Autism: Temple Grandin and belonging

This week, TH watched the Temple Grandin biopic as part of our homeschool. He stayed rapt the entire time, and when it was finished--it ends just after she stands up at a conference and explains autism from an autistic perspective to a shocked audience--I asked TH, "So, what did you think about that?"

His response? "Duh."

I took that to mean, "Well, of course that's how I feel."

And we had, right there, created a Temple Grandin fan. I think he related strongly to much of what the movie showed. In one belatedly inspired moment, I thought to ask him, "Did you see how she doesn't like to be hugged? Is that how you feel about hugs?" And he responded in the affirmative--he doesn't really like hugs.

Really, after 8 years with this child, that was news to me. I knew that he didn't give hugs...when family members try to hug him, he leans in but doesn't lift his arms or really even touch them if he can help it. But I didn't realize that this behavior was really part of an active dislike of it. And the thing is, he hugs me, but I think it's more of an impulsive squeezing that's not a lot different from his other self-reg behaviors. I just happen to be a willing target.

So when I learned about a talk Temple Grandin had recently given at a TED conference, I actually had the whole family gather around my computer to watch her speak. The remarkable thing here is that they all watched, including Little, the three-year-old. Of course, his contributions mostly consisted of "Horses! Look! Horses!" There's one point in the talk where Grandin flashes a screen with a small "test" of how autistic people view the world. I'll leave it to you to watch and discover, but let's just say that some of us saw the details first (that would be me), some of us the big picture (that would be the Viking), and some of us claimed both at once (Dubya). TH was not sure.

Grandin also discusses different kinds of autistic thinkers, listing visual thinkers, pattern thinkers, and verbal thinkers. This observation precipitated a fairly lively family discussion about which of us would fall into which of these classifications. TH was the most excited, and I could tell he felt like he'd found one of the leaders of his tribe, someone who could articulate to some extent what goes on inside of him all the time. And he loved it.

The big surprise of the evening, especially in light of our upcoming neuropsych evaluation for Dubya after being referred for an ASD workup, was when Grandin showed a picture that a nine-year-old autistic child had drawn (see above). She noted the clear ability to depict perspective in the work and observed that it would be unusual for a non-autistic nine-year-old to have mastered visual perspective in this way, but more common for a visually oriented autistic child.

So, I give you as Exhibit A in the "Let's Figure out Dubya" saga this couch (and TV) and remind us all that Dubya drew this couch at age 7 years, 3 months. This couch has been the subject of much discussion and awe around our house. Seriously. We just can't get over this article of furniture (the stick figure is one of his iconic representations--he can actually draw people, too):

There's no doubt that this child is a deeply visual thinker. You can practically sit on that sofa, it's so three dimensional. I'm excited to see what will come of this clearly unusual capacity of his. And isn't it odd that an autistic middle-aged woman from an old-money Boston family who's an animal husbandry researcher in Colorado would help us learn more about our children--and inspire them--in this way?