Temple Grandin, PhD -- Conference

Attended the Temple Grandin conference today in Crystal Lake. Temple is quite an incredible and motivating person. It was fascinating to listen to her talk about having Autism/Asperger's. Here are my notes. She explained sensory issues and how some people with autism have trouble with fluorescent lighting, high pitch sounds, and of course touch. Those with BWP or Brains with problems (her name)process slow. When they are tired everything gets worse. Some people on the spectrum cannot hear hard consonant sounds. You need to break the word down so they hear each sound and then make sure you say the whole word. Hearing may also fade in and out. She compared this to a bad phone connection. For those of you teaching children to speak, use flash cards with the picture and word on the front together. They need the visual with the word at the same time. Many of those on the spectrum cannot screen out rapid motion and find it extremely distracting. (A lot of movement around them -- people shuffling paper, standing up and sitting down etc.)

Temple suggests gently pushing our children but not too much to initiate shut-down.
She feels there are different forms of autistic thinkers. 1) Visual Thinkers who see things in pictures, usually good in Art. Their thoughts are photo realistic pictures (movies) in their head. 2) Pattern Thinkers are usually gifted in Math and Music and 3) The Verbal Facts person they are usually poor at drawing (Art) but wonderful with facts, history etc. My daughter can tell you about every cell phone company and which phones they produce. Also, what feature each phone has. I believe she would fall into the Verbal Fact category. Although she loves to sing and dance and can mimic how people sing and dance just by watching and/or listening. Could possibly be a cross between a few.

Some modifications she shared for those with sensitivity to light was using a laptop computer instead of a regular size one. Using gray, tan or light pastel colored paper instead of bright white. Temple said they have seen writing organization improvements when light paper was used instead of white. She also mentioned Irlen lenses (pale colored lenses).

Temple describes Autism or BWP as abnormal circuits in the brain. The more severe the autism the more circuit problems. Brain connections didn't fully develop. In some high-functioning people certain connections are more developed and/or over developed. Those on the Spectrum have brains which go toward detail, this is why they notice details that they rest of us don't notice.

Skills are definitely uneven, so make sure you build on their strengths not weaknesses. Those with autism keep developing as time goes on, so keep exposing them to new and interesting information. FILL THE DATABASE UP!

Many suffer from feelings of perfectionism. They need to be taught levels of quality to help them to understand perfectionism. Teach them that there are different levels and they don't always have to achieve the highest level. Make sure you use examples when teaching.

A few other suggestions she gave was increase exercise to help calm the child plus Omega 3(fish oil). Deep pressure opens up channels. Good to use deep pressure, weighted vests, ball chairs for 20 minutes then stop for 30 minutes. Don't continue without a break.

Inappropriate behavior should not be scolded but corrected when it occurs offering the appropriate behavior. Example: Child reaches across the table for bowl, say the appropriate thing to do next time is ask (so in so) to pass. Make sure you always offer the correct way to do things when disciplining (teach correct social skills). Teach values....today's society (movies, TV) does not always show a good value system....it's up to us to teach this. Explain why behavior is rude and be consistent across the board with discipline.

Other information: Their working memory is terrible and they can't remember more than 3 steps at a time. Fear is the main emotion with those with Autism. Emotions are replaced by emotions. They often have a fear of something that scared, hurt them happening again. i.e. If a fire alarm went off at school last week, they may worry everyday it will go off again. Long streams of verbal information are hard for them to remember and they often struggle with multi-tasking.

When questioning whether a therapy or program is working for your child, ask yourself one question....Is progress being made? If progress is being made then continue. If after more than a month progress is not being made you may want to reconsider. Progress is the key. Other advice, make the transition from the world of school to the world of work a slow one.

Mentioned books: Perfect Rhythm; Unwritten Social Rules; Thinking in Pictures; How Can I Talk if My Lips Don't Move; The Little Rainman; Developing Talents. She also recommended Carol Gray's video to go along with her books.

I know this is a lot, but I hope you found it helpful.