday life? Well sort of. Though I've never seen a real lemming, designing a space that is child proof is sort of like that (nobody is going to accidentally kill themselves in the environment I can control)

I am very much against board games like Monopoly though. Hate hate hate Monopoly. It encourages greed.

Selina wrote: "I am very much against board games like Monopoly though. Hate hate hate Monopoly. It encourages greed."

Interesting! Maybe that's what happened to Donald Trump. Too much Monopoly!

Koren wrote: "Selina wrote: "I am very much against board games like Monopoly though. Hate hate hate Monopoly. It encourages greed."

Interesting! Maybe that's what happened to Donald Trump. Too much Monopoly!"

I wonder what Donald Trump was like as a child?

Anyway.. finished reading Calling All Minds: How to Think and Create Like an Inventor. It's a childrens book, I would say aimed more at 10-15 year olds
There are several projects in it that give instructions on how to make stuff like jumping jacks, kaleidoscopes, an ames box like she made in the movie, a propeller helicopter, a sailboat, stereoscope etc

This is interspersed with inspiring anecdotes of various American inventors, and pictures of their patent designs. There's a diagram of her famous chute and photo of a model of her squeeze machine.

I think if you are child and have free access to a makerspace or shed or junkyard you can be inventive and creative, but otherwise, finding all these materials and tools might be a mission if you had to buy everything.

I was reading a teachers catalogue that had all sorts of bits and bobs and tools for makerspaces, and I tell you, it's not cheap to buy it. Another thing is, teachers seem to buy all these ready-made kits and things but they never get used.

Emergence: Labeled Autistic

I show you the cover to this one as its not one of Temple but a stock photo of an unknown woman in an outfit Temple would probably not be caught dead wearing!

Anyway, this is one of her memoirs and, she still does not say that much about her father in it. Her mother had her at 19, and there are some letters of her mother to her therapist in it. Again her nanny or governess is not named. But her Aunt Ann and high school teacher Mr Carlock are given high praise for believing in her.

The other thing I learned in this memoir was her visual about 'the door' as shown in the film, was more about the scripture she heard in church about Jesus being the door. It was THIS, what believers would probably say is a 'word of knowledge' or 'word of wisdom' that actually opened up Temple's life.

Temples' fixation on the squeeze machine and research on it made great strides into effective therapy for autistic children, the vital importance of touch or pressure in sensory processing, particularly straight after birth. It seems to me, that, birthing practice is now so medicalised and clinical that, infants are missing sensory cues and damage to nerves happen in hospital where nurses are not careful with babies, or the labour is traumatic.

But that is only my hunch.

Temple is mentioned in NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity and also a feature of Oliver Sack's book An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales which I have yet to read.

The interesting thing about Neurotribes is that now autistic people themselves are advocating for change. It used to be children were written off as not able to learn or special needs education was not available to them (or parents had to pay heaps of money for it) and so it became a self fulfilling prophecy of many unable to amount to anything BECAUSE they were institutionalised and treated inhumanely. When really more specialist trainers and teachers are needed and more understanding of the ways autistic brains work.

Some more books are being written by autistic individuals, the latest is A Different Sort of Normal by Abigail Rafe and I am Autistic: An interactive and informative guide to autism by Chanelle Moriah which can only help people get a handle on dealing with the diagnosis.

I've read a fair bit of Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships: Decoding Social Mysteries Through Autism's Unique Perspectives which I bought when my Aspie daughter was growing up; I mostly read the Aspie parts as they were more relevant, but Grandin is impressive. I saw the biopic on her when I was flying once; Clare Danes did an excellent job of portraying her.

Thinking in Pictures: My Life with Autism is a lot more detailed and technical. It's not really an autobiography or memoir though - more of a bit of Temple's life experiences as well as scientific research and mixed with other autistic people's experiences.
My edition had been updated as new research was brought to light.

I skipped a lot of it though because she'd repeated herself a lot in her other books. She still didn't write much about her dad, all I know is that he had a temper, split up with her mother, and was possibly autistic himself.

The mysterious childhood governess/nanny is never given a name, yet Mr Carlock and Aunt Ann are always mentioned as guiding lights.
Some of Temple's thoughts about slaughterhouses are mentioned and also her changing religious beliefs. She is a sort of universalist, though she was raised Episcopalian.

I got that underlying all autistic behaviour is one thing - fear. Fear of what, I don't know, but it's there. Temple needs to take an anti-anxiety drug to calm her down, one she'd been taking for years. However I don't subscribe to that belief that its purely biochemical, I still have a hunch autistics have had a shock to their system somehow, causing brain connections disruption. When they are babies and their brains are still growing and fragile.

