A woman who serves as a role model for parents and kids affected by autism will be in Springfield tomorrow (3/3). Temple Grandin will speak at Drury University. KSMU’s Michele Skalicky has more…
Temple Grandin’s mother took her to see a neurologist when she was 2 ½. Grandin wasn’t speaking and was exhibiting odd behavior.The year was 1949, and the neurologist didn’t know what autism was. She diagnosed Grandin with a brain injury and referred her to a speech therapist.When Grandin was three, her parents hired a nanny who did constant turn-taking games with Grandin and her sister. A few years later, a psychologist diagnosed her with autism.She credits the early intervention she received for getting her to where she is today…Temple1Grandin is a visual thinker, and that, she says, led her to a career working with livestock…Temple2Grandin designs livestock handling equipment—in fact, she’s designed half the facilities in which livestock are handled in the United States. And she’s a professor of animal science at Colorado State University.Her work with livestock will be the topic of a talk tomorrow morning (3/3) at 11 at the O’Reilly Family Event Center at Drury University…Temple4/4aShe was featured in a BBC documentary, “The Woman Who Thinks Like a Cow,” and an HBO movie about her life called “Temple Grandin,” starring Clare Danes, came out last year. Since then, she’s been travelling the country talking about autism and her work with stock animals.She stresses to audiences the importance of working intensively with autistic kids at an early age…Temple3/3aTemple Grandin was included in the 2010 Time 100, the magazine’s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.Again, she’ll speak tomorrow morning at 11 at Drury’s O’Reilly Family Event Center. The event is free, and no tickets are required.