Status Updates From The Autistic Brain: Thinkin...

I really liked Chapter 8. Firstly, it discussed interesting cases regarding neuroplasticity of the brain. E.g. how the visual cortex in blind people can be used to aid structural thinking. What stood out to me this chapter, was how Grandin provided solutions to autistic people regarding employment and education, and how they can play to their strengths based on what type of thinking style they have.

Chapter 7 was very interesting - especially learning about the relationships between art and scientific discoveries. Learning about how the nervous systems are just fractals blew my mind. I also liked how Dr Grandin addressed his previous generalisation of autism, and how he discussed a possible new style of thinking: pattern thinking. But, I still find it hard to imagine that there are only 3 ways of thinking.

In chapter 6, Grandin discusses how the research towards autism should shift to focus on the strengths, or "positive truths". A strength she discusses is a fine attention to detail. She suggests that this could be due to all regions of the brain being activated towards a visual stimuli (for example), and not just the occipitotemporal. This allows a "bottom-up" thinking, which also helps boost her creativity.