The cover shows Temple and horse and there are more pictures of her cattle chute design and photos of her as a child and squeeze machine.

I read the chapter on Temple in Oliver Sack's book An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales. While some dislike Oliver Sacks sort fascination with brain disturbances as a neurological freak show, I think his encounter with her can show us a lot more than what Temple can tell us herself, because Temple is used to her own life and adapted to it, but Oliver can see what she's missing out on. Temple invites Oliver into her world of slaughterhouses, and small house in Colorado, where she shows him her bedroom with the squeeze machine. They go for a hike, though Temple is not that interested in nature, for her it's a world of machines that fascinating. She doesn't offer Oliver a cup of tea, she launches straight into her pet topic.

Oliver, annoyingly, assumes Temple is incapable of subterfuge, but actually she smuggles him into the slaughterhouse and in her other books she confesses she deliberately breaks rules and is naughty sometimes.

Selina wrote: "Thinking in Pictures: My Life with Autism is a lot more detailed and technical. It's not really an autobiography or memoir though - more of a bit of Temple's life experiences as well ..."

Yes, and I am less interested in reading that now that I have stopped reading books on this (so it's not all I talk about since I live with an Aspie--one of my coping strategies is to read to get away from that and also to avoid discussing her much IRL unless it's in a conversation with a parent of an Aspie or Autistic child for a number of reasons, but party for my mental health to reduce stress).

What I most respect about her and her mother is that they worked and she was the one who got up and first spoke for the Autistic and what it was like--she's done a LOT for Autism. However, I don't agree with the move to push more than one umbrella diagnosis into this spectrum, because not all Aspies are autistic (my daughter isn't and I was told this by more than one expert, but of course it had to be put on her adult re-evaluation because legally that's what it has to be.)

One of the things I wish would be recognized is that some of us don't think only with words or with pictures, but both, and also some of us think more with feelings (not necessarily emotional feelings, either--but some words just have certain ways they feel that I define them and while I use them correctly I can't define them properly in words, due partly to the fact that English has very, very few true synonyms, but also certain experience, etc, at times. Humans aren't that simple!

I watched Rain Man for the first time, even though it's an old movie, it was one of the first to show someone with autism - Dustin Hoffman played Raymond.

I liked the story although not sure how much would be true to life without a lot of poetic licence. In the story, Raymond is sent to live in an institution before his brother Charlie even knows he has a brother. And the mother dies when Charlie is 2.

Wellbrook (sp?) is where Raymond lives. However I don't know if he would have picked up his amazing maths skills or been as functional as he seems in the movie if he really lived somewhere like that.

Selina wrote: "I watched Rain Man for the first time, even though it's an old movie, it was one of the first to show someone with autism - Dustin Hoffman played Raymond.

I liked the story although not sure how m..."

Rain Man came out the year my son with autism was born. Or maybe the year before. For a long time when someone would say they didn't know anything about autism I would say it's like the movie Rain Man except they don't count cards. Now days nobody asks what autism is. Seems like almost everyone knows someone with autism.

Rain Man had what is called autistic savant. Very few people are autistic savants but the people that are just seem to know without learning it. My son is almost savant-like when it comes to computers. He knew how they worked from a very young age without being taught. I was told when he was about 4th grade (about 9 or 10 years old) that when the kids had computer class if they couldnt get the teachers attention they would ask my son. If the movie was real, I would assume Raymond was better off than most people in an institution because his father was rich and could afford the best.

Is institutional care expensive though I mean who pays for that and what if parents were unable to afford it. Are there publicly funded institutions or its it mostly private?

Temple's mother got private schooling for her daughter and they had a nanny. Temple was kicked out of public school because she threw a book at another child. The high school Temple went to was a special boarding school, but not sure how different that would have been to an institution, is it institutions provide care but no kind of formal or structured education?

Selina wrote: "Is institutional care expensive though I mean who pays for that and what if parents were unable to afford it. Are there publicly funded institutions or its it mostly private?

Temple's mother got ..."

I'm sure it would be expensive, but in the movie the family had a lot of money. Years ago, if someone had a child with a disability they were encouraged to put them in an institution but it is not really that way anymore. And if the institution was government funded in most cases they were not very nice.

I think computers are pretty amazing though they are a lot more straight forward than humans to understand, it's just binary coding..and logic. If this happens then this happens. You only have two choices, two pathways, it's either on or it's off. It's either And or Or.
For an autistic person this is easy and logical to grasp so they become good at it I reckon because their brains work similar.

