That was the first time I had ever heard of Temple Grandin. I still have not read any of her books but I did just download "Thinking in Pictures", probably her best known popular book. During the last two evenings, we watched the HBO movie "Temple Grandin" about her. It was moving, exciting and informative. It is easy to hear about a woman, now in her 50's, I think, and not grasp the difficulties she had growing up, getting an education including a PhD and simultaneously changing the world's understanding of autistic people and also changing the cattle handling industry. It was while watching cattle that the young Temple got the idea for her personal squeezing machine.
Knowing that as an elementary school teacher and an education PhD and professor who had never received any training in the growing field of special education, I did a little reading and listening to my colleagues in the field over the years. I read some of "A Mind at a Time" by a professor of pediatric medicine Mel Levine. He lays out the several types of mental difficulties or differences that are being detected in children by those who have the knowledge and insight to detect them. I have a book by Tyler Cowen, an economist, and Grandin about the economic value of autistics and those who think like them. As time goes by, I imagine that parents, teachers, physicians and governments are going to find more people who have what was once considered impossible ways of thinking, seeing and using other senses and that their powers can be a big benefit to themselves and others.
I have heard of an educated and patient grandmother who sat in a meeting, knitting. The chair asked her to put her knitting away and pay attention to the discussion. She replied that she could pay attention or put the knitting away but not both. In current classroom parlance, she was saying her knitting was a "fidget toy", something she needed for her fingers to do when attending to the business going on. Whether it is a body press or fidget toys or a body sock,
