Temple Grandin Speaks at TED Conference

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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.

02/24/2010

Temple Grandin Speaks at TED Conference

On Friday, February 12, 2010 Temple Grandin presented at the cutting-edge TED Conference in Long Beach, California. She shared some unique insights about being autistic, putting special emphasis on the ability to think in pictures and to home in on details, and illustrating these points with stories from her own life, including her work as an engineer/inventor of machinery to handle cattle. She expressed her concern that the gifts some children on the autism spectrum have, which might lead to a career in Silicon Valley, could be lost if parents or the schools focus only on what they can't do. To see the 20 minute presentation, click here.

Posted at 02:32 PM in Autism, Neurodiversity | Permalink

Comments

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Just started reading Thinking in Pictures and am looking forward to watching the movie on HBO. Ms. Grandin's emphasis on the need to use the strengths and interests of students is the essential ingredient in engaging students.

Posted by: Sandra Shoro | 02/24/2010 at 06:06 PM

This is such a powerful presentation. All educators should see this!

Posted by: Walter | 02/24/2010 at 07:00 PM

Timple Grandin takes Gardner's Multiple Intelligences to an entriely new level and demonstrates how narrow our societal thinking really is in terms of "smart" versus "dumb" people.

Posted by: David Baker | 02/25/2010 at 09:54 AM

That's really interesting..I would like to see the HBO movie. The concept of thinking in pictures not only pertains to people with autism but also those with dyslexia as well. My school is a Davis Learning Strategies school where we work with different strategies for those students who may be Non-verbal thinkers (picture thinkers).

Posted by: Doreen Leinen | 02/25/2010 at 12:44 PM

I have seen Temple live at a conference in NY last year. I shared this video with a couple of teachers and a Director of Special Education. They thought it was a great presentation and agreed with Temple and myself that the courses that use manipulative are going away due to monetary constraints in districts. Thank goodness my district still has Autoshop, WoodShop, Robotics, Digital Photography and many different type of Art classes. And yes I agree with Walter's comment, all educators should view this video.

Posted by: Sandi | 02/25/2010 at 12:47 PM

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