The Way I See It, Revised and Expanded 2nd Edition: A Personal Look at Autism and Asperger's Author: Visit Amazon's Temple Grandin Page | Language: English | ISBN:
193527421X | Format: PDF
The Way I See It, Revised and Expanded 2nd Edition: A Personal Look at Autism and Asperger's Description
Review
"This book is insightful, helpful, and hopeful—just like the woman who wrote it! It is a 'how-to' guide that I am confident will leave any reader feeling both informed and inspired.” --Emily Gerson Saines, Executive Producer of the Emmy award-winning HBO movie Temple Grandin
“Every school, large or small, with the responsibility of educating children with autism or Asperger’s needs the guidance this book offers. . . . every parent will find within these pages golden nuggets of advice, encouragement, and hope to fuel their day-to-day journey through their child’s autism. . . . The wisdom she offers through this book and its personal reflections on autism will, I’m sure, ring true for many more decades to come.” --Ruth Christ Sullivan, first elected president of the Autism Society of America
About the Author
As a child, Temple Grandin could not speak. Her silent existence was broken only by rhythmic rocking and occasional fits of screaming and thrashing. Temple’s many caregivers eventually helped her contradict her doctors’ pessimistic predictions and go on to become one of the autism community’s most beloved success stories. Temple Grandin, PhD, is a popular international lecturer on autism and the author of Emergence: Labeled Autistic, Thinking in Pictures, Animals in Translation, Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships, Animals Make Us Human, and The Way I See It. One of the world’s leading experts in livestock facility design, over half of the cattle in North America are handled in facilities designed by her. She credits her visual thinking and her systemizing mind, both characteristics of autism, for her ability to be “the woman who thinks like a cow.” Now the subject of the acclaimed 2010 HBO movie based on her life, and recently named a "hero" of 2010 in Time magazine's list of the top 100 most influential people in the world, Temple continues to be an inspiration and role model to millions.
- Paperback: 339 pages
- Publisher: Future Horizons; Second Edition, Expanded edition (March 15, 2011)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 193527421X
- ISBN-13: 978-1935274216
- Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
While attempting to write a review of Temple Grandin's new book, I found myself unwilling to let my sentences snap into a condensed `book review' mode because I felt I might deprive those who have not read any of her books yet of one of the most exciting aspects of her work: the ability to almost experience the world through the senses of a person with autism. To that end, I confess that my review below is really a kind of book report.
If you were to step into the world that people with autism experience, you could discover that the sound of a school fire alarm bell is so loud that it is genuinely painful. A trip to the mall could create sensory bombardment severe enough to shut down your ability to react to it. You might discover that the seams on your socks cause the contact skin area to feel like it is burning. Visually, you might see the face of a friend or relative appear like a two-dimensional Picasso-like mosaic. With autism, it's possible to experience the seemingly impossible - like seeing the color of an object before its shape can be identified or seeing black print on a white page jiggle and vibrate. Imagine being unable to see and hear at the same time - you may end up comprehending only parts of words in a string of words.
These are just some of the experiences of autistic people that are successfully communicated to "nuerotypicals" (those of us without autism) by Dr. Temple Grandin, (who is autistic) in this book. Made up of articles she has written, the text also shares her wisdom with those who care about (and for) people on the autism spectrum (i.e., the range - from mild to severe).
The causes of autism are now emerging with the help of modern technology, and Dr.
I have to say that I've generally (and quite successfully) avoided reading anything by Temple Grandin until now. It's not that Temple is bad, quite the contrary, she's arguably the most influential and inspirational person on the spectrum.
My reasons for avoiding her work have all been about trying to stay "spoiler free" and figure things out for myself.
The first thing I have to say about this book is that it looks like an autobiography. When reviewing books, I usually don't read the back cover or anything past the title and subtitle on the front cover. I skip the table of contents and go straight to the book. This enables me to judge the book by its cover - and then by its contents. I felt that the book looked like an autobiography but I was very pleasantly surprised. This book is a collection of Temple's essays and interviews and it covers a much broader area of study that any biographical work could.
The fact that the essays are grouped into categories helps too. They seem to follow a logical progression and they feel like they naturally go together. It helps that the essays are short too because this means that they stay on topic and that you, the reader, will often feel ready to start a new chapter without a break.
There are 63 essays, 14 of which are new in this second edition. The average length of each essay is about five pages. They cover the broad areas of diagnosis, education, senses, non-verbal autism, behaviour, social functioning, medications, research and adult issues including employment. I don't think that I've seen another book which covers the spectrum so comprehensively.
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