What a day!
Joe Whitehead, lead social coach at our Conroe location, and I spent the day at the Sheraton, North Houston listening to Temple Grandin, Ph.D. speak at the “A Journey Through the Autism Spectrum” conference hosted by Spectrum Training Systems Inc. It was an educational (and very entertaining) day, and we both came out of the three 90 minute lectures feeling both drained and energized.
Temple’s talks were broken into three major categories all focusing on different aspects of working with children on the Autism spectrum. During the first session, both Joe and I were excited to hear Temple speak about so many of the tactics and strategies utilized in Social Skills Playhouse like group play and working on eye contact as effective techniques to be used with these kids.
In addition to speaking about how Autism manifests itself in children, Temple also spent time focusing on the big picture, long term prognosis for men and women growing up with Autism (usually quite good), looking at how many successful and famous people either have been (or should have been!) diagnosed, and the role that both diet and meds play in both the treatment of Autism.
Overall it was a fascinating day. After the talk was over, I recalled that in introducing Temple the opening speaker said, “Grandin is listed in the 2010 Time 100 list of the 100 most influential people in the world in the category “Heroes”. I (like many of the 400 plus attendees I’m sure) gained a whole new respect for Dr. Grandin today, the humility with which she does, and the passion she brings to, her work; she truly is a hero.
Bar Clarke
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