Temple Grandin and the "Squeeze Machine"

Thomas Armstrong, Ph.D. is the author of fourteen books including the forthcoming Neurodiversity: Discovering the Extraordinary Gifts of Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, and Other Brain Differences. His other books include: In Their Own Way, 7 Kinds of Smart, Awakening Your Child's Natural Genius, Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom, The Myth of the A.D.D. Child, and The Radiant Child. His books have been translated into 25 languages including Spanish, Hebrew, Chinese, Danish, and Russian. He has taught at several San Francisco Bay Area graduate schools including the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, and the California Institute of Integral Studies. He has written for Ladies Home Journal, Family Circle, Parenting (where he was a regularly featured columnist), The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, and many other journals and periodicals. He has appeared on The Today Show, CBS This Morning, CNN, the BBC, and The Voice of America. Articles featuring his work have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, Investor's Business Daily, Good Housekeeping, Redbook, and hundreds of other magazines and newspapers. He has given over 800 keynotes, workshops, and lectures in 42 states and 16 countries. His clients have included Sesame Street, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Republic of Singapore, Hasbro Toys, and the European Council of International Schools. He is currently working on a novel about the disappearance of childhood. For more information about his work, go to www.thomasarmstrong.com.

01/19/2010

Temple Grandin is probably the most famous autistic person living today. Her life will be chronicled on an HBO special starting in February, 2010. Among her many achievements is the development of a "squeeze machine." Because of her autism, she resists the touch of others and doesn't like to be hugged. But she craves the feeling of being held. When she was eighteen, during a summer vacation, she saw a herd of cattle being passed through a squeeze chute (a mechanism used to keep cattle still while a veterinarian gives them their antibiotic shots). "Watching those cattle calm down, I knew I needed a squeeze chute of my own," she wrote in her book Animals in Translation. When she returned home from vacation, she recruited a teacher at her high school to help her build her own squeeze chute. "I bought my own air compressor, and I used plywood boards for the V. It worked beautifully. Whenever I put myself inside my squeeze machine, I felt calmer. I still use it today." Grandin actually provides detailed instructions for building her "squeeze machine" on her website. It is also available ready-made from the Therafin Corporation.

Posted at 06:46 PM in Autism | Permalink

Technorati Tags: autism, neurodiversity, squeeze machine, Temple Grandin

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Everyone has a "favourite" book, and then one day, another book comes along and just blows the other one out of the water, and you have a problem, because now your favourite book isnt so good anymore. Which book was THAT book for you?

Posted by: cialis online | 04/22/2010 at 06:29 AM

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