At school today I received a copy of a book* I had ordered: ‘Developing Talents; careers for individuals with Asperger Syndrome and High-Functioning Autism’, by Temple Grandin and Kate Duffy.

Temple Grandin is an author and role model whom I have come to greatly admire. I feel that even though the partnership I have developed with specialist providers supporting students with autistic spectrum conditions (ASC) is relatively new, I need to get an understanding of possible career paths and opportunities for our students. After all I am always talking about preparing young people for the world; how could I truly do that without reading into and researching some realistic possibilities for later life, for a growing number of my students who are on the autistic spectrum?

I will read it in full, eventually, and refer to it in more depth, but initially I was immediately drawn to the back of the book: ‘Chapter 7: Best jobs of individuals on the autistic spectrum’. (I’m terrible for that; looking towards the end of a book and finding out how it ends first, seeing if it is really worth reading! I think it is a time thing; I won’t waste my time unless I know it is worthwhile!) Whilst scanning the parts of interest it struck me that the range of jobs show no real pattern. However, after closer attention I noticed that, although covering a wide range, they all appear to involve routine:

• librarian
• IT
• heating & air conditioning
• graphic designer
• financial accountant
• drafter
• computer programmer
• college professor, etc.

However, as with any case studies like this, the sample is not necessarily representative.

The list does provide something tangible for students to read, though − they can look at the case studies and relate to them, even if just in part. I am not suggesting this publication is the answer to the prayers of all students with needs on the spectrum, but I do consider it an important starting point for developing pathways for the students at my school.

A phrase jumped out at me whilst scanning the book: ‘Share your work, not your personality’ – so succinct and poignant! I will use it tomorrow in class and see if we can focus on what we have achieved that day, as opposed to issues with others. It would probably be a good idea to start with myself!

*Grandin, T. and Duffy, K. (2004) Developing Talents; careers for individuals with Asperger Syndrome and High-Functioning Autism (Autism Asperger Publishing Co)

During my recent work with young people on the autistic spectrum, I was privileged to see some video recordings of Dr Temple Grandin.

Grandin, who has a doctorate in animal science, has been something of a hero to autistic people around the world. She was diagnosed as being autistic at three years old, and as an adult further diagnosed as having a mild, or 'high functioning' form of autism. She considers the world as completely concrete and visual. Some people think in words; others, like Temple, in pictures*. She finds it difficult to consider how other people think with language. As a visual learner, she has been afforded almost super-human insights into the world of animal thought and pictorial representation. Her work with cattle and understanding of animals is truly empowering.

To really understand how we think and to really know who we are is something a lot of us struggle with. This makes me think more deeply about my own practice. We all think differently, the beauty of the human race I think, but how well do we really pay attention to those differences?

Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences offer something lots of schools have adopted; most secondary schools have worked on these individual learning styles and different ways of thinking. Gardner said:

"We are all able to know the world through language, logical-mathematical analysis, spatial representation, musical thinking, the use of the body to solve problems or to make things, an understanding of other individuals, and an understanding of ourselves. Where individuals differ is in the strength of these intelligences - the so-called profile of intelligences - and in the ways in which such intelligences are invoked and combined to carry out different tasks, solve diverse problems, and progress in various domains."**

Grandin really exemplifies this point; she lives and breathes visual learning with a heightened sense of reality. Some of the young people we work with – not only those with spectrum conditions – have remarkable abilities, and need our help to discover them.

I am going to relish the opportunities the new curriculum and the PLTS provide (see previous blog entries) to really try and develop individual learning skills. Learning from inspirational people like Grandin helps us all develop a perspective on things we would otherwise struggle to conceptualise.
 

*See Grandin, T. (2006) Thinking in Pictures - And Other Reports from My Life with Autism (Bloomsbury)
**Gardner, H. (1991) The Unschooled Mind: How Children Think and How Schools Should Teach (Basic Books)

Further reading
Grandin, T. (2005) Animals in Translation (Bloomsbury)

This week I went to a well-attended, high-profile training course on autism. During the course I saw some fascinating old television footage of so-called ‘experts’ sharing their ideas and theories regarding autism. What caught my attention most was the term ‘refrigerator mothers’, which apparently was coined in 1950 to describe some mothers of autistic children.

The term originates from a theory that autism may be related to a ‘genuine lack of maternal warmth’, which was published in 1949 by Leo Kanner when he was starting to investigate causes of autistic behaviour.

However it was Dr Bruno Bettelheim, a University of Chicago professor and child development specialist, who facilitated the widespread acceptance of this notion in the 1950s and 1960s. Many articles and books published in that era attributed autism to a maternal lack of affection.

I can understand how Kanner and Bettelheim came to the initial conclusions that autism was developmental in relation to the mother, bearing in mind Bowlby’s identification of Attachment Disorder, but I find it indefensible that these cases were paraded so publicly, especially when there were so few examples. The idea of ‘refrigerator mothers’ was widely spread with no real explanation or context, and subsequently turned these women into social outcasts.

I am curious to look further into this early misdiagnosis from Kanner and Bettelheim; specifically how it affected notions of who people with autism were and what they presented at that point in time.

Often errors help to frame modern thinking. However, can we truly accept Bettelheim’s work as a core part of developmental theories about autism?

Find out more about the controversy of Bettelheim's theory.