Some teachers just have a knack for working with autistic children. Other teachers do not have it.
Interpretation
Some educators excel at connecting with autistic children, while others struggle in this regard.
Temple Grandin highlights the unique abilities that some teachers possess when it comes to understanding and engaging with autistic children. This knack can facilitate better learning and communication for these students, underscoring the importance of having skilled educators who can cater to diverse needs in the classroom.
In practice
During a faculty meeting on special education, I shared the quote by Temple Grandin to emphasize the need for specialized training for teachers.
Language just gradually came in, one or two stressed words a time. Before then, I would just scream. I couldn't talk. I couldn't get my words out. So the only way I could tell someone what I wanted was to scream. If I didn't want to wear a hat, the only way I knew to communicate was screaming and throwing it on the floor.
If you have a 2 or 3 year old who is not talking, you must start an early intervention program. The worst thing you can do with an autistic 3 year old is to do nothing.
I strongly recommend that students with autism get involved in special interest clubs in some of the areas they naturally excel at. Being with people who share your interests makes socializing easier.
What would happen if the autism gene was eliminated from the gene pool? You would have a bunch of people standing around in a cave, chatting and socializing and not getting anything done.
I donβt want my thoughts to die with me, I want to have done something. Iβm not interested in power, or piles of money. I want to leave something behind. I want to make a positive contribution - know that my life has meaning.
I think that autistic brains tend to be specialized brains. Autistic people tend to be less social. It takes a ton of processor space in the brain to have all the social circuits.
NASA's been one of the most successful public investments in motivating students to do well and achieve all they can achieve, and it's sad that we are turning the program in a direction where it will reduce the amount of motivation it provides to young people.
All children start their school careers with sparkling imaginations, fertile minds, and a willingness to take risks with what they think.
I really see no harm which can come of giving our children a little knowledge of physiology. ... The instruction must be real, based upon observation, eked out by good explanatory diagrams and models, and conveyed by a teacher whose own knowledge has been acquired by a study of the facts; and not the mere catechismal parrot-work which too often usurps the place of elementary teaching.
I think kids in every minority need to see people like themselves in books; that's an acknowledgment of their existence on this planet and in this society.
Do our children now have to choose between getting an education and dying? Some of us cannot move on and accept that kind of society.
Off I go, rummaging about in books for sayings which please me.
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