Temple Grandin is such an inspiring figure for me.
She came to speak in Edmonton this January at the Children's Autism Services Conference. It was my first time to attend and it was fantastic. I bought a few of her books (well, all ) and although I never ever get books signed I went and stood in the line just for the chance to meet her. I watched her signing book after book, head down, one after another never looking up.
When it was my turn I put all the books down in front of her and I think because I had so many she stopped and looked up at me. She put her hand on mine, which was symbolic to me because I know how much she doesn't like to be touched , but she was reaching out to make contact. She asked me if I was a parent, I said "yes". "Tell me about your kids" she said. I told her about my boys and where we were in the process. "Good, good" , she said.. "Try mexican food, down where I live that is the easiest and cheapest way to go gluten and casein free, just no cheese on their quesadillas". And with that our interaction was over and she was on to the next person, but I was very touched with the effort and the understanding that she had about the mechanics of how and what she should do to reach me. And the understanding that I have. that she would have had to have watched , learned and practiced each of those small social niceties until she could perform them when intellectually he brain told her it was time.
One of the things I bought that day was her movie, starring Claire Daines. Claire gives an amazing performance as Temple, to the point where as we were watching it we really even recognized body postures as familiar. There was one scene that just made me die laughing because it was one that had been exactly repeated in my own car few years ago.
Temple (Claire ) is on the farm with her aunt and they are sitting in the back of a truck talking about why she doesn't want to go to college. Temple says " It's the people, I just don't get the people. They are always asking me what's wrong, why am I mad. I'm not mad, I'm happy! " Her aunt says well what does your happy face look like? " And Temple (Claire ) throws up her arms with a totally vacant expression and yells " Like this! "
I remember a car ride a few years ago ,with my youngest son sitting beside me in the front seat looking a cross between bored and angry. I asked him what was wrong. Exasperated he flung his arms down and said " Why does everyone keep asking me that. I am happy ! This is just what I look like when I am happy! Jeez you are the tenth person today to ask me why I am mad! "
I laughed and just like Temple's aunt, I asked him to pull down the visor and look in the mirror. When he saw his own face, he did laugh. We talked about the fact that you have to make your face match the emotions or the down side is that they just keep trying to guess where you are by what they see ( which he finds very very annoying) "So the easy way to put a stop to that," I said "was to practice putting on the expression which matches how you feel just like you would put on a Halloween mask". As easy as that. He figured that would be better than people bugging him all the time.
Temple's Aunt was smarter than me. In the movie, she took pictures of Temple's expressions and together they wrote the appropriate emotion in black marker across the bottom so Temple could memorize them.
Enjoy the movie, it is called "Temple Grandin, The Way I See It "and it is well worth your time. I hope you see as much humour in it as I did.
In Love and Light,
Kathryn
She came to speak in Edmonton this January at the Children's Autism Services Conference. It was my first time to attend and it was fantastic. I bought a few of her books (well, all ) and although I never ever get books signed I went and stood in the line just for the chance to meet her. I watched her signing book after book, head down, one after another never looking up.
When it was my turn I put all the books down in front of her and I think because I had so many she stopped and looked up at me. She put her hand on mine, which was symbolic to me because I know how much she doesn't like to be touched , but she was reaching out to make contact. She asked me if I was a parent, I said "yes". "Tell me about your kids" she said. I told her about my boys and where we were in the process. "Good, good" , she said.. "Try mexican food, down where I live that is the easiest and cheapest way to go gluten and casein free, just no cheese on their quesadillas". And with that our interaction was over and she was on to the next person, but I was very touched with the effort and the understanding that she had about the mechanics of how and what she should do to reach me. And the understanding that I have. that she would have had to have watched , learned and practiced each of those small social niceties until she could perform them when intellectually he brain told her it was time.
One of the things I bought that day was her movie, starring Claire Daines. Claire gives an amazing performance as Temple, to the point where as we were watching it we really even recognized body postures as familiar. There was one scene that just made me die laughing because it was one that had been exactly repeated in my own car few years ago.
Temple (Claire ) is on the farm with her aunt and they are sitting in the back of a truck talking about why she doesn't want to go to college. Temple says " It's the people, I just don't get the people. They are always asking me what's wrong, why am I mad. I'm not mad, I'm happy! " Her aunt says well what does your happy face look like? " And Temple (Claire ) throws up her arms with a totally vacant expression and yells " Like this! "
I remember a car ride a few years ago ,with my youngest son sitting beside me in the front seat looking a cross between bored and angry. I asked him what was wrong. Exasperated he flung his arms down and said " Why does everyone keep asking me that. I am happy ! This is just what I look like when I am happy! Jeez you are the tenth person today to ask me why I am mad! "
I laughed and just like Temple's aunt, I asked him to pull down the visor and look in the mirror. When he saw his own face, he did laugh. We talked about the fact that you have to make your face match the emotions or the down side is that they just keep trying to guess where you are by what they see ( which he finds very very annoying) "So the easy way to put a stop to that," I said "was to practice putting on the expression which matches how you feel just like you would put on a Halloween mask". As easy as that. He figured that would be better than people bugging him all the time.
Temple's Aunt was smarter than me. In the movie, she took pictures of Temple's expressions and together they wrote the appropriate emotion in black marker across the bottom so Temple could memorize them.
Enjoy the movie, it is called "Temple Grandin, The Way I See It "and it is well worth your time. I hope you see as much humour in it as I did.
In Love and Light,
Kathryn
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