Temple Grandin's
Life in Pictures
Cassidy Culbertson
PSYCH 310
December 2010
Autism
• Temple references
o sensory issues
o simple emotions
o learning empathy
o fixations
o panic attacks
Temple Grandin
• HBO biographical movie following Temple Grandin through
adolescence and her early career
• 5 Emmys
• Temple personally approves strongly: some
things fictionalized but in character
• DVD commentary includes Temple's input
The Squeeze Machine
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elementary school age: daydreamed for hours about constructing a pressure-causing
device
“I visualized a box with an inflatable liner that I could lie in. It would be like being
totally encased in inflatable splints.”
pg. 59: describes sensation of calf chute
“I had no idea at the time that my sensory experiences were different than those of
other people.
“Discrete trial training (Applied Behavioral Analysis) and speech tehrapy are
sometimes more effectiv if done while the child is experiencing deep pressure. The
calming effect may help the miswired nervous system to perceive speech better.”
rolling a child in mats, putting him under pillows, padded/weighted vests, weighted
blankets.
Autism Research Institute in San Diego found the squeeze machine had a calming
effect
pressure should never be forced on child or adult with autism
Clip 1: First Experience in Cow Pen (15:29)
Clip 2: Using Squeeze Machine (1:14:05)
Thinking in Pictures
• "The problem was, I didn’t know that other people were not visual thinkiers. I
just assumed everybdoy thought the same way I did. It wasn’t until I did
Thinking in Pictures, one of my other books in the mid-90s and I interviewed
people about how they think that I realized other people think differently. And
visual thinking is a continuum. Most people have some degree of visual
thinking.” -- from the commentary
• Clip 3: Thinking in Pictures 45:25 & 52:55
• Clip 4: Cattle plant
• pg. 230: Stairway to Heaven