I think the interesting thing about Rain Man movie was when Raymond was walking at the intersection and the light changed to Don't Walk. So he stopped walking right in the middle of the intersection. It's like the brain is fixated on one input and he's unaware of anything else around him. I think thats a very logical thing to do, but logic doesn't always work in the real world with so many variables!

Koren wrote: "Selina wrote: "I watched Rain Man for the first time, even though it's an old movie, it was one of the first to show someone with autism - Dustin Hoffman played Raymond.

I liked the story although..."

Well, most autistic people don't count cards, etc--that was a bit of being what used to be called an idiot savant because most autistic people were considered "mentally retarded" (which at one time was the new, polite way of saying it because ritarded means slow, but obviously it has picked up VERY negative connotations since! It was better than previous terms.)

I'd rather be called retarded than an idiot.

Selina wrote: "I'd rather be called retarded than an idiot."

I agree, but the word retard was banned in the brick and mortar school my kids went to for high school because it's only used in a mean way there now.

Its the horrible way people say it
but then I got called 'brainy' and 'brainbox' and sometimes I didn't know if that was a compliment or people just being mean.

Also 'mental' was a slur as well. As in she's mentally ill.

Selina wrote: "Its the horrible way people say it
but then I got called 'brainy' and 'brainbox' and sometimes I didn't know if that was a compliment or people just being mean.

Also 'mental' was a slur as well. ..."

You just never know sometimes what people are going to be offended about. I worked with someone that barely weighed 100 pounds and she would get offended if someone called her "skinny". I would think that would be a compliment.

Ha I got called skinny. I don't weigh very much.
I was more like..so I ALREADY know I am skinny. I would only get offended when people said I needed to eat more, when I just ate the same as everyone else.

I think some people meant it as a compliment, but, grr just call people by their real names not other labels. I'm not a fan of labelling people if they've already got names. Temple is Temple. That's her name. She's a unique individual who happens to have autism. She's actually a very interesting person with a gift that is rare I would think.

I listened to an radio interview with her speaking about her book, and she was asked about what she thought about farms in NZ. Here, we don't have feedlots.
Farms either do homekill or send their cattle/sheep/pigs to the abattoirs which we call the freezing works.
I have been inside an abattoir. It's very cold and the meat is hung up by chains, but I don't remember seeing the chutes or the holding pens. I once helped out on a stock farm and most of the job was moving fences so the cattle could graze the grass. Once they'd eaten their full of one paddock, we just moved the fences. They then followed. The fences were just wires strung across the fields, I think they were mildly electrified. They didn't need much silage at the time but might need it in winter, however, it doesn't get that cold in the North Island to have barns and things.

We don't have 'ranches' or things like in the US. Its not dry theres plenty of rainfall, its more dealing with the mud and wet!

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/progra...

Temple said she thought the set up in nz was great, don't change anything! lol

Selina wrote: "Its the horrible way people say it
but then I got called 'brainy' and 'brainbox' and sometimes I didn't know if that was a compliment or people just being mean.

Also 'mental' was a slur as well. ..."

Hard to say. I was called that, too, but mostly mean things like bone rack and stuff like that--to this day the word skinny is a trigger word for me, not that I am anymore.

One of my best friends' was surnamed Barnard and so she was called Brainyard, but it was done admiringly. And she was/is very bright. We lost touch somewhere in our university years (lived very far apart except for a brief time but used to write) but had a long life-catch-up call a couple of years ago.

Saw new book by Temple Grandin Visual Thinking: The Hidden Gifts of People Who Think in Pictures, Patterns, and Abstractions

I was walking round campus this week and thinking how University has changed since I was there last. On their website they stated they now support autistic learners.

Engineering School now has more women..and Med school seem to have equal numbers now, which is a good thing. I can recall when being a doctor was an exclusive male thing.

Selina wrote: "Saw new book by Temple Grandin Visual Thinking: The Hidden Gifts of People Who Think in Pictures, Patterns, and Abstractions

I was walking round campus this week and thinking how ..."

In the interest of full disclosure, in addition to biology, I took women's studies in university and primarily focused on women's history.

There have been women going to medical school and practising as doctors since the 19th century, although I don't know about NZ. There was at least one woman in my dad's medical class which graduated in 1957. That said, it was uncommon to see them when I was growing up.

Statistics vary, but in the site that is most likely to be accurate for the US because it's a scholarly journal, by 1929 4% of med students were women, by 1970 11% were and by 1984 1/3 of med students were women. If Canada was the same, that's what it was like for my sister who started that year. This was from an article in 1986, but I know that by the early 21st C more than half of med students over here were and are women.